Asian Studies Program
La Trobe University
Victoria 3086
AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 3 9479 1315 Fax: +61 3 9479 1880 Email:cha@latrobe.edu.au
Asian Studies Program
Chinese Australia
The life of William Ah Ket - Building bridges
between East and West
Unit title:
The life of William Ah Ket - Building bridges between East
and West
Year level:
Middle secondary
Key learning areas:
- Studies of society and environment
- English
- The arts
Curriculum emphasis:
From: Studies in Asia: A Statement for Australian Schools:
- Likely implications of closer Asia-Australia relationships
- World contributions by the peoples of Asia
Duration:
Two to three 50 minute lessons.
Description:
Students read the story of William Ah Ket, an Australian-born
Chinese man who became a respected leader in the community
in the early twentieth century. This story is used as the
context for research, vocabulary development and creative
tasks.
Teacher background material:
The following links provide an introduction and overview of
the topics covered in this unit:
- Brief
History of the Chinese in Australia on the Chinese Heritage
of Australian Federation website.
- 'Taxes
on Chinese Immigration to Australia, 1901 Immigration Restriction
Act and the Dictation Test' a background article on
the Chinese Heritage of Australian Federation website that
explains the reasons for and the practice of restricting the
immigration of Chinese into Australia in the early 20th century.
These were the discriminatory laws that William Ah Ket opposed.
Student outcomes:
Students will:
- the significant contribution to society made by William
Ah Ket
- some other prominent individuals mentioned in Ah Ket's story
- evaluate the work of William Ah Ket and design an appropriate
public memorial to him.
Materials required:
- Computer/s with internet access. Alternatively could use
a cached version of the site or print the relevant pages and
copy onto overheads or handouts.
- Dictionary (hard copy or online - e.g: http://www.yourdictionary.com)
- Atlas
- Art/craft materials
- Local newspapers
Procedure: 1. Read the story:
Read 'William
Ah Ket - Building Bridges between Occident and Orient in Australia,
1900-1936' on the Chinese Heritage of Australian Federation
website. Teachers may like to break class into small groups
and allocate each group a person to investigate or a number
of the words to define. Groups will then share their findings.
WORDS: Using a dictionary (hard copy or online)
define the following words or terms in the context of the
story: Occident, Orient, adroit, mandarin, matriculation,
articles, forebears, Federation, discriminatory, agitate,
alleviation, canny, fascism, ethnology.
PEOPLE: Use the links below to find out who the following
people were and what they did: R.G. Menzies, John Williams,
Confucius, Quong Tart, Cheok Hong Cheong, Dr. Sun Yat Sen.
- Richard Sliwa's fan website of John
Williams
-
'R.G. Menzies' article part of 'Famous Australians' on
the ABC Online website.
- Entry on 'Confucius'
by Wu-Chi Liu, Ph.D. on the MSN Encarta website.
- Entry on 'Confucius'
on Biography.com website.
- Biographies of 'Quong
Tart' and 'Dr.
Sun Yat Sen' on the Harvest of Endurance Scroll website.
- Background on 'Cheok
Hong Cheong' on the Chinese Heritage of Australian Federation
website.
2. Group activity:
Divide the class into small groups. Summarise the main achievements/contributions
of William Ah Ket. Imagine that your group has been commissioned
to create a lasting public memorial to him. Think about the
form this memorial should take (eg: statue, mural, piece of
music, building, scholarship...) and where it should be located.
Sketch, compose or make a model of your memorial. This 'draft'
memorial should be accompanied by a 'submission' to the people
of the area where you wish to locate this memorial. The submission
will outline the reasons that the memorial should be produced,
why you have designed it in this way and why you have chosen
to locate it in that area.
Each group will present its submission to the rest of the
class.
3. A community leader in your local area
Choose someone from your area who is considered a community
leader. Write a brief report about this person, considering
questions such as:
- Is this person associated with a particular group in the
community - eg: a particular ethnic, age or interest group?
- What has this person achieved for the community?
- How is this person's work acknowledged in the community?
- Sources of information may include your local council and
local newspapers or other media.
Author:
Karen Dowling
Summary of websites used in this lesson:
Chinese Heritage of Australian Federation website - http - Brief History of the Chinese in Australia
- education/history.htm
- Stories - stories.htm
- Background information - education/about.htm
