Current Maribyrnong councillor and two-time former mayor, Cuc Lam, has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the general division of this year’s Australia Day honours.
“I’m very humbled and honoured” Ms Lam said of her medal which was for service to the community of Maribyrnong, the same community she has lived in since arriving from South Vietnam as a refugee in 1978.
“It was at Midway Hostel near Highpoint,” Ms Lam recalled of where she and her husband stayed upon arrival in their new home.
Pregnant with the first of the couple’s three children at the time, Ms Lam soon gave birth to a son which led to her first job in Australia working at kindergarten and childcare centre in Kensington.
Juggling motherhood and employment while adjusting to a new country, Ms Lam also managed study, completing a diploma and then bachelor of arts, paving the way for a long career in the public service.
“I moved onto project work to do with employment and then later working for the federal government,” she said of her role helping other migrant women adjust to life in Australia like she did before them.
“As a refugee I suffered a lot and I understand that disadvantaged people and multicultural people need a lot of help.”
Ms Lam provided that help for more that 29 years, collecting a Public Service Medal and induction to the Victorian Women’s Honour Role along the way.
At the turn of the century she broadened that service to local government by being elected to Maribyrnong council, serving from 2000-2003.
After a 13-year absence, Ms Lam was re-elected to council 2016 and has remaining ever since, serving two terms as mayor, in in 2017-18 and again from 23-24.
Now retired from the public service, Ms Lam said serving on council and her numerous volunteer roles kept her busy.
“I’m on the board of Australian Vietnamese Women’s Association, the Community Advisory Committee for Western Health and also as a councillor I’m on the board of the Australian Local Government Women’s Association (ALGWA) Victoria Chapter,” she said.
“I love helping the community.”
