Sir Robert Menzies practised with William in Selborne Chambers. That includes our servers. New and compelling histories from Australia and around the world. specifically exclude the Chinese from gaining a livelihood
I haven't yet established who exactly it was that organised James Minahan's legal representation; the Chinese consulate began its operations the following year. could well be achieved if the Morrison Lectureship Foundation
of his time who could mix with ease, and enjoy widespread
Each data center building is the size of a modern day aircraft carrier, nearly four football fields long. in Wangaratta, William Ah Ket continued his regular attendance
His father had taken him to China when he was about five years old. William's father, Mah Ket, was one of Australia's earliest tobacco farmers. 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. "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.". He was a leading activist in the campaigns for equal rights for Chinese-Australians at a time when anti-Chinese sentiment ran deep. We will never satisfy our ambitions. Their eldest son William Ket MBBS became Deputy Superintendent
by Sir Colin MacKenzie and were brought to fruition through
of Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital. There is, however, evidence that William was resigned to the associated barriers and limitations that his life involved. Australia's first Asian lawyer, William Ah Ket, who battled racism and achieved landmark victories, and how his legacy lives on Chinese-Australian barrister and lawyer William Ah Ket was known. Burns or Gilbert & Sullivan. They had two sons (William and Stanley) and two daughters (Melaan and Toylaan). He was an alumnus of the University of Melbourne. 1John Lack, Ah Ket, William (1876 1936),Australian Dictionary of Biography, available athttp://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ah-ket-william-4979. His father Mah Ket had arrived in Australia in the 1850s, during the gold rush era, and his mother in the 1860s. would increase friendship and understanding between the people
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. community, such as Quong Tart in Sydney and Cheok Hong. youthful experience in 'bridging' the two worlds of East and
He became the leading Chinese in the district and a respected member of the Wangaratta community. times, William Ah Ket was affectionately regarded as the Chinese
William Ah Ket (, 20 June 1876 6 August 1936) was a noted Australian barrister. Ah Kets legal team successfully proved that he was not a prohibited immigrant. "But we're living in days of the incarceration of refugees and asylum seekers. 16Isabel Carter, Woman in a Wig: Joan Rosanove, QC (Lansdowne Press, 1970), 13. He believed his objective
In an interview with the National Library of Australia in 1993, she remembered her affluent childhood. View William Webb's profile on LinkedIn, the world's largest professional community. 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". 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. "Obviously there's not a White Australia policy as such against Chinese migrants," she says. 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. [14] Karin Derkley, above n 6. He said that "William Ah Ket did not ever sit on the Bench, though he would have been a very competent judge. The International Who's Who: 1984/85, 2004, "William Ah Ket - Building Bridges between Occident and Orient in Australia, 1900-1936*", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Ah_Ket&oldid=1136723876, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 31 January 2023, at 20:35. The Melbourne Chinese Chamber of Commerce asked him to represent Australian Chinese at the opening of the first Chinese Parliament in Beijing in December, 1912 and he was Acting Consul for China in 19131914 and 1917. Australia, by putting into practice his personal philosophy
a keen if not always successful punter. Despite his high profile and achievements, it would seem that others were advanced while he was not. ROMEO Ha az lom hzelked emnek Hinnem lehet, mindjrt rm knt rm. 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. daughter Toylaan gained her BA(hons) degree at Sydney University
He died on 6 August 1936 of arteriosclerosis and renal failure at Malvern, Victoria. At that time, people born in Australia were British citizens by right, regardless of their parents origins. Father and son worked as court interpreters in their spare time. or a night of comedy at the Tivoli with Stiffy & Mo. Ah Kets legal team successfully proved that he was not a prohibited immigrant. Church to a young Australian woman, Gertrude Bullock, whose
all born in Australia to his Chinese parents. of their happy marriage with a small party at a Chinese banquet
of the massive petitions raised by the Anti-Opium League of
alleviation of all unreasonable conditions imposed on the
5 Law Students Society Dinner to Sir Harrison Moore, Farrago 5(5), April 23, 1929. William's father, Mah Ket, became highly respected
Blossom says. Asian Studies Program
After his return
See the complete profile on LinkedIn and discover William's . for reciting pithy quotations from either Shakespeare, Robby
He is also believed to be the first Chinese barrister to practise in Australia. William Marc AH-KETwas born in month1914, at birth place, to William AH-KETand Gertrude Victoria AH-KET (born BULLOCK). Morrison Lecture was given in 1932 by
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. William Penrod Davis, age 80+, lives in Eagle Mountain, UT. 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. 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. Mah was born circa 1870, in China. By Andrew GodwinAssociate Director (Asian Commercial Law), Asian Law Centre, Melbourne Law School. Three years later, the untimely death of William Ah Ket brought
Menzies, Owen Dixon, James Tait, and
William's client, James Minahan, was born in Australia to an Anglo-Australian mother and Chinese father. 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. 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! Asian Australians have played a vital role in the legal profession since the late 1800s, starting with the first barrister of Chinese origin to join the independent bar in Victoria, William Ah Ket. He was born in Victoria in 1876, the only son among six daughters
that he could maintain his enthusiasm for cricket as a ball-to-ball
Ah Kets colleagues remembered him with warmth and affection as an amiable and gregarious man, greatly respected for his ability and integrity. 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 Victoria. After reading with (Sir) Stewart McArthur,
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 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. He made several successful submissions opposing the Victorian
On top of that work, William also had to deal with racism. Sir Colin envisaged a lectureship that
That in itself was an "impressive feat", says Reynah Tang, the founding president of the Asian-Australian Lawyers' Association. He was born on 20 June 1876 at Wangaratta, Victoria, the only son and fifth child of Mah Ket and Hing Ung. We should have done Medicine.16, There are many more interesting stories and facts that one could relate about William and his legacy. Once completed, the Eagle Mountain Data Center will be a nearly 2.4 million square foot campus. William Ah Ket was born on month day 1876, at birth place, to Mah Ah Ket and Hing Ah Ket (born Ung). He joined the Victorian Bar in 1904, reading with Stewart McArthur who later went on to be a Supreme Court judge and became the first Chinese barrister to practise in Melbourne. His father, Ah Ket, and mother, Hing Ung, had established one of the first tobacco farms on the King River. Masonic Lodge No.123 and held life-membership of the MCG so
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