Wellington Lee, (17 September 1925 – 25 December 2022) was an Australian politician and pharmacist who served as the Deputy Lord Mayor of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

from 1999 to 2000.Trove - interview summary
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Life and career

Lee was born on 17 September 1925, in Darwin in Australia's

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

. Lee's Chinese ancestors first arrived in Australia during the early 1850s Victorian gold rush. Growing up in Darwin, he attended Darwin Public School, then moved with his family to

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, where he continued his schooling at Longreach State School, Ingham Rural School and Toowoomba Grammar School. Later, he moved to

and completed a degree at the Victorian College of Pharmacy. After the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Lee enlisted on 8 October 1943, and achieved a rank of leading aircraftman in the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

. For many years after the war, Lee remained on the Active Reserve of Officers, and served as the state executive of the Victorian RSL. He worked as a pharmacist from 1950 and ran a pharmacy shop in Melbourne's

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

, on the corner of Little Bourke and

Russell Russell may refer to: People * Russell (given name) * Russell (surname) * Lady Russell (disambiguation) * Lord Russell (disambiguation) Places Australia *Russell, Australian Capital Territory *Russell Island, Queensland (disambiguation) **Ru ...

streets. From 1978 to 1980 he was commissioner of the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works, and was a Melbourne City Councillor from 1977 to 1990 and from 1996 to 2001. During his last two years as councillor, he also served as Deputy Lord Mayor of Melbourne. (password required) Lee contested three federal elections: in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

, contesting Kooyong for the Labor Party; in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, as third on the Unity Party's

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

ticket; and in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

at the top of the Unity ticket. He was unsuccessful on all of these occasions. Lee died on 25 December 2022, at the age of 97.

Awards

*1982 Order of the British Empire *1993 National Medal *1994 Medal of the Order of Australia *2003 Member of the Order of AustraliaIt's an Honour - AM
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References

1925 births 2022 deaths Australian pharmacists Members of the Order of Australia Officers of the Order of the British Empire Unity Party (Australia) politicians People from Darwin, Northern Territory {{Australia-politician-stub