Asian Studies Program
Chinese Australia
William Ah Ket - Building Bridges between Occident
and Orient in Australia, 1900-1936*
By Toylaan Ah Ket
My father, William Ah Ket rose to prominence in the 1900s-1930s
as one of Melbourne's most talented and adroit barristers.
He was born in Victoria in 1876, the only son among six daughters
all born in Australia to his Chinese parents. His father had
migrated from Canton in the 1850s, and when the Gold Rush
in Australia ended, he settled in Wangaratta to raise his
family. William's father, Mah Ket, became highly respected
as the local 'mandarin' and Law Courts Interpreter, and prospered
well as a tobacco-grower, store-keeper, and property owner.
William was educated in Wangaratta, and on gaining his matriculation
he moved to Melbourne to study Law at Melbourne University.
He completed his articles with the solicitors Maddison &
Jamieson in 1903. After reading with (Sir) Stewart McArthur,
he signed the Bar Roll in 1904 and became the first Chinese
barrister to practice in Melbourne. He built up a successful
practice in Selbourne Chambers alongside such famous neighbours
as Arthur Deane, R.G. Menzies, Owen Dixon, James Tait, and
Ben Dunn who all gained renown in that era as KCs, or Justices
of the Supreme Court and knights of the realm.
At the age of 35, William was married at the Kew Methodist
Church to a young Australian woman, Gertrude Bullock, whose
English-born forebears had migrated to Australia from Cheshire
and Cambridge respectively. In 1921, William and Gertrude
established their home at No.1 Dandenong Road, Malvern where
they raised a family of two sons and two daughters.
Their eldest son William Ket MBBS became Deputy Superintendent
of Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital. The younger son
Captain Stanley Ket (LLB) served with the Intelligence Unit
of the AIF in World War II and was killed during the Allied
landing at Tarakan. The eldest daughter, Melaan, married Len
Williams, founder of the Spanish Guitar Centre in London,
and their only son, John Williams, has been acclaimed as one
of the world's most talented classical guitarists. Their youngest
daughter Toylaan gained her BA(hons) degree at Sydney University
in 1982 and is currently writing the biography of her father.
William Ah Ket became a leading figure in the Chinese Australian
community during the early years of Federation. Prior to completing
his tertiary studies at Melbourne University, William received
a full primary and secondary education in Wangaratta's public
schools. in Chisholm Street. In addition, he had the advantage
of growing up in a traditional Chinese household where his
father employed a resident tutor for his 'seven little Australians'
to learn the cultural traditions of ancient China, and to
master the Confucian skills of reading and writing in the
Chinese language. There is little doubt that William Ah Ket's
youthful experience in 'bridging' the two worlds of East and
West enabled him to become one of the few Chinese Australians
of his time who could mix with ease, and enjoy widespread
respect, not only within his legal fraternity, but within
the social, business and sporting circles of Melbourne in
which he moved.
In the 1900s William Ah Ket along with other leaders of the
community, such as Quong Tart in Sydney and Cheok Hong. Cheong
in Melbourne, publicly opposed discriminatory laws against
Chinese people. He supported the creation of a committee to
agitate against the Immigration Restriction Act in
1901. For the next twenty years he worked tirelessly for the
alleviation of all unreasonable conditions imposed on the
Chinese under the umbrella of the White Australia Policy,
such as the Dictation Test and Limitation of Residence.
William Ah Ket also wrote articles and gave lectures in support
of the massive petitions raised by the Anti-Opium League of
Victoria, and the increasing protests of influential clergymen
and educators against racial discrimination in Australia.
He made several successful submissions opposing the Victorian
government's repeated attempts in 1904, 1905 and 1907 to make
amendments to the 1896 Factories & Shops Act to
specifically exclude the Chinese from gaining a livelihood
in the furniture-making trade. He was also co-founder and
president of the Australian-Chinese Association, co-founder
and president of the Nam Pon Soon Society, and a committee
member of Melbourne's See Yup Society.
William Ah Ket was chosen as delegate by the Chinese Chamber
of Commerce to represent Victoria at the Conference of Overseas
Chinese called by Dr. Sun Yat Sen to attend the first National
Parliament for the new Republic in 1912. After his return
to Australia, William Ah Ket was appointed as Acting Consul-General
for China in Melbourne in 1913-14 and again in 1917.
Popular among the press reporters and cartoonists of his
times, William Ah Ket was affectionately regarded as the Chinese
"Rumpole" of the Victorian Supreme Court, gaining
such a reputation for his canny tactics as a cross-examiner.
His witticisms were aimed less to disarm the witness than
to win the reluctant approval of the bench with his propensity
for reciting pithy quotations from either Shakespeare, Robby
Burns or Gilbert & Sullivan.
William's personal interests were widely diversified. He
was a founding member and Grand Master of the East Caulfield
Masonic Lodge No.123 and held life-membership of the MCG so
that he could maintain his enthusiasm for cricket as a ball-to-ball
eyewitness of the Test matches between England and Australia.
Following his youthful introduction to country horse-racing
in Wangaratta, William Ah Ket continued his regular attendance
at Saturday's race-meetings in Melbourne, never missing his
place in The Stand during the season of The Oaks, the Caulfield
Guineas and the Melbourne Cup, where he was recognised as
a keen if not always successful punter.
Both William Ah Ket and his wife were music-lovers and regular
theatre-goers during the "Gay 20s" before the Depression.
It was customary for them to celebrate the various anniversaries
of their happy marriage with a small party at a Chinese banquet
in Little Bourke Street or attending one of the city theatres
- either Her Majesty's or the Princess Theatre - for a Melba
recital, a Gilbert & Sullivan production, a Franz Lehar
light opera or a Gladys Moncrief musical . Occasionally their
choice would be a controversial play at The Little Theatre,
or a night of comedy at the Tivoli with Stiffy & Mo.
In the 1930s world peace began to waver under the threat
of Germany's fascism and Japan's expanding military aggression
in China and towards the Pacific nations including Australia.
In 1931, William Ah Ket's dedication to foster increased understanding
and friendship between the West and the East led him to accept
joint Trusteeship with Sir Colin MacKenzie in the founding
of the George Ernest Morrison Memorial Lectureship in Ethnology
at the National University in Canberra.
Guidelines for the Lectureship had been initially proposed
by Sir Colin MacKenzie and were brought to fruition through
the efforts of William Ah Ket in Melbourne and William J.
Liu in Sydney who both obtained generous financial support
for its foundation. Sir Colin envisaged a lectureship that
would increase friendship and understanding between the people
of Australia and the people of China - albeit at the academic
level and not merely through trade. He believed his objective
could well be achieved if the Morrison Lectureship Foundation
invited scholars from interstate and overseas to deliver the
kind of lectures at the Australian National University that
would provide all Australians with a better knowledge of the
arts, sciences, and history of the Chinese people.
The Inaugural G.E. Morrison Lecture was given in 1932 by
the Consul-General for China, Dr. W.P. Chen, and in 1933 the
second Morrison Lecture was delivered by William Ah Ket on
the subject of 'Reconciliation between Eastern and Western
ways of thinking, with particular reference to Confucius'.
Three years later, the untimely death of William Ah Ket brought
to an end the legal career of a truly remarkable Chinese gentleman
who had made such a worthy contribution to the history of
Australia, by putting into practice his personal philosophy
of 'building bridges between the East and West.'
NOTE: The author, Toylaan Ah Ket, is the daughter of William Ah Ket. This
paper is based on a paper she gave at the Conference of the Chinese Studies
Association in Australia held at Macquarie University on 5 July 1995.
|
