Lowe Kong Meng

Lowe Kong Meng's family name in Chinese is Lowe (Chinese: 劉; pinyin: Liú), but in Australia he took Kong Meng as his surname. He married Mary Ann (or Annie) Prussia in Melbourne on 4 February 1860. They had 12 children and lived in the wealthy suburb of Malvern.

Kong Meng was a comfortable member of Melbourne's elite. Contemporary accounts described him with words like "cultured", "influential" and "highly esteemed" and reference extensive donations to charities and churches. Even The Bulletin, which supported exclusion of Chinese migrants from Australia, noted that he was "idolised by his Victorian fellow-countrymen". He retained his Chinese cultural heritage. His mixed-race marriage appears not to have impeded his participation in the Melbourne elite. In 1867, the couple attended a fancy-dress ball in honour of the Duke of Edinburgh, Kong Meng wearing a mandarin's robes, while she dressed as a Grecian lady.