Bendigo is preparing to say goodbye to a man who spent decades ensuring its Chinese heritage would not be forgotten.

Russell Jack AM, founder of the city’s renowned Golden Dragon Museum, died on August 11. His state funeral will be held on August 29 at Bendigo’s Ulumbarra Theatre, followed by an extraordinary traditional Cantonese mourning ceremony at Bendigo Cemetery.

The farewell will feature a white mourning lion, a powerful symbol of respect, grief and filial devotion. Unlike the colourful dragons and lions associated with Bendigo’s famous Easter celebrations, the white lion is traditionally used to honour respected elders, masters and community leaders at funerals.

The ceremony is particularly significant because a public Cantonese mourning lion ceremony of this kind has reportedly not been seen in Bendigo for more than a century.

For Jack’s family, bringing the tradition back is more than a ceremonial gesture. It reflects the work that defined his life.

Jack was a long-serving leader of the Bendigo Chinese Association and played a central role in establishing the Golden Dragon Museum, which preserves the history and cultural contributions of generations of Chinese Australians who arrived in Victoria during the gold rush era.

He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 1993 for his contribution to preserving Bendigo’s Chinese heritage and culture.

His daughter Anita Jack said the funeral was an opportunity to reconnect contemporary Bendigo with traditions carried to the Victorian goldfields more than 170 years ago.

The mourning lion will accompany Jack through a series of traditional rites before travelling to the cemetery, where members of the public will be invited to pay their respects.

The family will also follow Cantonese customs by offering mourners a coin and sweet as they leave, symbolically helping them move beyond the sadness of the funeral and return to everyday life.

Jack’s final farewell therefore becomes part of the legacy he spent his life protecting: keeping culture alive by allowing the next generation to see, understand and participate in it.