Author: LANG, John Dunmore
Biography:
LANG, John Dunmore (1799-1878: ODNB)
Born 25 Aug. 1799 at Greenock, Renfrewshire, the eldest child of William Lang (1768?-1830), a minor tradesman and landowner, and his wife, Mary Dunmore (1770-1844), Lang was educated at Largs parish school (1807/8-1811) and Glasgow University (MA 1820, DD 1825) where he gained prizes. He was licensed to preach in the Presbyterian church in 1820. Having followed his brother George to New South Wales, he arrived there in May 1823. Against his mother’s wishes, at Cape Town on 25 Aug. 1831 onboard the ship Stirling Castle, he married his second cousin, 18-year-old Wilhelmina Mackie (1812-1891). Five of their ten children did not live past infancy. As minister, writer, and politician, Lang was energetic, impatient, scathing, stubborn, restless, and self-certain. He was the author of hundreds of pamphlets, articles, and books; he was the continent’s first regular Presbyterian minister; the founder of Australia’s first university; and a legislative representative (1843-69). To advocate for Australian interests, he voyaged to England ten times. He pushed for subsidized emigration to Australia, the ending of convict transportation, better treatment of aboriginal people, state-sponsored education, the education of women, separation of church and state, and republican government. When he died at Sydney on 8 Aug. 1878 he was accorded a state funeral; tens of thousands witnessed the cortège. (ODNB 19 Apr. 2023; ADB 19 Apr. 2023) JC