1) Documents should be notarized by any notary public.
2) The notarized documents should be authenticated (NOT apostilled) by the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Trade or its Office in States or Territories. For more information about authentication by DFAT office, please click here.
3) Apply for the documents authentication from the Chinese Embassy or relevant Consulate General where the documents notarized but not authenticated, in accordance with consular regions.
For example, if your documents are notarized in South Australia and authenticated in DFAT's office in Sydney, they should be authenticated in the Chinese Consulate General in Adelaide but not the Consulate General in Sydney.
Documents to be used
in the Hong Kong or Macao SAR need no authentication from Chinese Embassy or
Consulates General if they have been apostilled by Departments of Foreign
Affairs and Trade or its Office in States or Territories.
** Documents of a third country should be authenticated in that country. If a citizen of a third country living in Western Australia applies for passport authentication, his/her application can be accepted by the Chinese Consulate General in Perth if it has been notarized by the country's embassy in Australia.