THE oldest sister city of George Town in Penang – Adelaide of South Australia will have its delegation visit Penang this week to mark the 50th anniversary of special ties between the two metropolitans.
Adelaide Lord Mayor Hon Jane Lomax Smith is leading a delegation to reciprocate an earlier visit headed by state executive councillor Jason H’ng Mooi Lye last December.
Smith would be arriving via rail aboard the Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) ETS Express service in Butterworth.
She would then be ferried across to the island where on hand to greet her is her counterpart – George Town Lord Mayor Datuk Anthony Rajendran.
Smith is serving her second stint as the south Australia’s capital city Lord Mayor.
She is well versed with Penang and shares a special friendship with the former Penang Island City Council (MBPP) president Datuk Dr Teng Hock Nan.
The delegation is expected to visit several places of interest here besides visiting the Penang Institute, the state think tank where they would be briefed on the latest development in the state.
The 50th anniversary celebration is a momentous occasion for both cities due to the historic links.
Over the decades, George Town has cemented friendship ties with 11 cities and towns globally, but none is as interesting as the earliest one the island state had sealed.
On Dec 8 in 1973, Penang signed a sister city pact with Adelaide.
There have been many celebrations of the event since and more so now, as both cities marked the anniversary of the pact to promote closer connections.
The sister city pact was driven by two love stories.
Such tales provide a value-added dimension to the definition of a sister city.
Penang’s colonial founder Francis Light shared a relationship with live-in partner Martina Rozells whom he apparently met in Phuket, Thailand.
And the couple’s eldest son, Colonel William Light, went on to become the surveyor-general of Adelaide.
William was among the earliest explorers who founded Adelaide – 50 years after his father Light found Penang.
In the online description of William Light, the City of Adelaide Council described him as the founder of Adelaide.
Love story number two happened some 180 years later.
The then Premier of South Australia Don Dunstan, who passed away in 1999, lobbied the late Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu, Penang’s Chief Minister to pursue a sister city status on account of the Light legacies in both cities.
Dunstan took the initiative in 1972 and a year later, both Dunstan and Lim signed on the dotted line for the establishment of sister city.
Dunstan’s then fiancé Adele Koh, who was born in Penang, was apparently instrumental in the entire process.
Dunstan later married Koh a few years after the sister city agreement was inked.
Koh was a journalist who had worked in Singapore before she found herself working in Dunstan’s office as a research executive.
According to Penang’s civil society czar Datuk Seri Anwar Fazal, Koh was a former model who later became a journalist before she passed away in 1976 in Adelaide due to cancer.
The legacies of Light, Rozells, Dunston, and Koh are being celebrated as both Adelaide and George Town had earlier signed off on continuing this special ties.
Anwar spoke of the similarities between both George Town and Adelaide.
Both are steeped in history with a track record in preserving their heritage.
George Town became a UNESCO World Heritage Site, while Adelaide is a UNESCO City of Music.
And Adelaide as well as George Town have a distinctive food scene.
South Australia Senate member Frank Pangallo sees the potential skywards, saying that his state is now engaged in deep space satellite tech and Penang can be part of the effort. – Aug 6, 2024
