Australia Posthumously Honours Chinese Student Jiang Antong with a Bravery Commendation, Three Years After He Died Rescuing a Classmate at a Wollongong Beach
A memorial meeting was held at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia, on October 29 for Jiang Antong, a Chinese student who died three years ago rescuing a classmate in the sea at Fairy Meadow Beach in Wollongong, Xinhua reported from Sydney on October 30. Jiang was posthumously awarded Australia's Commendation for Brave Conduct this year, and people from both China and Australia gathered at the meeting to remember him.
Jiang Antong was born in 1995 and arrived at the University of Wollongong in July 2023 to pursue a master's degree. On October 29, 2023, while at Fairy Meadow Beach with several classmates, he saw local student Justin Peng in trouble in the water. Jiang joined the rescue effort but was swept away by a rip current and lost his life; Peng was saved. "I feel like I've been given a second life," Peng told Xinhua at the memorial meeting on October 29.
On September 1 this year, Governor-General Sam Mostyn announced the 2026 Australian Bravery Awards, in which Jiang was posthumously awarded the Commendation for Brave Conduct. On October 21, New South Wales Governor Margaret Beazley presented the honour at the University of Wollongong, where Jiang's parents received the certificate on his behalf.
The memorial meeting was hosted at the university by the Chinese Consulate-General in Sydney. Over the past three years, the University of Wollongong has established a scholarship in Jiang's name and held a memorial football match, keeping his story alive on campus. As recounted at the meeting, Jiang was known for helping others: on a cycling trip, when a classmate was injured in a fall, he called an ambulance and stayed with the classmate in the emergency room through the night.
Source: Xinhua
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：澳大利亚新南威尔士州伍伦贡的 Puckey's Beach，紧邻蒋安桐救人牺牲的仙女草地海滩（资料图）。照片 CC BY 3.0，作者 Maurice van Creij，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Puckey's Beach in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, next to Fairy Meadow Beach, where Jiang Antong died rescuing a classmate (file photo). CC BY 3.0, by Maurice van Creij, via Wikimedia Commons.
