‘Salty Dog’ from Hong Kong

By Glen Atwell
STEVE Miller has Hong Kong and the email revolution to thank for his nickname life sentence.
Affectionately known as ‘Salty Dog’, Steve’s nickname was coined in a small, innercity Hong Kong bar, where the barman decided all Australians would be known as Salty Dog.
“I don’t really know why, I think it was something to do with Australians being laid back,” Steve said.
“I used to waltz in and play Khe Sahn on the jukebox, so I did fit the description.”
The year was 1997, when Hong Kong was handed back to the Chinese from British power and email was revolutionising global communication.
Getting used to the nickname of Salty Dog, Steve set up his first email username as ‘saltydogmiller’, a cyberspace handle that soon became a part of his everyday life.
“It was the early days of email, and I just put down any username,” he said.
“Funnily enough it has stuck with me until now.”
Asia still plays a major role in Steve’s life, where he works for up to four months every year.
The managing director of Southern Cross Holdings, a painting and decorating company, Steve spends time in Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore.
His business card, one side English, the reverse side translated in Chinese, sports the colourful nickname which often gets people talking.
“The nickname seems to tickle the funny bone of some,” he said.
“I’ve gotten used to it, but I guess it would be funny on first sighting.”
Aside from cranking out Khe Sahn on jukeboxes in Hong Kong bars, Steve’s other passion is golf, which he regularly plays at Emerald Golf Club.
“I get out on the course once a week. The bunch of people at the club are great, we all have fun,” he said.
Steve said that after playing a number of other sports in his lifetime, golf had a number of advantages.
“It takes less time to recover from,” he said.