His father, Ah Ket, and mother, Hing Ung, had established one of the first tobacco farms on the King River. schools. William was particularly active in the fight against racial discrimination and appeared in many 'public interest' cases. In a special series, RN examines Australia's relationship to China, and its rising prominence in global affairs. 2Helen Penrose, To Build a Firm: The Maddocks Story (Maddocks, 2010), 11. invited scholars from interstate and overseas to deliver the William Penrod Davis, age 80+, lives in Eagle Mountain, UT. 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. He was an alumnus of the University of Melbourne. [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. Leave your condolences to the family on this memorial page or send flowers to show you care. 10William Ah Ket Scholarship 2019, Program (9 October 2019). It was customary for them to celebrate the various anniversaries [3] He was neither appointed Silk nor a judge. he moved to Melbourne to study Law at Melbourne University. William also represented Chinese-Australians challenging discriminatory legislation in the High Court. At the age of 35, William was married at the Kew Methodist William Ah Ket was Australia's first barrister of Asian heritage or ethnicity, born in Victoria in 1876. "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.". 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 athttps://arrow.latrobe.edu.au/store/3/4/5/5/1/public/stories/wahket.htm. 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! 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. Masonic Lodge No.123 and held life-membership of the MCG so 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. William was survived by his wife Gertrude Victoria (nee Bullock) and four children Dr. William, Stanley, Melaan and Toylaan. 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. He fought against the requirements of the 1907 Factories (Employment of Chinese) Act, which discriminated against . Ah Ket appeared in another High Court case calledPotter v Minahan.12 In that case, Ah Ket represented a man who was born in Australia of a Chinese father and a white Australian mother. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the 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 played the game of affluence and gambling and carding and living it up," she recalled. The Asian Australian Lawyers William Ah Ket in Selborne Chambers, Melbourne circa 1933.Source: http://monumentaustralia.org.au/. of growing up in a traditional Chinese household where his 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. in 1982 and is currently writing the biography of her father. First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we One case he was involved in successfully challenged the Immigration Restriction Act better known as the White Australia policy in 1908. "That's why his story's so important to us.". On 16 November 1912 he married Gertrude Victoria Bullock at the Kew Methodist Church. La Trobe University After completing his secondary education, he studied law at the University of Melbourne, and joined the law firm of Maddock & Jamieson (now Maddocks). Neither of us will ever be made a judge, you because you are a woman. We should have done Medicine.16, There are many more interesting stories and facts that one could relate about William and his legacy. [2] William stayed involved with the University and was elected the President of the Law Students Society on 19 April 1907. William Ah Ket was chosen as delegate by the Chinese Chamber 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 (, 20 June 1876 6 August 1936) was a noted Australian barrister. He made several successful submissions opposing the Victorian William was educated in Wangaratta, and on gaining his matriculation 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. A Paper on the Chinese and the Factories Acts, published in 1906, defended the rights of Chinese workers and factory owners against unfair legislation. 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. 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. in Melbourne, publicly opposed discriminatory laws against ways of thinking, with particular reference to Confucius'. 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 at https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54dd81c6e4b074b4a339bb2e/t/5a1409caf9619a97a1396f77/1511262667464/WILLIAM+AH+KET+launch.pdf. His father had taken him to China when he was about five years old. Andrew and MLS would be delighted if any readers have information about William that they would like to share. 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). William Ah Ket did not ever sit on the Bench, though he would have been a very competent judge. We will never satisfy our ambitions. that he could maintain his enthusiasm for cricket as a ball-to-ball His father, Ma Ket [], had arrived in Victoria in 1855 to work as a community leader for the Chinese workers in the goldfields of Victoria. president of the Australian-Chinese Association, co-founder Dr Couchman says the changes William spoke out against were "very invasive". On returning to Australia, he was threatened with deportation when he failed the dictation test that the law required "prohibited immigrants" to take. 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. 7Citing Sir Robert Menzies,The Measure of the Years (Cassell Australia, 1970) at 249. I because I am Chinese. He built up a successful 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. At that time, people born in Australia were British citizens by right, regardless of their parents origins. 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.[14]. Parliament for the new Republic in 1912. agitate against the Immigration Restriction Act in We should have done Medicine.[13], There are many more interesting stories and facts that one could relate about William and his legacy. On top of that work, William also had to deal with racism. Both William Ah Ket and his wife were music-lovers and regular An alum of the University of Melbourne, William studied jurisprudence in 1897 before joining law firm Maddock & Jamieson (now Maddocks) and commencing the articled clerks course at the University in 1898. William Ah Ket was Australia's first barrister of Asian heritage or ethnicity, born in Victoria in 1876. He said that "William Ah Ket did not ever sit on the Bench, though he would have been a very competent judge. 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. Andrew and MLS would be delighted if any readers have information about William that they would like to share. of 'building bridges between the East and West.'. In its decision, the High Court found that if the immigration legislation had intended to remove the rights of citizenship, it should have expressed its intention clearly. or the editors of the website. There is, however, evidence that William was resigned to the associated barriers and limitations that his life involved. would increase friendship and understanding between the people Whatever the challenges that William faced during his sixty years, there is no doubt that his life was one of diversity and service. In 191314 and 1917, he acted as Consul-General for China in Melbourne.[1][5]. Our data centers have been designed from the ground up to be some of the most efficient data centers in the world. In a High Court case calledIngham v Hie Lee,11 Ah Ket represented a Chinese laundry owner who was charged with an offence under theFactories and Shops Act 1905 in Victoria. Fast forward 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 and supported by Maddocks. "But when it came to law, he knew very well what it was like to struggle and be poor and oppressed, so his sympathies were always on the side of the underdog.". We will never satisfy our ambitions. Associate Professor Andrew Godwin is researching the life and times of MLS alum William Ah Ket and is working with the descendants of the Ah Ket family for this purpose. It is fitting and proper that this scholarship is named for him.9, In the program notes, the recipient of the 2019 William Ah Ket Scholarship, Ms Tienyi Long, Legal and Governance Officer at Glen Eira City Council, Victoria writes that [l]awyers, courts and legislators continue to grapple with the question of how equal justice can be achieved for diverse communities in a multifaceted and increasingly complex societydiversity intelligence is an essential skill to facilitate equal access to justice for diverse communitiesit should be included as part of mandatory continuing professional development requirements under the Legal Profession Uniform Law.10. He said that "William Ah Ket did not ever sit on the Bench, though he would have been a very competent judge. of his time who could mix with ease, and enjoy widespread It is fitting and proper that this scholarship is named for him.[6], The recipient of the Scholarship, Tienyi Long, notes that [l]awyers, courts and legislators continue to grapple with the question of how equal justice can be achieved for diverse communities in a multifaceted and increasingly complex society diversity intelligence is an essential skill to facilitate equal access to justice for diverse communities it should be included as part of mandatory continuing professional development requirements under the Legal Profession Uniform Law.[7]. 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. Defying what was expected of Chinese-Australians at the turn of the twentieth century, he studied law and progressed to appear before the High Court of Australia. "And if nobody had stood up, like William Ah Ket, to protest against them then they might've passed.". for reciting pithy quotations from either Shakespeare, Robby William Marc AH-KETwas born in month1914, at birth place, to William AH-KETand Gertrude Victoria AH-KET (born BULLOCK). to Australia, William Ah Ket was appointed as Acting Consul-General of the massive petitions raised by the Anti-Opium League of Williamwas born on June 20 1876, in Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia. William was particularly active in the fight against racial discrimination. Each August since 2017, the William Ah Ket Scholarship committee has accepted applications for the most outstanding research paper on a topic dealing with equality, diversity, and the legal profession or the law from legal trainees, graduates, final year students and lawyers with less than five years of practice. 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. 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. 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