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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-10-16 Daily Xml
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INSPIRE EXHIBITION

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:26): I rise today to speak about Mary Cheung's Inspire photography exhibition. I was honoured to be invited by Sameway Magazine to be their guest speaker for this exhibition which was held on Monday 30 September 2013. The Inspire photography exhibition was proudly organised by Sameway Magazine in conjunction with World Vision Australia and co-hosted by Confucius Institute at the University of Adelaide.

Sameway Magazine, which is a Chinese magazine catering for the growing Chinese community in Australia, signed a partnership agreement with World Vision Australia to do fund-raising and raise awareness about children, families and communities that are experiencing poverty and injustice. I congratulate and thank Raymond Chow, Sam Yu, Christiana Yu and the team at Sameway Magazine for organising this meaningful event and for bringing an inspirational presenter like Mary Cheung from Hong Kong to Adelaide. Special thanks also to Professor Mobo Gao, Director of Confucius Institute, and his team for sponsoring the venue and hosting us at the University of Adelaide.

Let me tell you something about Mary. Mary Cheung's background is both inspirational and fascinating. Mary is widely recognised as one of the most successful women in Hong Kong and an incredible philanthropist. In 1987 she launched a charity campaign and raised more than one million Hong Kong dollars.

With her remarkable achievements one would never guess that she was brought up as an orphan. Mary was born in Hong Kong in 1952. Sadly, her parents divorced when she was nine years old and she was sent to an orphanage because her parents would not care for her. Despite her early struggles and living in poverty, Mary graduated from the school of business at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and she went on to become a Miss Hong Kong pageant winner, a successful radio host and the managing director of an award-winning public relations company.

Some of the awards that she had won included Hong Kong Ten Outstanding Women, Women of the 21st Century, Hong Kong Most Successful Women, Education Achievements Award, One Hundred Outstanding Female Entrepreneurs in China, and Quality Life Award, just to name a few. In addition to all her business accomplishments, Mary is also a passionate photographer, painter and author. Mary has published over 20 photography books, many of them capturing images of children living in third world countries. Her culmination of work has enabled her to put together a photography exhibition which is called Inspire. The Inspire exhibition has travelled the world, including China, France, Canada and New Zealand and, most recently, it has reached Australia.

We are very fortunate to have someone of her calibre to come to Adelaide to give her talk through the photography exhibition. I became very inspired and very grateful to be part of the event. When I was asked to be guest speaker for the exhibition, the organiser wanted a female leader who was community minded, someone who has a strong connection with the Chinese community of South Australia. What they did not expect was my direct association with World Vision. I guess this can be described as serendipity. Sameway Magazine did not realise that I have been involved in the child sponsorship program for World Vision for more than 25 years.

It was very humbling to be able to contribute my personal experience for the event. It was a great honour indeed to meet Mary Cheung in Adelaide. She is a beautiful and amazing human being. I have invited her to come back to visit Adelaide again, perhaps for her to take part in next year's OzAsia Festival because I believe many people will benefit from hearing her story and seeing her outstanding contribution to society.

Once again, congratulations to Sameway Magazine and the Confucius Institute for putting together and organising a wonderful and generous event supporting World Vision. Today, honourable members, be inspired.

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