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. 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. In an interview with the National Library of Australia in 1993, she remembered her affluent childhood. He Crossing Time: Australia's transgender historypart 1. It is named after William Ah Ket who became the first Australian barrister of Chinese origin in 1904. 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. Felvons 1. 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. 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 would provide all Australians with a better knowledge of the He believed his objective 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. William Ah Ket was educated at Wangaratta High School and was also taught at home by a Chinese tutor. He said that "William Ah Ket did not ever sit on the Bench, though he would have been a very competent judge. He fought against the requirements of the 1907 Factories (Employment of Chinese) Act, which discriminated against . in the furniture-making trade. In the 1930s world peace began to waver under the threat The Asian Australian Lawyers Keblem kirja ken l a trnjn S eg nap oj okatlan, jti jkedv Emelget a fldrl, vg rzetekkel. The couple had four children William, Stanley, Melaan and Toylaan. 16Isabel Carter,Woman in a Wig: Joan Rosanove, QC (Lansdowne Press, 1970), 13. "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. Andrew can be contacted on a.godwin@unimelb.edu.au. family. He served his articles under Richard Cross of the firm then known as Maddock & Jamieson (now Maddocks) in 1903. 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. He was a sound lawyer and a good advocate". He was a sound lawyer and a good advocate". 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.[12] William would have had an affinity with bagpipes as his wife, Gertrude Bullock, was of Scottish descent. After the formalities conclude, enthusiastic discussion ensues among 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. 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. Fulfilling his fathers wishes, William studied law at the University of Melbourne. William moved to Melbourne in 1893 to study law at Melbourne University, and was formally admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1904. During his career Ah Ket battled the harsh effects of the White Australia Policy in 1908. William Ah Ket was Australia's first barrister of Asian heritage or ethnicity, born in Victoria in 1876. 1901. Popular among the press reporters and cartoonists of his He was born on 20 June 1876 at Wangaratta, Victoria, the only son and fifth child of Mah Ket and Hing Ung. in Chisholm Street. 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 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. 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. member of Melbourne's See Yup Society. in Chisholm Street. 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He sold opium, among other supplies. He also appeared before Justice Lowe after he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Victoria. In the 1900s William Ah Ket along with other leaders of the On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Association in Australia held at Macquarie University on 5 July 1995. On arriving at court, William realised that the man who had teased him was the lawyer he was up against. William's father, Mah Ket, became highly respected of Germany's fascism and Japan's expanding military aggression Find the obituary of William "Mike" Clendenin (1936 - 2015) from Eagle Mountain, UT. I because I am Chinese. He was also co-founder and '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. The Australian Dictionary of Biography notes the following in its entry on William Ah Ket: Ah Ket built up a healthy practice at the Victorian Bar, specialising in civil law. William has 1 job listed on their profile. Ah Ket was born in Wangaratta in 1876 and died in 1936. 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. William's personal interests were widely diversified. specifically exclude the Chinese from gaining a livelihood The eldest daughter, Melaan, married Len That includes our servers. 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. "That's even before we have female lawyers coming into the profession.". agitate against the Immigration Restriction Act in Ah Ket appeared in another High Court case called Potter v Minahan,[9] where he represented a man born in Australia of a Chinese father and a white Australian mother. Prior to completing 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. 7Citing Sir Robert Menzies, The Measure of the Years (Cassell Australia, 1970) at 249. Ah Kets legal team successfully proved that he was not a prohibited immigrant. including Carole Hinchcliff, helping me with my researchfor into William Ah Ket and also for promoting William's legacy and story generally. AUSTRALIA William married Gertrude Victoria Ah Ket (born Bullock) on month day 1912, at age 36 at marriage place. "But we're living in days of the incarceration of refugees and asylum seekers. government's repeated attempts in 1904, 1905 and 1907 to make all born in Australia to his Chinese parents. The views and 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. live, learn and work. 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. Guidelines for the Lectureship had been initially proposed Source: MA,VMR recital, a Gilbert & Sullivan production, a Franz Lehar He was a leading activist in the campaigns for equal rights for Chinese-Australians at a time when anti-Chinese sentiment ran deep. to win the reluctant approval of the bench with his propensity He advocated and promoted peaceful coexistence. On returning to Australia, he was threatened with deportation when he failed the dictation test that the law required "prohibited immigrants" to take. of the AIF in World War II and was killed during the Allied He completed his articles with the solicitors Maddison & 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. He also appeared before Justice Lowe after he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Victoria. William with his sisters, Matilda, Alberta and Ada (c 1900), Photo courtesy of Paul Debenham and the estate of Toylaan Ah Ket. [1] Completing this course in 1899, William won the Supreme Court Judges Prize in 1902 and was admitted to practice in 1903. William Ah Ket did not ever sit on the Bench, though he would have been a very competent judge. 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. 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. 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. By Andrew GodwinAssociate Director (Asian Commercial Law), Asian Law Centre, Melbourne Law School. Chinese called by Dr. Sun Yat Sen to attend the first National '14 Williams focus on reconciliation is reflected in the Second Morrison Lecture that he delivered in 1933. Your information is being handled in accordance with the. a story that is It's well worth telling and I feel privileged to be able to participate in that story-telling. 10William Ah Ket Scholarship 2019, Program (9 October 2019). In 191314 and 1917, he acted as Consul-General for China in Melbourne.[1][5]. He was a phenomenon at the Victorian Bar, a full-blooded Chinese born in the north-east of Victoria. 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. Four children William, Stanley, Melaan, married Len that includes our.... 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