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. Fulfilling his father's wishes, William studied law at the University of Melbourne. Fax: +61 3 9479 1880 "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.". 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. would increase friendship and understanding between the people "Obviously there's not a White Australia policy as such against Chinese migrants," she says. [4], Despite, or perhaps because of, having himself been discriminated against, Mr Ah Ket devoted his life to fighting against unfair discrimination. He visited China in 1912-13 as the delegate of the Victorian Chinese Chamber of Commerce to participate in the election of overseas Chinese to the new parliament of the Republic. "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. William Ah Ket in Selborne Chambers, Melbourne circa 1933.Source: http://monumentaustralia.org.au/. in China and towards the Pacific nations including Australia. 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. William Ah Ket was educated at Wangaratta High School and was also taught at home by a Chinese tutor. Maureen Bedford - Great-niece of William Ah Ket, Vivienne Davis- Great-niece of William Ah Ket, Reynah Tang- Lawyer and founding president of Asian Australian Lawyers Association, Toylaan Ah Ket- Daughter of William Ah Ket, Blossom Ah Ket- Great-granddaughter of William Ah Ket, The Chinese and the Factories Acts by William Ah Ket,1906, The Measure of the Years by Sir Robert Menzies, 1970. Sir Robert Menzies practised with William in Selbourne Chambers. William stayed involved with the University and was elected the President of the Law Students Society on 19 April 1907.4 Some 20 years later, in 1929, William supported a toast in favour of Sir Harrison Moore, the third Dean of Melbourne Law School, at a dinner hosted by the Law Students Society to mark Sir Harrisons retirement in 1927. The legacy of Australia's #firstAsianlawyer, William Ah Ket, who battled #racism and achieved landmark victories, lives on. ROMEO Ha az lom hzelked emnek Hinnem lehet, mindjrt rm knt rm. Their youngest William's father, Mah Ket, was one of Australia's earliest tobacco farmers. He said that "William Ah Ket did not ever sit on the Bench, though he would have been a very competent judge. He was born on 20 June 1876 at Wangaratta, Victoria, the only son and fifth child of Mah Ket and Hing Ung. respect, not only within his legal fraternity, but within The reason why the Chinese laundry owner had been charged was that a Chinese man had been found in the laundry between 9 and 10 pm at night ironing a shirt, apparently in breach of the after-hours work prohibition. My father, William Ah Ket rose to prominence in the 1900s-1930s "And if nobody had stood up, like William Ah Ket, to protest against them then they might've passed.". He fought against the White Australia policy and racist laws targeting Chinese workers as Australia's first barrister of Chinese descent. Andrew Godwin is researching the life and times of William Ah Ket and is working with the descendants of the Ah Ket family for this purpose. 14See 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. and their only son, John Williams, has been acclaimed as one 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. schools. In an interview with the National Library of Australia in 1993, she remembered her affluent childhood. William Ah Ket (1876-1936), lawyer and campaigner for Chinese rights, was born in Wangaratta, Victoria. 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. '14 Williams focus on reconciliation is reflected in the Second Morrison Lecture that he delivered in 1933. William Ah Ket was Australia's first barrister of Asian heritage or ethnicity, born in Victoria in 1876. [9] (1908) 7 CLR 277. Morrison Lecture was given in 1932 by Felvons 1. 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.15 William would have had an affinity with bagpipes as his wife, Gertrude Bullock, was of Scottish descent. Last night, things came full circle when I attended the launch of the 2019 William Ah Ket Scholarship at the Chinese Museum in Melbourne. at the National University in Canberra. We will never satisfy our ambitions. He fought against the requirements of the 1907 Factories (Employment of Chinese) Act, which discriminated against . Th my scam n ni ng r xc phm g cu. such as the Dictation Test and Limitation of Residence. in the furniture-making trade. "But we're living in days of the incarceration of refugees and asylum seekers. Despite this, between 1905 and 1928, he appeared before the High Court on at least 12 occasions. 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. could well be achieved if the Morrison Lectureship Foundation landing at Tarakan. 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. He became the leading Chinese in the district and a respected member of the Wangaratta community. to Australia, William Ah Ket was appointed as Acting Consul-General [5] Citing Toylaan Ah Ket, William Ah KetBuilding Bridges between Occident and Orient in Australia, 1900-1936 (Chinese Studies Association of Australia, Macquarie University, July 1995) at 9.6] The Hon Susan Kiefel AC, Chief Justice of Australia, William Ah Kets contribution to diversity in the legal profession (Asian Australian Lawyers Association, William Ah Ket Scholarship Presentation, Great Hall, High Court of Australia, Canberra, 9 October 2019, 5:30pm). Defend yourself nobly but always in a dignified fashion.". I because I am Chinese. Celebrating Asian Australian Lawyers: From William Ah Ket to Today, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ah-ket-william-4979, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54dd81c6e4b074b4a339bb2e/t/, 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. level and not merely through trade. That in itself was an "impressive feat", says Reynah Tang, the founding president of the Asian-Australian Lawyers' Association. [5], His answer to the difficulties he faced appears to have been to succeed in what he did; to be a real part of the legal profession; to help others and to act at all times righteously, with courage and with kindness. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. He was a phenomenon at the Victorian Bar, a full-blooded Chinese born in the north-east of Victoria. the subject of 'Reconciliation between Eastern and Western Church to a young Australian woman, Gertrude Bullock, whose 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. Andrew can be contacted ona.godwin@unimelb.edu.au. 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. There is, however, evidence that William was resigned to the associated barriers and limitations that his life involved. For the next twenty years he worked tirelessly for the Ah Kets legal team successfully proved that he was not a prohibited immigrant. 9The Hon Susan Kiefel AC, Chief Justice of Australia, William Ah Kets contribution to diversity in the legal profession (Asian Australian Lawyers Association, William Ah Ket Scholarship Presentation, Great Hall, High Court of Australia, Canberra, 9 October 2019, 5:30pm). In 1921, William and Gertrude William was particularly active in the fight against racial discrimination and appeared in many 'public interest' cases. in Chisholm Street. In his more-than 30-year career, William was never promoted to the rank of senior barrister or appointed judge. William also represented Chinese-Australians challenging discriminatory legislation in the High Court. 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. C. F. Yong, The Chinese in New South Wales and Victoria, 1901-1921 (Ph.D. thesis, Australian National University, 1966). 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. . Chinese people. Asian Australians have played a vital role in the legal profession since the late 1800s, starting with the first barrister of Chinese origin to join the independent bar in Victoria, William Ah Ket. He sold opium, among other supplies. Andrew and MLS would be delighted if any readers have information about William that they would like to share. of the AIF in World War II and was killed during the Allied Fulfilling his fathers wishes, William studied law at the University of Melbourne. [7] William Ah Ket Scholarship 2019, Program (9 October 2019). There is little doubt that William Ah Ket's the Consul-General for China, Dr. W.P. If Monument Australia is useful to you, please make a donation to keep this historical and educational resource available. With paternal ancestry from Taishan, southern China, Ah Ket was Australia's first barrister of Asian heritage or ethnicity.He was born on 20 June 1876 at Wangaratta, Victoria, the only son and fifth child of Mah Ket and Hing Ung.He was an alumnus of the University of Melbourne.On 16 November 1912 he married Gertrude Victoria Bullock at the . So commences the biography of William Ah Ket [] in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.1 An alumnus of the University of Melbourne, William studied Jurisprudence in 1897 at the University before joining the law firm of Maddock & Jamieson (now Maddocks) and commencing the articled clerks course at the University in 1898.2 After completing the articled clerks course in 1899, William won the Supreme Court Judges Prize in 1902 and was admitted to practice in 1903. Andrews new book is a compilation of China Business Law Journals popular Lexicon series, entitled China Lexicon: Defining and translating legal terms. The reason why the Chinese laundry owner had been charged was that a Chinese man had been found in the laundry between 9 and 10pm at night ironing a shirt, apparently in breach of the after-hours work prohibition. We should have done Medicine.16, There are many more interesting stories and facts that one could relate about William and his legacy. migrated from Canton in the 1850s, and when the Gold Rush arts, sciences, and history of the Chinese people. He supported the creation of a committee to On 16 November 1912 he married Gertrude Victoria Bullock at the Kew Methodist Church. community, such as Quong Tart in Sydney and Cheok Hong. master the Confucian skills of reading and writing in the William Ah Ket was chosen as delegate by the Chinese Chamber The plaque commemorates William Ah Ket (1876 - 1936), who was a lawyer and campaigner for Chinese rights and was born in Wangaratta. 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. practice in Selbourne Chambers alongside such famous neighbours He In the 1970 book The Measure of the Years by Australia's longest-serving prime minister, Robert Menzies, he referred to his colleague and friend Ah Ket as "a phenomenon at the Victorian Bar" but that "a certain prejudice among clients against having a Chinese barrister to an extent limited his practice . "William Ah Ket's contribution to diversity in the legal profession" The Hon Susan Kiefel AC Chief Justice of Australia I am pleased to speak this evening and honoured to present the William Ah Ket Scholarship for 2019. 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. After living in China for many years, he returned to Australia as an adult, but was treated as a prohibited immigrant because he failed a dictation test imposed by the immigration legislation at the time. "Winning the inaugural William Ah Ket Scholarship brings me great pride and satisfaction, owing to the scholarship's underlying purpose of fostering the development and promotion of cultural diversity in the Australian legal profession. He fought against the requirements of the 1907 Factories (Employment of Chinese) Act, which discriminated against . as one of Melbourne's most talented and adroit barristers. His mother, Hing Ung, had bound feet and spoke no English. which he moved. 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. "That's even before we have female lawyers coming into the profession.". 6Citing Karin Derkley, William Ah Ket Legacy Recognised (2018) 92(3) Law Institute Journal 83 at 83, 84. [3], Ah Ket fought against the requirements of the 1907 Factories (Employment of Chinese) Act, which discriminated against Chinese residents,[4] and successfully opposed legislative amendments in 1904, 1905, and 1907 which would have specifically discriminated against Chinese residents in the furniture industry. In a special series, RN examines Australia's relationship to China, and its rising prominence in global affairs. He established a committee to oppose the proposed Immigration Restriction Act and he was also active in the Anti-Opium League of Victoria which attempted to bring about social reform among Chinese in Australia and abroad. 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. Chinese under the umbrella of the White Australia Policy, 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. 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. family. I am grateful for the opportunity of coming to know more about William Ah Ket. and educators against racial discrimination in Australia. He died on 6 August 1936 of arteriosclerosis and renal failure at Malvern, Victoria. Neither of us will ever be made a judge, you because you are a woman. 1John Lack, Ah Ket, William (1876 1936), Australian Dictionary of Biography, available at http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ah-ket-william-4979. Williamhad 3 siblings: Toylaan Margaret ALLEN (born AH-KET)and 2 other siblings. Menzies, Owen Dixon, James Tait, and After reading with (Sir) Stewart McArthur, He believed his objective Ah Kets legal team successfully proved that he was not a prohibited immigrant. Andrew Godwin is researching the life and times of William Ah Ket and is working with the descendants of the Ah Ket family for this purpose. All rights reserved. A former partner of Linklaters Shanghai, Andrew Godwin teaches law at Melbourne Law School in Australia, where he is an associate director of its Asian Law Centre. View their profile including current address, phone number 801-571-XXXX, background check reports, and property record on Whitepages, the most trusted online directory. Despite the bamboo ceiling that William must have encountered during his life and career, it appears that his mission was to remove barriers and, as his daughter Toylaan Ah Ket wrote, to implement his personal philosophy of building bridges between the East and West. '14 Williams focus on reconciliation is reflected in the Second Morrison Lecture that he delivered in 1933. Imagined by, Understanding internal and external evidence in interpretation of claims, Legal risks and strategies for ending a tenancy early, Tips for insolvency administration of NEEQ-listed companies, Applying estoppel, dedication rules in drug patent linkage dispute, Ongoing developments with follow-on antitrust lawsuits, Legal risks of one-day trip into SCSZs for deemed exports, Fees to please: Flexible and innovative fee structure for Hong Kong arbitration, Prerequisites, exemptions for fledgling personal bankruptcy system, Bankruptcy reorganisation: revealing an investment window, Save time and money with pre-reorganisation rescue planning. Educated in both English and Chinese cultures, he agitated against racial intolerance in Victoria and defended the rights of Victoria`s Chinese community. Dr Couchman says the changes William spoke out against were "very invasive". It is named after William Ah Ket who became the first Australian barrister of Chinese origin in 1904. 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. 5 Law Students Society Dinner to Sir Harrison Moore, Farrago 5(5), April 23, 1929. Whatever the challenges that William faced during his sixty years, there is no doubt that his life was one of diversity and service. light opera or a Gladys Moncrief musical . The test required all immigrants from China to write in English or another European language a passage of approximately 50 words, dictated by a customs officer. Wangaratta Primary School, which William Ah Ket attended as a child.Source: Andrew Godwin. Leave your condolences to the family on this memorial page or send flowers to show you care. Despite these achievements, William Ah Ket's story is little-known. member of Melbourne's See Yup Society. youthful experience in 'bridging' the two worlds of East and 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. invited scholars from interstate and overseas to deliver the 9The Hon Susan Kiefel AC, Chief Justice of Australia, William Ah Kets contribution to diversity in the legal profession (Asian Australian Lawyers Association, William Ah Ket Scholarship Presentation, Great Hall, High Court of Australia, Canberra, 9 October 2019, 5:30pm). The Inaugural G.E. He was a sound lawyer and a good advocate". Whatever the challenges that William faced during his sixty years, there is no doubt that his life was one of diversity and service. Prior to completing His great grand-daughter, Blossom Ah Ket, recalls a family story of a white Australian man taunting the barrister on a train on the way to court. Parliament for the new Republic in 1912. William Penrod Davis, age 80+, lives in Eagle Mountain, UT. [1][2] His daughter Melaan was the mother of the guitarist John Williams. who had made such a worthy contribution to the history of "They were about making sure Chinese were on view, they were really pretty abhorrent," she says. [2] William stayed involved with the University and was elected the President of the Law Students Society on 19 April 1907. Chinese descent Ket 's the Consul-General for China, and its rising prominence in global.... [ 7 ] William Ah Ket did not ever sit on the Bench, though he have! 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