Description
William Ah Ket was the first Chinese Australian barrister to join the Victorian Bar and a leading light of the profession from 1907 to 1935, at the height of the White Australia policy when such a career for a Chinese Australian was unprecedented. He was described by his friend, Robert Menzies, as ‘a phenomenon at the Victorian Bar’, while Senator R.G. Withers noted that ‘Menzies learned his famous declamatory style of debating from observing the tactics of a famous Chinese lawyer attached to the Melbourne Bar, who ran rings around the learned judges of the High Court in the 1920s’.
William campaigned strongly against racial discrimination, featuring in many landmark civil rights cases and challenging the anti-Chinese laws of that era. He also maintained a very successful civil law practice, gaining a reputation for wit, guile and humour in court, and for his extraordinary erudition.
Written by William’s daughter Toylaan (1920–2015) and published posthumously, this biography is a unique portrayal of a wise and brilliant man, his legal career highlights, and the lifestyle of a successful professional Chinese Australian family in the early 1900s. William Ah Ket committed his life to the goal of building a fairer society for the benefit of all Australians – a goal that resonates to this day.
