Hundreds of people gathered at a church in Darwin's CBD on Thursday for the funeral of prominent Northern Territory developer and businessman Ernie Chin.
Mr Chin died on October 22 at the age of 78, after a year-long battle with cancer.
He was the driving force behind key Top End developments including at Cullen Bay, Mandorah, Marrakai and Batchelor.
"He [Mr Chin] developed a lot of the Territory as we know it," Mr Chin's son Seth Chin said.
Speaking at the funeral, NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner praised Mr Chin for his significant contributions to the Territory and described him as the "the living personification of Darwin".
"You cannot step foot anywhere in this town without encountering something of his legacy," Mr Gunner said.
Humble beginnings
Mr Chin was a member of one of Darwin's oldest Chinese families.
He was born in Sydney's Inner West on August 17, 1943, after his family was evacuated from the NT during World War II.
They returned to Darwin five years later, where they ran a milk bar and general store in the CBD.
Shortly after his father's death, Mr Chin and his brothers took over the store's operations.
"[The store] still stands today on Cavenagh Street next to Carpenteria house, having survived the bombing of World War II and the destructive winds of Cyclone Tracy," his nephew Daryl Chin said at the funeral.
After school, Mr Chin took up a job as a surveyor with the NT Survey Department for several years, where he spent months living in remote communities.
Seth Chin said it was during this time that his father forged close friendships with local Aboriginal families, especially from the Tiwi Islands.
"[Ernie] would go out bush for six weeks at a time with men like Cyril Rioli, Urban Costa, Jack Long, Kimmie Hill, Jock Mclennan … all of whom were to become some of Ernie's best friends," he said.
Mr Chin left his job as a surveyor to pursue his interest in property development.
"He went on to develop over 1,000 lots of land around the Darwin region," Seth Chin said.
Connection to community
In his eulogy, Mr Gunner noted that Mr Chin had dealt with racism while growing up in Darwin.
"It must be remembered that when Ernie was growing up in Darwin, the White Australia policy was still very real," Mr Gunner said.
"Chinese families copped it hard."
It was those experiences that spurred Mr Chin to work helping to resettle refugee families from East Timor, Cambodia and Vietnam in Darwin.
Family friend Pamela Jape said Mr Chin had played a key role in resettling her grandparents in Darwin after they were forced to flee East Timor in the 1970s.
"He would gracefully volunteer his time to help them [refugees] settle into their new environment," Ms Jape said at the funeral.
