Wonho Chong has seen a lot in his almost 91 years.
Born in Korea, his family moved to Japan in the years before the Second World War.
There, as a small child in Osaka, Mr Chong remembers seeing the American B29 Superfortress aircraft flying overhead on their way to bomb Japanese cities.
He returned to Korea with his parents as a nine-year-old, but the spectre of war was far from over for the young Mr Chong.
At just 17 years of age, he found himself enlisted with the US Army’s 630th Ordnance Company in the Korean War.
After the war Mr Chong became a successful jewellery designer, finding acclaim both in Korea and abroad – he received awards for his work in Japan and the US – but it was a chance meeting with an employee of the Australian Embassy in Seoul that changed his life forever.
"It was in 1969 when I met the First Secretary of the Australian Embassy," Mr Chong says.
"We had lunch together, and I asked him, 'what part of America are you from?', and he said, 'I’m not from America, I’m from Sydney!'
"At that time, I thought Australia wasn’t accepting any migrants from Asian countries, but he said, 'no, that’s all been abolished now'.
"He said, 'you wanna come to Sydney?', and I said, 'yes'.
"So he brought me the skilled immigration form, I filled it out, handed it to him about a month later, and about a month after that he said, 'Mr Chong, you have residency'."
In 1970 Mr Chong moved to Sydney, with plans to establish himself in his new home before having his wife and children join him in Australia.
His initial impression, however, was not entirely positive.
"I really didn’t know much about Australia," Mr Chong laughs.
"I thought maybe there would be kangaroos in the street smoking cigarettes or something, you know?
"Anyway, on the first Sunday after I came to Sydney I walked from Sydney University into the city – and the city was deserted!
"There were no people there at all. I thought, 'this is no good, maybe I should go home now'."
But he quickly adjusted to the quieter pace of Australian life, landing a job with jewellery company Angus & Coote before joining Tin Sheds Art Workshop at University of Sydney where he taught metalwork.
In 1978 he was approached by the newly established Jam Factory.
"When Don Dunstan made the Jam Factory on Payneham Road, they asked me to come over," Mr Chong recalls.
"When I came to Adelaide I really liked it … the people were really friendly."
Established in the city that would remain his home until this day, Mr Chong continued to work in the jewellery and metalwork fields, but also leaning heavily into public service.
Also a ninth-dan martial arts grandmaster, Mr Chong has been a pioneering force in Australia's multicultural arts, masterfully bridging Asian and Australian cultures through his internationally recognised martial arts and metalcraft.
And as the founder of the Korea-Australia Friendship Association he has taught hundreds of students the principles of harmony and cultural understanding.
In 1988 his GRAND-MASTERS exhibition brought together cultural masters from 10 nations for Australia's Bicentenni
al (pictured), while his metalwork fusing Korean, Japanese and Australian elements is displayed in the Australian National Museum.
All of these achievements were recognised recently when Mr Chong received the Arts and Culture Award in the 2024 Governor’s Multicultural Awards.
Last month his work received more recognition when Mr Chong was awarded on Order of Australia – General Division in the King’s Birthday 2025 Honours List.
For Mr Chong the awards are confirmation that he’s on the right track.
"When the government recognises what you have done and you get an award, well you feel very honoured," he says.
"Even me, someone from overseas … it makes me feels like an Australian.
"But it’s not for me – although I’m very honoured to receive the award – but it’s for the next generation.
"I’m really just happy and thankful that I can still do things for the next generation at 90-plus years of age.
"When I turned 90 the members of my martial arts group gave me a big party. Before that I never thought about my age at all. After that I though, 'oh, I’m 90!."
For Mr Chong, pictured below with Major "Moogy" Sumner on a cultural trip to Korea, growing old is a privilege and he believes that Australia, as a society, should be doing more to unlock the inherent wisdom and skills held by older people.
"Adelaide, when I came here, was the third-biggest city in Australia – now it’s fifth," he says.
"I’d like to see Adelaide get bigger, and one way to do that might be to reintroduce more traditional craft work, using environmental materials, to make products that people need.
"This work could be done by our older people – it’s not labour, it’s artwork!
"There is hidden talent in people, and it could help the environment.
"Older people need to get satisfaction from life, that is so important.
"Some people, when they get older, they go on the pension, watch the television, open up a beer, it’s no good.
"You have to be more constructive, more productive."
And he’d also like to see more of the older population studying martial arts, both for health and fitness and the extra confidence it can bring.
"I’ve been doing martial arts for the last 85 years and I’ve never had to use it, but it’s made me so confident," he says.
"I walk past a tough guy with a lot of tattoos and that’s nothing for me.
"It’s important for older people to live without fear.
"I don’t have a lot of muscle, but I’m stronger than a big guy!"
And at the end of the day, Mr Chong said his practice of helping others wherever possible is a simple, but important, philosophy.
“We have to help each other, and we have to be friendly to each other,” he says.
“That’s what really matters.”
Nominations for the 2025 Governor’s Multicultural Awards are now open. Read more about the awards and nominate at multicultural.sa.gov.au/gma
