Lowe Kong Meng was born in Penang and spoke English and French fluently. He arrived in Australia with the gold rush in 1853 and a year later had established an importing business in Little Bourke Street.

Lowe Kong Meng became a very successful businessman with interests in mining, trading, banking and insurance. His business activities extended from China, Singapore, Queensland, Victoria and New Zealand. He lived at Valetta House, on the corner of Clarendon and Albert Streets, East Melbourne.

Our presenter, historian Paul Macgregor, is the convenor of the Melbourne Chinese Studies Group and was for fifteen years the curator of Melbourne’s Museum of Chinese Australian History. He is a writer and editor specialising in Chinese history in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania.