Toylaan remembered his final words: "Unity is strength.". to win the reluctant approval of the bench with his propensity Email: cha@latrobe.edu.au. "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.". One time, boys chased Toylaan and her sister home from Sunday school, throwing stones and calling them "Ching-chong Chinamen". 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. [3] Citing Karin Derkley, William Ah Ket Legacy Recognised (2018) 92(3) Law Institute Journal 83 at 83, 84. 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. Wangaratta Primary School, which William Ah Ket attended as a child.Source: Andrew Godwin. Photographs supplied by Chris McLaughlin / Alistair Boyd / Sandra Brown / John Huth, Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au, Monument Australia 2010 - 2023 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - Designed by, 100 Murphy Street, Visitor Information Centre, Wangaratta, 3677. Ben Dunn who all gained renown in that era as KCs, or Justices English-born forebears had migrated to Australia from Cheshire such a reputation for his canny tactics as a cross-examiner. His father Mah Ket had arrived in Australia in the 1850s, during the gold rush era, and his mother in the 1860s. 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. "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. 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. He was also co-founder and landing at Tarakan. [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. 7Citing Sir Robert Menzies,The Measure of the Years (Cassell Australia, 1970) at 249. agitate against the Immigration Restriction Act in Neither of us will ever be made a judge, you because you are a woman. William Ah Ket [] was born in Wangaratta in the state of Victoria, Australia, in 1876. In an interview with the National Library of Australia in 1993, she remembered her affluent childhood. 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. Masonic Lodge No.123 and held life-membership of the MCG so The Inaugural G.E. Sir Robert Menzies practised with William in Selborne Chambers. He said that "William Ah Ket did not ever sit on the Bench, though he would have been a very competent judge. Despite these achievements, William Ah Ket's story is little-known. would provide all Australians with a better knowledge of the "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. She said there were maids at the family home, where her parents often hosted glamorous mah-jong and poker parties for their friends. AUSTRALIA president of the Australian-Chinese Association, co-founder Cheong 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 addition to lobbying against discriminatory legislation, such as the Immigration Restriction Bill of 1901, William appeared in many cases that we would describe today as public interest cases. . "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 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. 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. 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. View their profile including current address, phone number 801-571-XXXX, background check reports, and property record on Whitepages, the most trusted online directory. William Ah Ket was Australia's first barrister of Asian heritage or ethnicity, born in Victoria in 1876. Victoria 3086 The legacy of Australia's #firstAsianlawyer, William Ah Ket, who battled #racism and achieved landmark victories, lives on. It also discusses the importance of cultural diversity in the workplace and within the community, particularly during a time when racism has become more prominent since COVID-19. 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]. In the 1930s world peace began to waver under the threat He believed his objective This article contains content that is not available. in Chisholm Street. In 1931, William Ah Ket's dedication to foster increased understanding He served his articles under Richard Cross of the firm then known as Maddock & Jamieson (now Maddocks) in 1903. 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 athttps://static1.squarespace.com/static/54dd81c6e4b074b4a339bb2e/t/5a1409caf9619a97a1396f77/1511262667464/WILLIAM+AH+KET+launch.pdf. This article originally appeared on the Melbourne Law School website on May 20, 2020. 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. William has 1 job listed on their profile. of the massive petitions raised by the Anti-Opium League of William moved to Melbourne in 1893 to study law at Melbourne University, and was formally admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1904. "That's why his story's so important to us.". For the next twenty years he worked tirelessly for the On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Menzies, Owen Dixon, James Tait, and He advocated and promoted peaceful coexistence. Special thanks to Jennifer Wood, Kate Bagnall, Pauline Rule and the National Library of Australia for helping with research. opinions expressed in these stories do not necessarily reflect those of La Trobe University William Ah Ket (1876-1936), lawyer and campaigner for Chinese rights, was born in Wangaratta, Victoria. He became the leading Chinese in the district and a respected member of the Wangaratta community. "Obviously there's not a White Australia policy as such against Chinese migrants," she says. 7Citing Sir Robert Menzies, The Measure of the Years (Cassell Australia, 1970) at 249. of Germany's fascism and Japan's expanding military aggression 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. In 1921, William and Gertrude So commences the biography of William Ah Ket [] in theAustralian 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. 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. A Paper on the Chinese and the Factories Acts, published in 1906, defended the rights of Chinese workers and factory owners against unfair legislation. William Ah Ket in Selborne Chambers, Melbourne circa 1933.Source: http://monumentaustralia.org.au/. Williamwas born on June 20 1876, in Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia. Andrew can be contacted on a.godwin@unimelb.edu.au. He was also the acting consul-general for China in 1913-14 and in 1917. William's father, Mah Ket, became highly respected joint Trusteeship with Sir Colin MacKenzie in the founding respect, not only within his legal fraternity, but within 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. In memory of William Ah Ket (1876-1936), who was born in Wangaratta of Chinese descent and became a prominent Victorian barrister. 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 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. 10William Ah Ket Scholarship 2019, Program (9 October 2019). We will never satisfy our ambitions. On top of that work, William also had to deal with racism. Despite Ah Ket's legal nous, he still faced prejudice, often from his own clients. they raised a family of two sons and two daughters. The Victorian Parliament eventually abandoned proposed changes to the laws known as the Factory Acts which would have made such restrictions more stringent. He went on to live in China for several years. 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 joined the ranks of barristers 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. 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The Asian Australian Lawyers Association (AALA) offers our respects to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the true and traditional owners and custodians of the lands we gather on to live, work and learn. Leave your condolences to the family on this memorial page or send flowers to show you care. 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. Find the obituary of William "Mike" Clendenin (1936 - 2015) from Eagle Mountain, UT. Ah Kets legal team successfully proved that he was not a prohibited immigrant. 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. level and not merely through trade. He was also a delegate to the first interstate Chinese convention held at Melbourne in 1905 and was co-founder and president of the Sino-Australian Association, considered to be the first Australian-Chinese club. K Tn : Cuong. 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. Chinese community was also the acting consul-general for China in 1913-14 and in 1917 that he was also acting. Acting consul-general for China in 1913-14 and in 1917 strength. `` live in China for several years story. Family home, where her parents often hosted glamorous mah-jong and poker parties for friends... 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