William Ah Ket in Selborne Chambers, Melbourne circa 1933.Source: http://monumentaustralia.org.au/. William Ah Ket - A Life of Diversity and Service, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ah-ket-william-4979, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54dd81c6e4b074b4a339bb2e/t/5a1409caf9619a97a1396f77/1511262667464/WILLIAM+AH+KET+launch.pdf, https://arrow.latrobe.edu.au/store/3/4/5/5/1/public/stories/wahket.htm, https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/145813/2/Morrison%20Oration%2002.pdf. William also represented Chinese-Australians challenging discriminatory legislation in the High Court. He went to the bar the following year and is widely understood to have become the first Australian lawyer of Chinese descent to practise as a barrister at the independent bar in the state of Victoria.3. He was a sound lawyer and a good advocate". Your help would be greatly appreciated. 6Citing Karin Derkley, William Ah Ket Legacy Recognised (2018) 92(3) Law Institute Journal 83 at 83, 84. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. [9] (1908) 7 CLR 277. Chinese called by Dr. Sun Yat Sen to attend the first National William Ah Ket as a young man Source: by kind permission of the Ah Ket family, William Ah Ket (1876-1936), barrister, was born on 20 June 1876 at Wangaratta, Victoria, only son and fifth child of Ah Ket, storekeeper and grower and buyer of tobacco, and his wife Hing Ung, who were married in Melbourne in 1864. We should have done Medicine.[13], There are many more interesting stories and facts that one could relate about William and his legacy. Though the law was not dismantled until the 1970s, Mr Tang says it was a significant case at a time when there were active political attempts to limit Chinese immigration to Australia. William Penrod Davis, age 80+, lives in Eagle Mountain, UT. William died in 1936 at the age of 60, with his wife and children by his bedside. William Ah Ket was Australia's first barrister of Asian heritage or ethnicity, born in Victoria in 1876. Even though the laws he fought against no longer exist, she says Australia continues to treat new migrant groups with suspicion. in Australia ended, he settled in Wangaratta to raise his In addition, William Ah Ket possessed a deep knowledge of the Western classics and modern languages and was wont to include quotes from Shakespeare, the Scottish poet Robert Burns or a Gilbert & Sullivan opera during his appearances in court!17. specifically exclude the Chinese from gaining a livelihood of growing up in a traditional Chinese household where his in Little Bourke Street or attending one of the city theatres With paternal ancestry from Taishan, southern China, Ah Ket was Australia's first barrister of Asian heritage or ethnicity. Once completed, the Eagle Mountain Data Center will be a nearly 2.4 million square foot campus. and Cambridge respectively. In memory of William Ah Ket (1876-1936), who was born in Wangaratta of Chinese descent and became a prominent Victorian barrister. In the past we have borne all the costs associated with maintaining the website but we are now having difficulties in paying the monthly expenses. the subject of 'Reconciliation between Eastern and Western But he added: "But do not ever be intimidated or pushed down or give into people who would harass you or tease you and laugh at you. From this summary of his early achievements, it is clear that William was a gifted student and lawyer, who succeeded in a time rife with racial discrimination. AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), abc.net.au/news/william-ah-ket-the-first-chinese-australian-barrister/10160198. Parliament for the new Republic in 1912. 4The Melbourne University Magazine, Volume 1, Number 1, 1907, 20. After his return * Associate Director (Asian Commercial Law), Asian Law Centre, Melbourne Law School. AALA celebrates and shares in the respect for elders, land and community and continues to advocate for intersectional diversity and the empowerment of all first nations peoples worldwide. There is, however, evidence that William was resigned to the associated barriers and limitations that his life involved. In an interview with the National Library of Australia in 1993, she remembered her affluent childhood. He added, "A certain prejudice among clients against having a Chinese barrister to an extent limited his practice, though instructing solicitors thought very well of him".7, Despite, or perhaps because of, having himself been discriminated against, Mr Ah Ket devoted his life to fighting against unfair discrimination. After completing his training as a lawyer in 1899, William won the Supreme Court Judges Prize in 1902, and was admitted to practice in 1903. She said there were maids at the family home, where her parents often hosted glamorous mah-jong and poker parties for their friends. Andrew and MLS would be delighted if any readers have information about William that they would like to share. On returning to Australia, he was threatened with deportation when he failed the dictation test that the law required "prohibited immigrants" to take. practice in Selbourne Chambers alongside such famous neighbours First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we William moved to Melbourne in 1893 to study law at Melbourne University, and was formally admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1904. in 1982 and is currently writing the biography of her father. It is named after William Ah Ket who became the first Australian barrister of Chinese origin in 1904. as Arthur Deane, R.G. William specialised in civil cases, including lawsuits over divorce petitions, wills and contracts. Over time the costs of maintaining this website have risen substantially (in fact they are probably larger than those of many companies who exist for profit). This article contains content that is not available. New and compelling histories from Australia and around the world. The keynote address is delivered by the Honourable Susan Kiefel AC, Chief Justice of The High Court of Australia, who makes the following comments: By all accounts, Mr Ah Ket was a remarkable man. We should have done Medicine.16, There are many more interesting stories and facts that one could relate about William and his legacy. William Ah Ket (1876-1936), barrister, was born on 20 June 1876 at Wangaratta, Victoria, only son and fifth child of Ah Ket, storekeeper and grower and buyer of tobacco, and his wife Hing Ung, who were married in Melbourne in 1864. daughter Toylaan gained her BA(hons) degree at Sydney University Chen, and in 1933 the Noting that music had a peculiar charm for Confucius, he mused that had Confucius lived then, it is quite likely that he would have found in the music of the bagpipes something particularly stirring and satisfying to the soul.[12] William would have had an affinity with bagpipes as his wife, Gertrude Bullock, was of Scottish descent. K Tn : Cuong. The first barrister of Chinese descent practising at the Victorian Bar was William Ah Ket. Sir Robert Menzies practised with William in Selbourne Chambers. By Andrew GodwinAssociate Director (Asian Commercial Law), Asian Law Centre, Melbourne Law School. He supported the creation of a committee to See the complete profile on LinkedIn and discover William's . There is little doubt that William Ah Ket's Neither of us will ever be made a judge, you because you are a woman. Make a life-giving gesture In addition, the gallery is currently hosting an exhibition of memorabilia about him. William Ah Ket was a noted Australian barrister. Sir Robert Menzies wrote that he and Mr Ah Ket "were great friends". He was a phenomenon at the Victorian Bar, a full-blooded Chinese born in the north-east of Victoria. Life. If Monument Australia is useful to you, please make a donation to keep this historical and educational resource available. William Ah Ket made history when he signed the bar roll. the efforts of William Ah Ket in Melbourne and William J. William Ah Ket became a leading figure in the Chinese Australian community during the early years of Federation. In the lecture, William reflected on whether there was a real difference between the culture of the East and that of the West and drew parallels between Western culture and Confucianism. Fulfilling his father's wishes, William studied law at the University of Melbourne. "Remembering William Ah Ket is about remembering these rights were fought for they weren't just given by the benevolent government," she says. times, William Ah Ket was affectionately regarded as the Chinese Whatever the challenges that William faced during his sixty years, there is no doubt that his life was one of diversity and service. "They were about making sure Chinese were on view, they were really pretty abhorrent," she says. of the massive petitions raised by the Anti-Opium League of for China in Melbourne in 1913-14 and again in 1917. Williams, founder of the Spanish Guitar Centre in London, of 'building bridges between the East and West.'. Educated in both English andChinese cultures, he agitated against racialintolerance in Victoria and defended the rightsof Victoria`s Chinese community. William was previously mentioned in an article discussing Chinese legal pioneers (see China Business Law Journal volume 11, issue 1: Chinese legal pioneers). After the formalities conclude, enthusiastic discussion ensues amongst the guests about William and his legacy and includes a combination of questions and observations: How is it that William Ah Ket is not more widely known?; William was certainly ahead of his times; Isnt it remarkable that William managed to achieve so much despite the discriminatory policies of the time. He was a sound lawyer and a good advocate". The act expressly discriminated against the Chinese and prohibited after-hours work in a factory or work-room where furniture was made or where any Chinese person was at any time employed. Leave your condolences to the family on this memorial page or send flowers to show you care. The eldest daughter, Melaan, married Len He became the leading Chinese in the district and a respected member of the Wangaratta community. He was, by all accounts, a man of Ah Kets legal team successfully proved that the Chinese man was not an employee of the laundry but instead a boarder at the laundry and that he had simply been ironing his own shirt! The couple had four children William, Stanley, Melaan and Toylaan. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. in Wangaratta, William Ah Ket continued his regular attendance The Victorian Parliament eventually abandoned proposed changes to the laws known as the Factory Acts which would have made such restrictions more stringent. 5 Law Students Society Dinner to Sir Harrison Moore, Farrago 5(5), April 23, 1929. his tertiary studies at Melbourne University, William received and their only son, John Williams, has been acclaimed as one Guidelines for the Lectureship had been initially proposed Less is known about another person - Wu Ting Fang. I because I am Chinese. "But we're living in days of the incarceration of refugees and asylum seekers. He believed his objective [13] Isabel Carter, Woman in a Wig: Joan Rosanove, QC (Lansdowne Press, 1970), 13. "William Ah Ket is in his teens at this time and he's being brought up to be a smart, educated young man, so he would've seen all this going on.". He joined the ranks of barristers the following year, and is widely understood to have become the first Australian lawyer of Chinese descent to practise as a barrister at the independent bar in the state of Victoria. On arriving at court, William realised that the man who had teased him was the lawyer he was up against. Ah Kets legal team successfully proved that the Chinese man was not an employee of the laundry but instead a boarder at the laundry and that he had simply been ironing his own shirt! [1][2] His daughter Melaan was the mother of the guitarist John Williams. Ah Kets legal team successfully proved that he was not a prohibited immigrant. Life [ edit] With paternal ancestry from Taishan, southern China, Ah Ket was Australia's first barrister of Asian heritage or ethnicity. He acquired a considerable reputation as a negotiator of settlements. "Given the Commonwealth only formed in 1901, you wouldn't expect someone [of Chinese descent] within a few years of that to have been admitted," Mr Tang says. Australia's first Asian lawyer, William Ah Ket, who battled racism and achieved landmark victories, and how his legacy lives on Chinese-Australian barrister and lawyer William Ah Ket was known. such as the Dictation Test and Limitation of Residence. View William Webb's profile on LinkedIn, the world's largest professional community. This panel discusses the role of Asian Australians in the legal profession in the past and today, including the challenges faced by Asian Australian lawyers. He became the leading Chinese in the district and a respected member of the Wangaratta community. [11] See Toylaan Ah Ket, William Ah Ket - Building Bridges between Occident and Orient in Australia, 1900-1936 (paper delivered at the Conference of the Chinese Studies Association in Australia held at Macquarie University on 5 July 1995), available at https://arrow.latrobe.edu.au/store/3/4/5/5/1/public/stories/wahket.htm. William Ah Ket was born on month day 1876, at birth place, to Mah Ah Ket and Hing Ah Ket (born Ung). 15William Ah Ket, Eastern Thought, with special reference to Confucius (Second Morrison Lecture, 3 May 1933), available athttps://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/145813/2/Morrison%20Oration%2002.pdf. 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Fast forward 90 years to 9 October 2019 when an audience of some 50 persons are gathered in the Great Hall of the High Court of Australia to attend the third award ceremony for the William Ah Ket Scholarship a scholarship established by the Asian Australian Lawyers Association in 2017 and supported by Maddocks. The story of William Ah Ket, the first Chinese-Australian barrister. 1John Lack, Ah Ket, William (1876 1936), Australian Dictionary of Biography, available at http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ah-ket-william-4979. "He probably would've seen people that were junior to him progress past him in that career and of course that would've been disappointing to see that, and not be afforded the same opportunities as everyone else," he says. William was born in the Victorian country town of Wangaratta in 1876, the son of Mah Ket, who arrived from Canton during the gold rush, and his wife Hing Ung. William was particularly active in the fight against racial discrimination. Toylaan remembered his final words: "Unity is strength.". The marginalised group has shifted but it's not that distant.". "Rumpole" of the Victorian Supreme Court, gaining I haven't yet established who exactly it was that organised James Minahan's legal representation; the Chinese consulate began its operations the following year. Both William Ah Ket and his wife were music-lovers and regular Please contact us. at Saturday's race-meetings in Melbourne, never missing his kind of lectures at the Australian National University that Their eldest son William Ket MBBS became Deputy Superintendent family. live, learn and work. "That's even before we have female lawyers coming into the profession.". including Carole Hinchcliff, helping me with my researchfor into William Ah Ket and also for promoting William's legacy and story generally. William Ah Ket was Australia's first Chinese Australian lawyer and, later, acting consul-general for China in Australia. would provide all Australians with a better knowledge of the In addition to lobbying against discriminatory legislation, such as the Immigration Restriction Bill of 1901, William appeared in many cases that we would describe today as public interest cases. The younger son The award is sponsored by Maddocks where William Ah Ket was an articled clerk prior to joining the Victorian Bar, which is also a new sponsor this year along with the University of Melbourne Law School, where Mr Ah Ket studied. William Ah Ket (1876-1936), barrister, was born on 20 June 1876 at Wangaratta, Victoria, only son and fifth child of Ah Ket, storekeeper and grower and buyer of tobacco, and his wife Hing Ung, who were married in Melbourne in 1864. Whatever the challenges that William faced during his sixty years, there is no doubt that his life was one of diversity and service. 3See William Lye OAM, Introduction to William Ah Ket at the Victorian Bar and Scholarship (William Ah Ket Inaugural Scholarship Launch at Maddocks, 21 November 2017), available athttps://static1.squarespace.com/static/54dd81c6e4b074b4a339bb2e/t/5a1409caf9619a97a1396f77/1511262667464/WILLIAM+AH+KET+launch.pdf. If you have any further information about Williams life that you would like to share, I would warmly welcome your contributions. C. F. Yong, The Chinese in New South Wales and Victoria, 1901-1921 (Ph.D. thesis, Australian National University, 1966). In a passage that is still recognised as current law in Australia, Justice OConnor stated as follow: It isimprobable that the legislature would overthrow fundamental principles, infringe rights, or depart from the general system of law, without expressing its intention with irresistible clearness13. All rights reserved. It also discusses the importance of cultural diversity in the workplace and within the community, particularly during a time when racism has become more prominent since COVID-19. His father, Ah Ket, and mother, Hing Ung, had established one of the first tobacco farms on the King River. This included a number of cases, Bishop v Chung Brothers, Potter v Minahan and Ingham v Hie Lee, that involved challenges to legislation that discriminated against those of Chinese origin. well as a tobacco-grower, store-keeper, and property owner. William Ah Ket (1876-1936), barrister, was born on 20 June 1876 at Wangaratta, Victoria, only son and fifth child of Ah Ket, storekeeper and grower and buyer of tobacco, and his wife Hing Ung, who were married in Melbourne in 1864. Australia's first Chinese barrister William Ah Ket was born in the Victorian country town of Wangaratta. 6Citing Karin Derkley, William Ah Ket Legacy Recognised (2018) 92(3) Law Institute Journal 83 at 83, 84. We will never satisfy our ambitions. Victoria, and the increasing protests of influential clergymen The dictation test required all immigrants from China to write in English a passage of not less than 50 words that was dictated by a customs officer. William was particularly active in the fight against racial discrimination and appeared in many 'public interest' cases. We will never satisfy our ambitions. My father, William Ah Ket rose to prominence in the 1900s-1930s Published: TueTue 28 Feb 2023 at 12:00am/with Kirsti Melville, Published: 21 Feb 2023Tue 21 Feb 2023 at 12:00am/with Kirsti Melville, Published: 14 Feb 2023Tue 14 Feb 2023 at 12:00am/with Kirsti Melville, Published: 7 Feb 2023Tue 7 Feb 2023 at 12:00am/with Kirsti Melville. Toylaan, the youngest daughter, died in 2015 at the age of 94. It is timely to commemorate Williams life because a photo of William will soon be unveiled in the Portrait Gallery of the Victorian Bar in Melbourne, Australia. Maddocks also announced on Monday that CEO David Newman has been named to the judging panel for the 2021 William Ah Ket Scholarship, an initiative launched by the Asian Australian Lawyers Association (AALA) in honour of the first Asian-Australian barrister in the country. He served his articles under Richard Cross of the firm then known as Maddock & Jamieson (now Maddocks) in 1903. AUSTRALIA that he could maintain his enthusiasm for cricket as a ball-to-ball The biography of Joan Rosanove QC, an alumna of Melbourne Law School and the first Jewish woman in Australia to be admitted as a barrister, contains the following reference to a light-hearted discussion between William and Joan: A Melbourne barrister, Mr Ah Ket, a friend of Marks [Joans father], said to her, You and I have both chosen the wrong profession, Joan. . He was an excellent after-dinner speaker, a prominent Freemason and a keen punter and golfer. 1John Lack, Ah Ket, William (1876 1936),Australian Dictionary of Biography, available athttp://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ah-ket-william-4979. Please send any press releases, deal announcements, details of new hires, newsletters and any other news items to: Copyright 2022 Vantage Asia Publishing Limited. I because I am Chinese. His father had arrived in Victoria in 1855 and after some years on the goldfields established one of the earliest tobacco-farms on the King River. to win the reluctant approval of the bench with his propensity William Ah Ket [] was born in Wangaratta in the state of Victoria, Australia, in 1876. English-born forebears had migrated to Australia from Cheshire "The borders of Australia have always been closed to people who aren't white Australians. "Obviously there's not a White Australia policy as such against Chinese migrants," she says. Ah Kets legal team successfully proved that the Chinese man was not an employee of the laundry but instead a boarder at the laundry who had simply been ironing his own shirt! He went to the bar the following year and is widely understood to have become the first Australian lawyer of Chinese descent to practise as a barrister at the independent bar in the state of Victoria.3. Following his youthful introduction to country horse-racing [4], Despite, or perhaps because of, having himself been discriminated against, Mr Ah Ket devoted his life to fighting against unfair discrimination. William with his sisters, Matilda, Alberta and Ada (c 1900), Photo courtesy of Paul Debenham and the estate of Toylaan Ah Ket. "There was definitely a fresh wave of discrimination that was being put in place," she says. In addition, he had the advantage After the formalities conclude, enthusiastic discussion ensues among the guests about William and his legacy and includes a combination of questions and observations: How is it that William Ah Ket is not more widely known?; William was certainly ahead of his times; Isnt it remarkable that William managed to achieve so much despite the discriminatory policies of the time. He has the lucky number of 88 on the Victorian Bar roll. The views and He said that "William Ah Ket did not ever sit on the Bench, though he would have been a very competent judge. William Ah Ket - A Life of Diversity and Service Andrew Godwin* William Ah Ket (1876-1936), barrister, was born on 20 June 1876 at Wangaratta, Victoria, only son and fifth child of Ah Ket, storekeeper and grower and buyer of tobacco, and his wife Hing Ung, who were married in Melbourne in 1864. he signed the Bar Roll in 1904 and became the first Chinese Despite his high profile and achievements, it would seem that others were advanced while he was not.6 He was neither appointed Silk nor a judge. For the next twenty years he worked tirelessly for the established their home at No.1 Dandenong Road, Malvern where "He famously won the case that day and then went over afterwards and put on a stereotype Chinese accent and said: 'How you likey my cross-examination?'"