It was a slightly different Last Post Ceremony on September 16, 2015, when controversial Chinese-Australian businessman Dr Chau Chak Wing took centre stage, followed by a private function where he was able to rub shoulders with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.
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The private event involved the opening of the Kingold Education and Music Centre, which bears a plaque with Dr Chau's likeness, and also included the awarding of one of the first handful of fellowships handed out by the war memorial.
The Last Post ceremony is a daily event at the memorial, and each evening the story behind a different name from the Roll of Honour is told. On this particular night it was the story of Private Richard Wesley Wong, who was killed in action in France in 1917.
According to Chinese press, this event was the first high profile commemoration of Chinese-Australian soldiers and it prompted Australians to learn more about Chinese-Australian soldiers. A report in Chinese news website Sina quoted Ms Bishop as praising Dr Chau as a "symbol of the friendship between Australia and China". The event was also reported by official Chinese press agency Xinhua News and the People's Daily called Dr Chau's contribution outstanding.
As revealed by Fairfax Media, Dr Chau is a valued donor to the Australian War Memorial, with more than half a million dollars donated over two years. The property development business that Dr Chau is chair of, Kingold, is recognised with naming rights of the education centre.
The memorial did not respond to questions about how many events Dr Chau attended, but a series of images uploaded by it to photo sharing site Flickr show the pomp and ceremony associated with this event.
The memorial's governing council is a powerful room of people, overwhelmingly made up of current and former senior defence force officials. At the time of Dr Chau's donations, the council included chairman Kerry Stokes, the former commander of the Australian Navy Tim Barrett, current chief of army Angus Campbell, rear admiral Ken Doolan (retired) and Air Force chief Leo Davies. The memorial also wouldn't comment on how many members of the council Dr Chau had met and when, since his relationship with the memorial began in 2013.
Dr Chau's donations and influence spread across Australian politics and academia alongside the memorial. Millions were donated to the University of Technology Sydney for a building that bears his name, and millions to both major political parties. He was named under parliamentary privilege this week by Liberal MP Andrew Hastie this week as one of the subjects involved in a bribery case before a US court. Dr Chau has vigorously denied this through his lawyer.
