the subject of 'Reconciliation between Eastern and Western
He was an alumnus of the University of Melbourne. to an end the legal career of a truly remarkable Chinese gentleman
and friendship between the West and the East led him to accept
[7] William Ah Ket Scholarship 2019, Program (9 October 2019). Supplied: William Ah Ket's descendants Topics: history , laws , melbourne-3000 Top Stories 'Total deviousness': Witnesses recount 'suspicious' inferno in the Luna Park Ghost Train 'If you're offered it, take it': Government backs AstraZeneca despite blood clot concerns 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. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Church to a young Australian woman, Gertrude Bullock, whose
Parliament for the new Republic in 1912. level and not merely through trade. Father and son worked as court interpreters in their spare time. community, such as Quong Tart in Sydney and Cheok Hong. Please contact us. 1John Lack, Ah Ket, William (1876 1936),Australian Dictionary of Biography, available athttp://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ah-ket-william-4979. which he moved. I am proud to have been part of this fantastic initiative. For group subscribers, please click here to access.Interested in group subscription? Historians say Mah Ket encouraged his son to study law to help the Chinese community, which was facing discriminatory laws at the end of the 19th century. 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. in the furniture-making trade. He was born in Victoria in 1876, the only son among six daughters
1John Lack, Ah Ket, William (1876 1936), Australian Dictionary of Biography, available at http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ah-ket-william-4979. family. [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. theatre-goers during the "Gay 20s" before the Depression. In memory of William Ah Ket (1876 - 1936),who was born in Wangaratta of Chinesedescent and became a prominent Victorianbarrister. The couple had four children William, Stanley, Melaan and Toylaan. - either Her Majesty's or the Princess Theatre - for a Melba
Less is known about another person - Wu Ting Fang. [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. Association in Australia held at Macquarie University on 5 July 1995. "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.". 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. For example, in addition to a busy life at the bar, William Ah Ket spent time as a diplomat, serving as acting consul-general for China in 1913-1914 and in 1917. "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. [2] William stayed involved with the University and was elected the President of the Law Students Society on 19 April 1907. 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 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. Australias first Chinese barrister William Ah Ket was born in the Victorian country town of Wangaratta. . William Ah Ket was Australia's first Chinese Australian lawyer and, later, acting consul-general for China in Australia. He also appeared before Justice Lowe after he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Victoria. in Melbourne, publicly opposed discriminatory laws against
William married Gertrude Victoria Ah Ket (born Bullock) on month day 1912, at age 36 at marriage place. Neither of us will ever be made a judge, you because you are a woman. [14] Karin Derkley, above n 6. of their happy marriage with a small party at a Chinese banquet
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. Andrew can be contacted on a.godwin@unimelb.edu.au. In his more-than 30-year career, William was never promoted to the rank of senior barrister or appointed judge. His mother, Hing Ung, had bound feet and spoke no English. 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. his tertiary studies at Melbourne University, William received
Morrison Lecture was given in 1932 by
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 born in 1876, in the north-east Victorian town of Wangaratta one of eight children. William Ah Ket in Selborne Chambers, Melbourne circa 1933.Source: http://monumentaustralia.org.au/. Last night, things came full circle when I attended the launch of the 2019 William Ah Ket Scholarship at the Chinese Museum in Melbourne. of growing up in a traditional Chinese household where his
If Monument Australia is useful to you, please make a donation to keep this historical and educational resource available. Williams, founder of the Spanish Guitar Centre in London,
to Australia, William Ah Ket was appointed as Acting Consul-General
'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. [1] Helen Penrose, To Build a Firm: The Maddocks Story (Maddocks, 2010), 11[2] See 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. such a reputation for his canny tactics as a cross-examiner. Neither of us will ever be made a judge, you because you are a woman. 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! In 1921, William and Gertrude
One time, boys chased Toylaan and her sister home from Sunday school, throwing stones and calling them "Ching-chong Chinamen". 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. of 'building bridges between the East and West.'. he signed the Bar Roll in 1904 and became the first Chinese
[4] Citing Sir Robert Menzies, The Measure of the Years (Cassell Australia, 1970) at 249. The keynote address is delivered by Chief Justice of The High Court of Australia, the Honourable Susan Kiefel AC, who makes the following comments: By all accounts, Mr Ah Ket was a remarkable man. 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! youthful experience in 'bridging' the two worlds of East and
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. He completed his articles with the solicitors Maddison &
Neither of us will ever be made a judge, you because you are a woman. Chinese language. The story of William Ah Ket is a significant one in the history of the Australian legal profession. He was a phenomenon at the Victorian Bar, a full-blooded Chinese born in the north-east of Victoria. barrister to practice in Melbourne. . 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 . In the 1930s world peace began to waver under the threat
In a passage that is still recognised as current law in Australia, Justice OConnor stated as follows: It is improbable that the legislature would overthrow fundamental principles, infringe rights, or depart from the general system of law, without expressing its intention with irresistible clearness [10], 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.'[11]. he moved to Melbourne to study Law at Melbourne University. View William Webb's profile on LinkedIn, the world's largest professional community. William Ah Ket [] was born in Wangaratta in the state of Victoria, Australia, in 1876. William Ah Ket made history when he signed the bar roll. William Ah Ket fought social prejudice in and out of court. 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. Menzies, Owen Dixon, James Tait, and
Gertrudewas born on July 11 1887, in Clifton Hill, Victoria, Australia. During his career Ah Ket battled the harsh effects of the White Australia Policy in 1908. of the massive petitions raised by the Anti-Opium League of
After completing his secondary education, he studied law at the University of Melbourne, and joined the law firm of Maddock & Jamieson (now Maddocks). 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. 8Citing 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. 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. migrated from Canton in the 1850s, and when the Gold Rush
Wu was born in the Straits Settlement in 1842. 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. 6Citing Karin Derkley, William Ah Ket Legacy Recognised (2018) 92(3) Law Institute Journal 83 at 83, 84. One case he was involved in successfully challenged the Immigration Restriction Act better known as the White Australia policy in 1908. "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. Defend yourself nobly but always in a dignified fashion.". 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. 7Citing Sir Robert Menzies,The Measure of the Years (Cassell Australia, 1970) at 249. amendments to the 1896 Factories & Shops Act to
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). 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. James_Michael, Hm qua, lc 22:28. His witticisms were aimed less to disarm the witness than
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. In an interview with the National Library of Australia in 1993, she remembered her affluent childhood. of his time who could mix with ease, and enjoy widespread
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. 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. of the George Ernest Morrison Memorial Lectureship in Ethnology
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. The views and
In the 1900s William Ah Ket along with other leaders of the
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. The eldest daughter, Melaan, married Len
We will never satisfy our ambitions. 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. "Remembering William Ah Ket is about remembering these rights were fought for they weren't just given by the benevolent government," she says. "She never saw her children raised, she never was never able to live in the community like her husband or anything," Vivienne says. Their father said "the boys were teasing her and boys tend to do that". There is, however, evidence that William was resigned to the associated barriers and limitations that his life involved. president of the Australian-Chinese Association, co-founder
William was survived by his wife Gertrude Victoria (nee Bullock) and four children Dr. William, Stanley, Melaan and Toylaan. ROMEO Ha az lom hzelked emnek Hinnem lehet, mindjrt rm knt rm. Popular among the press reporters and cartoonists of his
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. This article contains content that is not available. 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. At that time, people born in Australia were British citizens by right, regardless of their parents origins. "Rumpole" of the Victorian Supreme Court, gaining
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