First Australian Chinese Lord Mayor – Alec Fong Lim AM (1931-1990) Australian and Chinese established a long-term and ongoing relationship. Many Chinese came to Australia because of the Australian Gold Rushes. After the gold rushes, they expanded their population and contributed a significant growth by their businesses and industries. Meanwhile, Chinese couples, who were the grandparents of Alexander (Alec) Fong Lim, moved to Australia and took root at Northern territory in the 1880’s (Carment 2007). Even though Alec Fong grew up in Chinese family, he extricated himself from the tradition Chinese value and preferred to devote his career life to community affairs, which finally helped him to become the first Australian Chinese Lord Mayor in Australia and embodied the multicultural …show more content…
He was “vice-president of Northern Territory Spastics Association, Chairman of the St John Council, the Northern Territory Australia Day Council, a member of the Darwin Cyclone Tracy Relief Trust Fund, the Northern Territory council of the Australian Bicentennial Authority, the Australia Indonesia Institute, Research in Cancer and the Apex club” (Carment 2007). He was a remarkably popular person in communities. He always advocated the positive thinking of being Australians to different cultures of communities in Darwin. In 1984, he was elected lord mayor of Darwin and then he was awarded the order of Australia after two years. In the meantime of his governing, he achieved to introduce an innovative corporation plan which entirely reformed the style of council operation and pursued a movement in keeping no rubbish in Darwin’s beaches successfully. Unfortunately, he was forced to resign the position in 1990 due to a health problem and he died of a cerebrovascular accident one month later (Carment