William Ah Ket (1876 - 1936)

Born 20 Jun 1876 in Wangaratta, Victoria.

Husband of Gertrude Victoria (Bullock) Ah Ket — married about 1912 (to Aug 1936) in Kew, Victoria, Australia

Died 6 Aug 1936 at age 60 in Malvern, Victoria, Australia

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Biography

William Ah Ket is Notable.

William was born in 1876 at Wangaratta in the Colony of Victoria. William was the only son and fifth child of Ah Ket, a storekeeper and a grower and buyer of tobacco, and his wife Hing Ung. They had been married in Melbourne in 1864. 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.

William (Bill) Ah Ket 麥錫祥 himself was a noted Australian barrister, recorded as the first Australia barrister of Chinese descent. In his early teens he acted as a court interpreter for members of the Chinese community and after he matriculated from his local high school in 1893 he entered law at the University of Melbourne. After completing a single subject he proceeding to his articled clerk's course in 1898. He won the Supreme Court Judges' Prize in 1902, allowing him to complete his articles with Maddock & Jamieson. He was finally admitted to practice in May 1903 and read with Sir. Stewart McArthur and signed the Bar roll in June 1904.

From the Ovens and Murray Advertiser of Saturday 22 November 1902 we see some background into his law studies:

A Successful Law Student. — Mr. William Ah Ket, who successfully qualified as a barrister and solicitor at the recent law examination, and was awarded the Supreme Court prize of £40 — a coveted distinction, is a full-blooded, clever young Chinese, only son of the late Mah Ket, an old and esteemed resident of the Wangaratta district. Mah Ket's paternal wish was that William should qualify for the law, in his countrymen's interest, and with this object in view, secured a Chinese tutor for his youthful son, with the result that the hero of the recent law examinations was acting as interpreter with success in court cases in which his countrymen were involved early in his teens, and has had a Chinese education suitable for all practical purposes. Mr. William Ah Ket's sisters have a local reputation as expert needlewomen, and on several occasions swept the board in the needle work sections at the district shows. Mah Ket's attachment to his family was a household word about Wangaratta, where he acted as adviser-general to the large colony of Chinese engaged in tobacco and hop growing, and his demise, which took place a couple of days after the death of his wife— a full-blooded Chinese lady — was generally attributed to a broken heart.

In 1912 he married Miss Gertrude Victoria Bullock at the Kew Methodist Church, in Melbourne, Victoria. They had two sons in William and Stanley and two daughters, Melaan and Toylaan.

Bill Ah Ket was a co-founder of the Australian-Chinese Association and one of two delegates from the Chinese community in Australia to the opening of the Chinese national parliament of 1912. In 1913–14 and 1917. He also acted as Consul-General for China in Melbourne from time to time, when the Consul-General returned to China. He was also a co-founder and president of the Nam Pon Soon Society, and a committee member of Melbourne's See Yup Society. A member of the Chinese Empire Reform Association of 1904 and of the Anti-Opium League of Victoria, organizations which supported modernization and social reform among Chinese at home and abroad

He passed away in August 1936 at Malvern, Victoria, Australia of Arteriosclerosis and renal failure. From the The Herald newspaper of Thursday 6 August 1936 we see an Obituary below:

DEATH OF Mr. AH KET

Popular Barrister

Mr. William Ah Ket. barrister, died today at his home in Dandenong Road. Malvern, after an illness of about two months.

He is survived by a widow, two sons and two daughters.

Mr. Ah Ket was a full-blooded Chinese, had a complete mastery of the English language, and achieved considerable success at the Bar.

His practice was mostly in the Civil Jurisdiction, and he was one of the most popular barristers in Victoria.

Mr. Ah Ket, who was 60, was born at Wangaratta.

His first association with the law was as a Chinese interpreter while still a schoolboy.

He was educated at Wangaratta High School and Grammar School, and had a brilliant academic record at Melbourne University. In 1902 he won the coveted Supreme Court Judges' Prize.

After his admittance as a barrister and solicitor in 1903, Mr. Ah Ket joined the staff of Messrs. Maddocks, Jamieson and Lonie, solicitors. He read for the Bar with the late Mr. Justice McArthur.

Mr. Ah Ket's ability as a cross-examiner was instantly recognised. For many years he was in the front rank of pleaders.

He had a flair for mathematics, and was regarded as an authority on insolvency law.

Throughout his life Mr. Ah Ket believed in the settlement of legal disputes by arbitration. He was credited with more settlements than any other member of the Victorian Bar.

He was noted for his practical out-look and shrewdness.

He has acted as Consul-General for China.

In 1995 His daughter Toylaan Ah Ket, wrote:

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.

Sources

• Victorian Births, Deaths & Marriages. BIRTH: AH KET, William - event: Birth - mother: Hing UNG - father: Ah Ket - district: WANG - registration year: 1876 - registration no. 19916/1876. first accessed online on the 16th of April, 2022 from the Victorian Family History Search searchable database at: https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/research-and-family-history/search-your-family-history

• Victorian Births, Deaths & Marriages. MARRIAGES: AH KET, Wm. - event: Marriage - bride: BULLOCK, Gerte. Vic. - registration year: 1912 - registration no. 9518/1912. first accessed online on the 16th of April, 2022 from the Victorian Family History Search searchable database at: https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/research-and-family-history/search-your-family-history

• Victorian Births, Deaths & Marriages. DEATH: AH KET, William - event: Death - mother: Unknown UNKNOWN - father: MAH KET - place of birth: WANGARATTA , VICTORIA - place of death: MALVERN - spouse at death: <Unknown Family Name> - age at death: 60 - registration year: 1936 - registration no. 6888/1936. first accessed online on the 16th of April, 2022 from the Victorian Family History Search searchable database at: https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/research-and-family-history/search-your-family-history

• John Lack, Ah Ket, William (1876–1936), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ah-ket-william-4979/text8267, published first in hardcopy 1979, accessed online 21 March 2022.

• William Ah Ket from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. first accessed online on the 21st of March, 2002 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ah_Ket

• William Ah Ket: the first Chinese-Australian barrister produced by Jane Lee. From The History Listen with Kirsti Melville on ABC Radio. Broadcast: Tuesday 22 March 2022. first accessed online on the 23rd of March, 2022 at: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/the-history-listen/william-ah-ket-the-first-chinese-australian-barrister/13775814

• The People: WILLIAM AH KET from the NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIA website. from a collection called: Harvest of Endurance scroll. as archived at: https://web.archive.org/web/20070901214414/http://www.nma.gov.au/collections/collection_interactives/harvest_of_endurance_html_version/the_people/william_ah_ket/ first accessed online on the 23rd of March, 2022.

• Asian Studies Program: Chinese Australia: William Ah Ket - Building Bridges between Occident and Orient in Australia, 1900-1936 By Toylaan Ah Ket. archived from the LaTrobe University: Humanities and Social Sciences website. (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) first accessed online on the 23rd of March, 2022 at: https://web.archive.org/web/20080719145218/http://www.chaf.lib.latrobe.edu.au/stories/wahket.htm

• THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE: MATRICULATION EXAMINATION.—MAY, 1893. RESULTS. from The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946) of Saturday 3 June 1893, Page 25. first accessed on TROVE on the 21st of March, 2022 at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/138655926?searchTerm=%22william%20Ah%20Ket%22

• Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Vic. : 1855 - 1918) of Saturday 22 November 1902, Page 2. first accessed on TROVE on the 21st of March, 2022 at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/201478059?searchTerm=%22william%20Ah%20Ket%22

• SOME WORDS WITH THE LORD MAYOR. from the Punch (Melbourne, Vic. : 1900 - 1918; 1925) of Thursday 27 November 1902, Page 11. first accessed on TROVE on the 21st of March, 2022 at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/175396767?searchTerm=%22william%20Ah%20Ket%22

• PERSONAL. from the Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1859 - 1929) of Monday 18 November 1912, Page 4. first accessed on TROVE on the 21st of March, 2022 at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/218774321?

• DEATH OF Mr AH KET from The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954) of Thursday 6 August 1936, Page 3. first accessed on TROVE on the 21st of March, 2022 at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/244752480?

• Family Notices from The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) of Friday 7 August 1936, Page 1. first accessed on TROVE on the 21st of March, 2022 at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/11900382?searchTerm=%22william%20Ah%20Ket%22

• Mr. WILLIAM AH KET. from The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954) of Saturday 8 August 1936, Page 22. first accessed on TROVE on the 21st of March, 2022 at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/204901483?searchTerm=%22william%20Ah%20Ket%22

• Advertising from The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) of Tuesday 10 November 1936, Page 14. first accessed on TROVE on the 21st of March, 2022 at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/11934862?searchTerm=%22william%20Ah%20Ket%22

• Residents of Upper Beaconsfield and surrounding areas as Compiled by Marianne Rocke. from the History of Upper Beaconsfield website.

• William Ah Ket memorial plaque on the Monument Australia website