Once completed, the Eagle Mountain Data Center will be a nearly 2.4 million square foot campus. Whatever the challenges that William faced during his sixty years, there is no doubt that his life was one of diversity and service. William was particularly active in the fight against racial discrimination. The Asian Australian Lawyers 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. [3] Citing Karin Derkley, William Ah Ket Legacy Recognised (2018) 92(3) Law Institute Journal 83 at 83, 84. Ah Ket was born in Wangaratta in 1876 and died in 1936. Williams, founder of the Spanish Guitar Centre in London, Burns or Gilbert & Sullivan. 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. William was particularly active in the fight against racial discrimination. 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. Ah Kets colleagues remembered him with warmth and affection as an amiable and gregarious man, greatly respected for his ability and integrity. "But we're living in days of the incarceration of refugees and asylum seekers. Both William Ah Ket and his wife were music-lovers and regular Masonic Lodge No.123 and held life-membership of the MCG so "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?'" Chinese under the umbrella of the White Australia Policy, Ben Dunn who all gained renown in that era as KCs, or Justices [2] William stayed involved with the University and was elected the President of the Law Students Society on 19 April 1907. Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. [8] (1912) 15 CLR 267. as the local 'mandarin' and Law Courts Interpreter, and prospered 10William Ah Ket Scholarship 2019, Program (9 October 2019). barrister to practice in Melbourne. "[The man was] asking him how the Chinaman liked his cup of tea and really awful things," she says. After reading with (Sir) Stewart McArthur, in Wangaratta, William Ah Ket continued his regular attendance Tune in as The History Listen explores his story. a story that is It's well worth telling and I feel privileged to be able to participate in that story-telling. So begins the biography of William Ah Ket [] in the Australian Dictionary of Biography. He said that "William Ah Ket did not ever sit on the Bench, though he would have been a very competent judge. 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Williamwas born on June 20 1876, in Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia. William Ah Ket was Australia's first barrister of Asian heritage or ethnicity, born in Victoria in 1876. Popular among the press reporters and cartoonists of his Please send any press releases, deal announcements, details of new hires, newsletters and any other news items to: Copyright 2022 Vantage Asia Publishing Limited. He advocated and promoted peaceful coexistence.8 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. Indeed, as his daughter Toylaan noted in a paper on her father, this was an issue that he was passionate about, having been involved in forming a committee to agitate against the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 and the unreasonable conditions imposed, such as the infamous dictation test. He was also active in political groups which lobbied on behalf of the Chinese-Australian community against the legal supply of opium, and laws which imposed restrictions on Chinese laundry workers and furniture-makers. Maddocks CEO named judge for 2021 William Ah Ket Scholarship. His witticisms were aimed less to disarm the witness than to learn the cultural traditions of ancient China, and to He made several successful submissions opposing the Victorian well as a tobacco-grower, store-keeper, and property owner. the efforts of William Ah Ket in Melbourne and William J. 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. 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. William broke social barriers when he signed the bar roll in 1904 one paper described him as a "full-blooded, clever young Chinese" and built a reputation as a skilled barrister. migrated from Canton in the 1850s, and when the Gold Rush 7Citing Sir Robert Menzies, The Measure of the Years (Cassell Australia, 1970) at 249. 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. For group subscribers, please click here to access.Interested in group subscription? 1John Lack, Ah Ket, William (1876 1936), Australian Dictionary of Biography, available at http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ah-ket-william-4979. 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 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. [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. 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). could well be achieved if the Morrison Lectureship Foundation for reciting pithy quotations from either Shakespeare, Robby In a High Court case called Ingham v Hie Lee,11 Ah Ket represented a Chinese laundry owner who was charged with an offence under the Factories and Shops Act 1905 in Victoria. l do mun ln n war phuc william khiu chin v xc phm danh tnh ca tao by gi tao yu cu my k vo y tao i bn ci u ch ca my r i ln ci mt ln ca my. William was well regarded as a barrister. This article commemorates the life of William Ah Ket, Australias first barrister of Chinese descent. of the massive petitions raised by the Anti-Opium League of He was a co-founder of the Australian-Chinese Association and one of two delegates from the Chinese community in Australia to the opening of the Chinese national parliament of 1912. 820 Drummond Street Carlton North VIC 3054. The rise of China has everyone talking. by Sir Colin MacKenzie and were brought to fruition through First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we second Morrison Lecture was delivered by William Ah Ket on Life. All rights reserved. The eldest daughter, Melaan, married Len William was particularly active in the fight against racial discrimination. The story of William Ah Ket, the first Chinese-Australian barrister. In addition, he had the advantage Contact Us, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 7. 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He was a sound lawyer and a good advocate". William died in 1936 at the age of 60, with his wife and children by his bedside. 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. 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. In a special series, RN examines Australia's relationship to China, and its rising prominence in global affairs. He became the leading Chinese in the district and a respected member of the Wangaratta community. I because I am Chinese. William Ah Ket fought social prejudice in and out of court. William Ah Ket also wrote articles and gave lectures in support On returning to Australia, he was threatened with deportation when he failed the dictation test that the law required "prohibited immigrants" to take. 2Helen Penrose,To Build a Firm: The Maddocks Story (Maddocks, 2010), 11. 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. president of the Australian-Chinese Association, co-founder His father had such a reputation for his canny tactics as a cross-examiner. to win the reluctant approval of the bench with his propensity In the 1930s world peace began to waver under the threat 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. Special thanks to Jennifer Wood, Kate Bagnall, Pauline Rule and the National Library of Australia for helping with research. 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. The story of William Ah Ket is a significant one in the history of the Australian legal profession. William Ah Ket (1876-1936), lawyer and campaigner for Chinese rights, was born in Wangaratta, Victoria. 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. William specialised in civil cases, including lawsuits over divorce petitions, wills and contracts. Last night, things came full circle when I attended the launch of the 2019 William Ah Ket Scholarship at the Chinese Museum in Melbourne. 4The Melbourne University Magazine, Volume 1, Number 1, 1907, 20. William was a member of the Chinese Empire Reform Association of 1904 and the Anti-Opium League of Victoria, organisations which supported modernisation and social reform among Chinese at home and abroad. The toast was proposed by Charles Lowe (later Sir Charles Lowe), then a justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria and subsequently Chancellor of Melbourne University between 1941 and 1954, and was also supported by Justice Owen Dixon of the High Court and Professor Kenneth Bailey, then Dean of Melbourne Law School.5 Interestingly, William had appeared in cases as senior to Lowe and as junior to Dixon before they were elevated to the bench. He was born on 20 June 1876 at Wangaratta, Victoria, the only son and fifth child of Mah Ket and Hing Ung. [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. "She never saw her children raised, she never was never able to live in the community like her husband or anything," Vivienne says. of Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital. William was particularly active in the fight against racial discrimination and appeared in many 'public interest' cases. We will never satisfy our ambitions. "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. We should have done Medicine.[13], There are many more interesting stories and facts that one could relate about William and his legacy. who had made such a worthy contribution to the history of 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. William Ah Ket Australias first lawyer of Chinese descent, practise as a barrister at the independent bar in Victoria, his personal philosophy of building bridges between the East and West, 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. He supported the creation of a committee to Mah was born circa 1870, in China. 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. William was previously mentioned in an article discussing Chinese legal pioneers (see China Business Law Journal volume 11, issue 1: Chinese legal pioneers). Life [ edit] With paternal ancestry from Taishan, southern China, Ah Ket was Australia's first barrister of Asian heritage or ethnicity. Th my scam n ni ng r xc phm g cu. This Despite this, between 1905 and 1928, he appeared before the High Court on at least 12 occasions. During his career Ah Ket battled the harsh effects of the White Australia Policy in 1908. 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. 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. 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