Custodian of Vision

South Australian State Governor the Honourable Hieu Van Le has agreed to be a Custodian of Vision for Macular Disease Foundation Australia.

This follows Macular Disease Awareness Week 2015 where, as a Custodian of Vision for the awareness week, His Excellency highlighted to South Australians the importance of an eye test and macula check. The Governor led by example and underwent an eye examination by Dr Grant Raymond at his North Adelaide surgery.

The Governor was born in Central Vietnam in 1954, where he attended school before studying Economics at the Dalat University in the Highlands. In 1977, following the end of the Vietnam War, he and his wife Lan, left Vietnam in a boat. 

Travelling via Malaysia, they were one of the early groups of Vietnamese refugees to arrive in Darwin Harbour and eventually settled in Adelaide.

As his tertiary study in Vietnam was not recognised in Australia, the Governor returned to study at the University of Adelaide, where he earned a degree in Economics and Accounting within a short number of years.

In 2001, his further study earned him a Master of Business Administration and then his Certified Practising Accountant accreditation. From 1991 His Excellency worked at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, where he led many high-profile matters and retired in 2009.

The Governor has served on many community boards and committees, in particular those relating to cultural and linguistic diversity, the arts and education. In 1995 he was appointed a member to the SA Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission, and was appointed Deputy Chairman in 2001.  When he became Chairman in 2007, he was first person of Asian background to be Chairman.  He resigned from the Commission in August 2014.

On 1 September 2014, His Excellency was sworn in as Governor of South Australia. It is understood that he is the first Vietnamese-born person who has ever been appointed to a Vice-Regal position in the world.

On Australia Day 2010, he was appointed as an Officer in the Order of Australia for service to the community in South Australia.  He has also been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from both Adelaide University and Flinders University.

Posted: 27 April 2016