The 87-year-old emigrated to Australia from England in 1957, as one of only two carpenters on a boat carrying about 1200 migrants.

Work and fate brought him to Bendigo, where he built not only a career but a life.

Some of Mr Alexander's legacy is immortalised in bricks and mortar, such as the City of Greater Bendigo offices at Lyttleton Terrace.

Other aspects are recorded in the history books, like his involvement in the former Shire of Strathfieldsaye.

Mr Alexander served as a shire councillor 20 years from 1972.

He held the offices of shire president and deputy at points during the '70s and '80s, as well as chairing the subdivision committee.

In fact, the year he first became shire president was also when he was naturalised, became a Justice of the Peace, and started his own business.

"I still come to Bendigo once a month as signing register in the Bendigo Police Station," Mr Alexander said.

"Also I do one in Gisborne, as well."

He was made a fellow of the Royal Victorian Association of Honorary Justices in 2017.

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This year's Queen's Birthday Honours recognised Mr Alexander for service to local government, and to the community of Greater Bendigo.

"It means a lot, it really does," he said.

"When it came through the other day that I won the award I was just very... I cried, to be honest with you.

"I didn't do all these things for the idea of getting it. I just felt so emotional."

He intended to mark the occasion with a small number of friends over morning tea, a treat made all the more momentous by weeks of self-isolation - a precautionary measure, given his age.

Reflecting on his career, Mr Alexander considered the Tweed Sutherland First National building at the corner of Queen and Mitchell streets among the nicest he'd ever built.

Other notable projects included Bethlehem Home for the Aged in Golden Square and the Bendigo twin cinema.

Decades might have passed since he built some of Bendigo's structures, but Mr Alexander said he still thought to himself, "Gee, they're well built," whenever he passed them.

He was also proud to have remained in contact with some of his former employees, after more than 20 years.

Before Alexander Constructions, Mr Alexander worked for Yuncken Builders.

He was formerly a director of both Bendigo Brickworks and the Bendigo Brick Company.

Mr Alexander was also a member of the Axedale Water Trust for several years.

In addition to his shire, Justice of the Peace and professional achievements, Mr Alexander was recognised for his role in the Bendigo sporting community from the '60s to the '80s.

"I was the first captain/coach of the Colts soccer club in Bendigo," Mr Alexander said.

He was a founding member and player of the Bendigo Soccer Association in the 1970s.

Mr Alexander also played for the White Hills Australian Rules Football Club from 1964-1970, and served as a club secretary.

He was a referee for the Bendigo Junior League from 1968-1972 and a tribunal member of various clubs from about 1974 - 1981.

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Though central Victoria has become home, Mr Alexander has never forgotten the place of his birth.

Beechingstoke is where he was born.

"When I was 18, I was called up for national service in the English air force," Mr Alexander said.

"I served in Egypt for three to four months, and then I went back to England and I got sent out to Singapore and Malaya

"While I was there I played rugby and soccer against the Australian air force teams that were stationed out in Malaya

"I got to know them. I liked their laid-back way of approaching things."

Less than a month separated the date of his application to migrate to Australia and the day he boarded the boat.

"The vicar of our parish, who I went to see before we left, he had been in Australia for 41 years," Mr Alexander said.

The vicar advised Mr Alexander never to forget where he came from, but never to mention it when he got to Australia.

Mr Alexander's contemporaries did not seem inclined to let him forget his origins.

"I've been known as 'Ron the Pom' all the time I've been in Australia," he said.

The nickname stuck to the extent that it was used as part of a headline in the Bendigo Advertiser when Mr Alexander became naturalised in 1974.

"Ron the Pom is now an Aussie," Mr Alexander remembered the headline having said.

Reflecting on the nickname, he said: "If people call me 'Ron the Pom' now I don't take any notice of it. I think it's a term of endearment."

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