Jul 28, 2026 · 29 min · 13 segments
It's 150 years since the birth of William Ah Ket, Australia's first lawyer of Chinese descent. He was involved in two significant legal victories that kicked back against laws that discriminated…
Andrew GodwinGuestDamien CarrickHost
He was actually the first known barrister of Chinese descent in Australia, so that's what marks him out as being significant.
Um, in fact, depending on how you date the commencement of the Victorian bar, whether it's 1839 or 1841, uh, it's been said that he was the only non-European barrister at the Victorian bar in its first 120 years.
So quite remarkable when you think about how unique he was at the time and also how successful he was in terms of building his career, despite the restrictions on the Chinese and discriminatory legislation that existed at the time.
Uh, I think there are three reasons why it's good to remember Ah Ket, first of which is, as I said, he was the first Australian barrister of Chinese origin.
There were other Chinese who were admitted as solicitors in Victoria, but William, as I mentioned, is the first known example of a barrister of Chinese descent at the Victorian bar.
Second reason is that William was, as I said, very prominent and appeared in a number of important cases, many of which still represent current law, so they're still cited in the courts, they're still cited by textbooks and what have you.
The third reason, uh, was his attempts to successfully, I think, bridge the gap or gulf between the East and the West.
Uh, he spent a lot of his life trying to reconcile the differences and trying to enable the Chinese in Victoria to integrate and to become part of the mainstream, as in fact they have become, and have they been very much part of our history since inception.
His father had come to Victoria in, I think, 1851 or thereabouts from the southern part of China, a region called Siyup, the Four Counties region.
And, uh, he came out to work as a community leader in the goldfields for the Chinese workers who worked on the goldfields.
Less is known about his mother's place of birth, but she came out perhaps about, uh, 10, 15 years later.
As you might be aware, in the 19th century, many, um, Chinese women had bound feet.
She, um, came out, married his father, Mark Ket, and they had altogether eight children, two of whom didn't make it through childhood.
He was actually the first known barrister of Chinese descent in Australia, so that's what marks him out as being significant.
Um, in fact, depending on how you date the commencement of the Victorian bar, whether it's 1839 or 1841, uh, it's been said that he was the only non-European barrister at the Victorian bar in its first 120 years.
So quite remarkable when you think about how unique he was at the time and also how successful he was in terms of building his career, despite the restrictions on the Chinese and discriminatory legislation that existed at the time.
Uh, I think there are three reasons why it's good to remember Ah Ket, first of which is, as I said, he was the first Australian barrister of Chinese origin.
There were other Chinese who were admitted as solicitors in Victoria, but William, as I mentioned, is the first known example of a barrister of Chinese descent at the Victorian bar.
Second reason is that William was, as I said, very prominent and appeared in a number of important cases, many of which still represent current law, so they're still cited in the courts, they're still cited by textbooks and what have you.
The third reason, uh, was his attempts to successfully, I think, bridge the gap or gulf between the East and the West.
Uh, he spent a lot of his life trying to reconcile the differences and trying to enable the Chinese in Victoria to integrate and to become part of the mainstream, as in fact they have become, and have they been very much part of our history since inception.
His father had come to Victoria in, I think, 1851 or thereabouts from the southern part of China, a region called Siyup, the Four Counties region.
And, uh, he came out to work as a community leader in the goldfields for the Chinese workers who worked on the goldfields.
Less is known about his mother's place of birth, but she came out perhaps about, uh, 10, 15 years later.
As you might be aware, in the 19th century, many, um, Chinese women had bound feet.
She, um, came out, married his father, Mark Ket, and they had altogether eight children, two of whom didn't make it through childhood.
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