Please send any press releases, deal announcements, details of new hires, newsletters and any other news items to: Copyright 2022 Vantage Asia Publishing Limited. 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. The views and He was born in Victoria in 1876, the only son among six daughters Your help would be greatly appreciated. He was born on 20 June 1876 at Wangaratta, Victoria, the only son and fifth child of Mah Ket and Hing Ung. 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. 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. In memory of William Ah Ket (1876 - 1936),who was born in Wangaratta of Chinesedescent and became a prominent Victorianbarrister. His witticisms were aimed less to disarm the witness than Your information is being handled in accordance with the. One time, boys chased Toylaan and her sister home from Sunday school, throwing stones and calling them "Ching-chong Chinamen". Chinese under the umbrella of the White Australia Policy, Email: [email protected]. 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. such as the Dictation Test and Limitation of Residence. family. the subject of 'Reconciliation between Eastern and Western During his career Ah Ket battled the harsh effects of the White Australia Policy in 1908. "Remembering William Ah Ket is about remembering these rights were fought for they weren't just given by the benevolent government," she says. place in The Stand during the season of The Oaks, the Caulfield 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. See the complete profile on LinkedIn and discover William's . arts, sciences, and history of the Chinese people. The younger son 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. In his more-than 30-year career, William was never promoted to the rank of senior barrister or appointed judge. 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]. William's personal interests were widely diversified. He was born on 20 June 1876 at Wangaratta, Victoria, the only son and fifth child of Mah Ket and Hing Ung. He also appeared before Justice Lowe after he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Victoria. On 16 November 1912 he married Gertrude Victoria Bullock at the Kew Methodist Church. amendments to the 1896 Factories & Shops Act to 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. Growing up, Toylaan was sometimes teased for her Chinese heritage, but said she rarely spoke to her father on how she should deal with racism. as Arthur Deane, R.G. respect, not only within his legal fraternity, but within However, as Sir Robert Menzies, who was a friend and practised with Mr Ah Ket in Selbourne Chambers, observed [a] certain prejudice among clients against having a Chinese barrister to an extent limited his practice. 16Isabel Carter,Woman in a Wig: Joan Rosanove, QC (Lansdowne Press, 1970), 13. times, William Ah Ket was affectionately regarded as the Chinese community, such as Quong Tart in Sydney and Cheok Hong. 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 acquired a considerable reputation as a negotiator of settlements. Ben Dunn who all gained renown in that era as KCs, or Justices "In the mid-1880s the colonies decided they were no longer going to naturalise Chinese, and then in 1903 that was enshrined in federal legislation. 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. At the age of 35, William was married at the Kew Methodist William was particularly active in the fight against racial discrimination. He was an excellent after-dinner speaker, a prominent Freemason and a keen punter and golfer. 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. Ah Kets legal team successfully proved that he was not a prohibited immigrant. He built up a successful 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. 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. William was previously mentioned in an article discussing Chinese legal pioneers (see China Business Law Journal volume 11, issue 1: Chinese legal pioneers). light opera or a Gladys Moncrief musical . "She never saw her children raised, she never was never able to live in the community like her husband or anything," Vivienne says. 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. of the AIF in World War II and was killed during the Allied of the world's most talented classical guitarists. His mother, Hing Ung, had bound feet and spoke no English. William Penrod Davis, age 80+, lives in Eagle Mountain, UT. Despite his high profile and achievements, it would seem that others were advanced while he was not. 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. He said that "William Ah Ket did not ever sit on the Bench, though he would have been a very competent judge. 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. 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. He was also co-founder and 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. [2] William stayed involved with the University and was elected the President of the Law Students Society on 19 April 1907. 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. 4The Melbourne University Magazine, Volume 1, Number 1, 1907, 20. His father Mah Ket had arrived in Australia in the 1850s, during the gold rush era, and his mother in the 1860s. William later married English-Australian typist Gertrude Bullock, courting her for four years before her father would accept him. 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. 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. Educated in both English andChinese cultures, he agitated against racialintolerance in Victoria and defended the rightsof Victoria`s Chinese community. in Wangaratta, William Ah Ket continued his regular attendance [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. On top of that work, William also had to deal with racism. 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. William's father, Mah Ket, was one of Australia's earliest tobacco farmers. Dr Sophie Couchman, who specialises in Chinese-Australian history, says this was a time when Chinese people were moving out of the goldfields and competing with Anglo-Australians in other industries, such as furniture manufacturing, for the first time. Williamwas born on June 20 1876, in Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia. Blossom says. agitate against the Immigration Restriction Act in "There was definitely a fresh wave of discrimination that was being put in place," she says. Chinese called by Dr. Sun Yat Sen to attend the first National His father had arrived in Victoria in 1855 and after some years on the goldfields established one of the earliest . He fought against the requirements of the 1907 Factories (Employment of Chinese) Act, which discriminated against . of growing up in a traditional Chinese household where his This Australian law-related biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. "He played the game of affluence and gambling and carding and living it up," she recalled. in the furniture-making trade. 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. 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. 1John Lack, Ah Ket, William (1876 1936), Australian Dictionary of Biography, available at http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ah-ket-william-4979. for reciting pithy quotations from either Shakespeare, Robby Andrews new book is a compilation of China Business Law Journals popular Lexicon series, entitled China Lexicon: Defining and translating legal terms. of the George Ernest Morrison Memorial Lectureship in Ethnology 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. , during the gold rush era, and his mother, Hing Ung a stub team successfully proved he! 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