Beautiful Yesterday, Gorgeous Today – Tony Lau

Content by Tony Lau
Edited by Alice and Don Walker

Tony Lau is a very popular name amongst members of our Alumni Association.

He was the Vice President of our AA (Alumni Association) from 2005 to 2006. Then from 2007 to 2009 and from 2012 to 2013, he was elected as the President. Now he has been appointed as an advisor to the AA.

During his tenures as the AA’s President, he has made considerable progress and achievement in different areas. Apart from strengthening our connection with CUHK (Chinese University of Hong Kong) through the Alumni Office, he has also established the link with HKETO (Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office). He also made a huge contribution to the planning and the publishing of our two books in the CUHK Alumni Series.

Tony is one of our quiet achievers. He has done well in many areas without advertising how well he has succeeded. We have the privilege to reveal some of these successes.

Tony’s Family:

Tony’s wife Lily is a Radiographer (CAT scan specialist). They met in 1974 when they were classmates in St Clare’s Girls School. Fortunately for Tony, the school accepted boys in Form 6 science class. Their dating started after they left the school.

Simon, 25, is their elder son. He works at Royal Melbourne Hospital as a senior resident. His goal is to be an orthopaedic surgeon.  Their younger daughter Sarah, 21, is studying science in Melbourne University.  She intends to do a postgraduate course in diet control and become a dietician specialising in control of obesity/diabetes.

Both Simon and Sarah were born in Melbourne. According to Tony, their ways of thinking, and their cultural and social circles are typically Aussie. They don’t feel any particular linkage to China or Hong Kong. They have only limited capability in spoken Cantonese. Simon recognises a few Chinese words from his Japanese lessons but Sarah can’t.

The whole family partying in Sydney in 2014 to celebrate Lily's graduation from Sydney University

When and why did Tony migrate to Melbourne?

Tony finished his Bachelor degree in Biology in 1979 and his Master in Philosophy in 1981 with CUHK. He was awarded a Croucher Foundation Scholarship which allowed him to conduct a doctorate study in a Commonwealth country. He chose Melbourne University because at the same time Lily was offered a job by the Royal Dental Hospital in Melbourne. They started their journey in Australia on 20 June 1981.

After Tony finished his doctorate study, why did he stay in Melbourne instead of returning to HK?

Like most candidates completing a doctorate study, Tony’s initial ambition was to develop an academic career in a world class university. He had good connections with both HKU and CUHK. He was confident that it would not be a problem for him to be employed by one of them as a lecturer after he obtained his PhD. However, during his first couple of years in Melbourne, he fell in love with this city and his feeling towards Melbourne grew stronger and stronger as time went by. After he and Lily got married, they had a lot of long discussions regarding their future. Their final decision was to stay in Melbourne despite the risk of paying back all his scholarships to Croucher Foundation. Fortunately the Foundation let him off the hook and Tony said that he is forever grateful for their support and generosity.

We know that Tony works with the Defence Department. How did he get this job?

After Tony finished his PhD, he sent out lots of applications trying to find a job in Australia. It was a very pleasant surprise for him that he received five job interview invitations in one week. One of the invitations was from the Defence Department. At that time, he knew an honourable research chemist who worked in the Chemistry Department of Melbourne University and had retired from the Materials Research Laboratory (MRL). This is part of the Defence Department where Tony started his current position. Before he attended his interview this chemist was kind enough to give him a description of the organisation and the nature of work that he might be doing in the laboratory. Tony thinks that these tips gave him an edge over the other applicants. In the end he was offered a position as a scientist with the Defence Department. Actually, he was also successful in the other 4 interviews. Tony mentioned that receiving five job offers within a few days, even now he can still clearly remember the joy and pride he felt.

How did Tony find his job (which is not related to his study)?

Indeed the knowledge and skills Tony acquired at the University and the work he performed in MRL were poles apart. He needed to be trained by his supervisor on the job. Tony said that it became obvious to him that one must be able to adapt to meet new changes and challenges at work and also in one’s life. In his case, university training has provided him the means to think and the methods to search for an answer.

Tony’s personal assessment is that he would probably have had better career advancement if he chose to work in an academic institute in Hong Kong. However whether this is good for him or not is hard for him to say.

There were a few unforgettable moments during his work life. One of them has been mentioned in the book ‘CUHK Alumni in Melbourne’. He mistook the slang ‘dack’ as ‘deck’ which resulted in distinctive embarrassment to himself and his colleagues. Those who are interested in the story can read the article in the CUHK Alumni series.

He has also been to many defence settings and military facilities that are out of bounds to the public. There are unique and versatile equipment, hardware and platforms that are used for operations in harsh and extreme environments. The details of most of them will never be known to civilians. That is why he never talked much whenever he was asked about his job.

We would like to know more about Tony’s personal life:

Playing table tennis with Prof NN Chan

Most AA members know that Tony is good at table tennis. But we did not know that he plays three times a week, two for training and one for competition. Tony said that physically, table tennis is not as demanding as contact sports. That is why it is one of the sports where your performance is far less affected by your age. Players can keep playing well into their 80’s or even 90’s. He plays regularly with Raymond Lo and Professor NN Chan and he would encourage those who want to play to join them.

Tony also enjoys singing. I think not many AA members knew that apart from those who have read his second article in the CUHK Alumni Series. He said that he even contemplated himself to be a song-writer/singing artist in his younger days. Now he is using his talent to sing along with his daughter at home for their own enjoyment.

Both Tony and Lily enjoy a glass of wine. Tony said that they imbibe at least once a week, usually on a Friday night after work. Actually they came to appreciate wine probably some twenty years ago and more so in recent years. Although they don’t have a wine cellar, they have a stock of up to one hundred bottles of wine. Some are very good wines, and include Penfold Grange. They don’t particularly make trips to wineries but will definitely visit them whenever it is convenient to do so. During their recent trip to the South Island of New Zealand, they visited some wineries and sampled their Pinot noir range.

They also enjoy travelling. They have been travelling overseas a lot more in recent years. They will be having a trip to tour around South America in September 2014.

They both have families in Hong Kong. Lily has two cousins who are very close to her. Tony’s younger brother is living with his mother and looking after her. They visited Hong Kong three times in 2013 due to various reasons. In future, they plan to go back more often because his mother and uncles are getting old.

Sharing the platform with the top-guns at the Welcome Dinner for CUHK overseas alumni, 2013

Here, we are going to share a small secret with you. Tony is always fearful of losing his hair and becoming bald. Other than Lily who has been his barber for the last thirty odd years he does not allow anyone to touch his hair. However his kids somehow found out about this sacred part of his body and started touching his hair every now and then to annoy him. Sometimes this got him rather upset because he regarded it as a lack of respect. In the end they agree that this is just a joke and he should see this intimacy as a reflection of their strong bonding.

Has living in Melbourne all these years changed Tony’s attitude to life?

Being the eldest son and raised in a typical Chinese family, Tony has never done any house work in HK. However, living in Melbourne means that he needs to do all the chores, e.g. washing, ironing, house cleaning, shopping, gardening and minor house maintenance by himself. He still cannot cook very well but fortunately Lily is the saviour of the Lau’s household and they have never gone hungry.

According to Tony, life in Hong Kong and in Melbourne is fundamentally different. While he enjoys the open space, good food, fresh air and water and the relatively affordable housing, he also notices a lot of cultural and social differences between the two cities. His life has changed in accordance to these differences. He becomes more pragmatic as, for example, no tradesman will come to fix anything for him on weekends. He learns to compromise on things that are not critical (e.g. plumbing and electrical repairs that have never worked out the first time). Therefore, he is no longer the perfectionist he used to be. He is getting more patient and tolerant of people and things that don’t agree with him or turn his way. He has accepted that his authority on his children is far less than the authority his parents have on him. This also happens in the workplace as he has to always be prepared for the challenges from his subordinates.

Looking into the future: does Tony have any retirement plan?

In an article in our second book in the CUHK Alumni series, Tony has outlined the issues and challenges that will confront retirees. For himself, at the moment, he and Lily still have a daughter to support and they do not expect the situation to change for at least another three years. They don’t want to commence their retirement before this obligation finishes. Besides they have a few projects that require substantial financial resources to accomplish. So he will expect himself to continue working for another four to five years providing his health permits and his skills and expertise are still required.

Growing old but young at heart

After he retires, Tony said that he would like to secure some consultancy work in which his experience and knowledge can contribute. This can either be paid work or pro bono. He would also like to keep himself healthy and fit so he will probably play more table tennis or start other sports such as golf, hiking and cycling. Another possibility is to develop interest in other hobbies such as learning to make cakes and desserts. Lily is amused by this suggestion but Tony thinks that time will tell.