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John Dunmore Lang in Sydney

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Scottish Presbyterianism and Settler Colonial Politics

Part of the book series: Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series ((CIPCSS))

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Abstract

This chapter describes the early career of John Dunmore Lang (1799–1878) who moved to Sydney in 1822 where he became the first Presbyterian minister in the city. Lang became critical of the dominant position of Anglicans in colonial society and the lack of support available for Scottish Presbyterians. Lang’s politics, this chapter argues, were shaped by his commitment to Scottish Presbyterian values. Lang was inspired by a reading of the Scottish past which interpreted Anglicanism and Catholicism as tyrannising faiths. Lang maintained that the Treaty of Union had guaranteed to Scots in perpetuity the religious and civil liberties secured to them by the sacrifices of the Covenanters. He criticised the exclusive nature of crown colony rule in Australia, where Anglicans, he argued, were a protected class, and called for the institution of a more accountable government.

‘Scotchmen are freeborn. Their civil & religious liberties were won for them by the swords of their forefathers and they are a degenerate race if they do not vindicate their right to both.’

(National Library of Australia [NLA], Lang papers, MS3267, Box 4, copy of a letter to his Ex. Major General Sir Thomas Brisbane)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Baker 1985.

  2. 2.

    Gascoigne 2002, p. 60.

  3. 3.

    McKenna 1996, pp. 7–10; Pickering 2007, p. 140; Pickering 2001.

  4. 4.

    Jones 2009.

  5. 5.

    Cochrane 2006, p. 10.

  6. 6.

    Woollacott 2015, p. 6.

  7. 7.

    Edmonds 2001. Older works on Lang include: Linder 1992. See also Elford 1968; Baker 1994.

  8. 8.

    Jones and Pickering 2014, p. 128.

  9. 9.

    Carey 2012, p. 243. See also Gladwin 2015, pp. 14–15.

  10. 10.

    Jones 2014.

  11. 11.

    Gilchrist 1951, p. 1.

  12. 12.

    Stoneman 2013, p. 194. On Lang’s evangelical politics see also Linder 1992.

  13. 13.

    On Lang’s biblically inspired immigration schemes see Lake 2008, pp. 264–96; Carey 2011.

  14. 14.

    Jones 2014, p. 13.

  15. 15.

    Colley 2014, p. 266, n. 83. On this theme see also Pickering 2008.

  16. 16.

    Lang 1972, p. 28.

  17. 17.

    Lang 1972, p. 9.

  18. 18.

    Fletcher 2002.

  19. 19.

    Lang 1972, p. 36.

  20. 20.

    Lang 1972, p. 38.

  21. 21.

    Mitchell Library, Sydney [ML], Lang papers, A2232 CY 2187, Address on behalf of the Scots Presbyterians of Portland Head New South Wales & of Hobart Town Van Diemen’s Land, respectfully presented To Scotchmen & Presbyterians in Calcutta & throughout the Presidency of Bengal.

  22. 22.

    See a letter to Lang from Janet Robertson: ML, Lang papers, MSS 268/1 CY3349. Robertson had been informed by M’Crie of Lang’s whereabouts. Robertson suggested that Lang might want to communicate news of her son who had migrated to Sydney either directly to her or through M’Crie. See also letter from A Mackay in Thurso who invited Lang to visit him in 1825 while M’Crie’s son was staying and suggested they travel back together: NLA, Lang papers, A2226 [CY 893], A. Mackay to Lang, 23 June 1825.

  23. 23.

    ‘Death of John M’Crie’, The Colonist, 11 February 1838.

  24. 24.

    NLA, Lang papers, MS3267, Box 4, copy of a letter to his Ex. Major General Sir Thomas Brisbane.

  25. 25.

    ‘Review’, The Colonist, 22 January 1835.

  26. 26.

    Lang 1837, II, p. 238.

  27. 27.

    Grose 1988, p. 115. For the controversy surrounding this clause in pre-revolutionary America see Landsman 2011.

  28. 28.

    Shelford 1841, p. 54.

  29. 29.

    ML, Lang papers, A2230 CY 809, Joseph Gellibrand to George Arthur, 20 December 1825; ML, Lang papers, MSS 3016 [CY 3738], George Arthur to Lang, 21 December 1825.

  30. 30.

    NLA, Lang papers, A2226 [CY 893], Saxe Bannister to Lang, 2 May 1824[?].

  31. 31.

    Grose 1988, p. 119.

  32. 32.

    Lang 1972, pp. 43–4.

  33. 33.

    NLA, Lang papers, MS 3267, Box 1, 158/3, letter from Colonial Secretary, 14 November 1826.

  34. 34.

    Lang 1837, II, p. 245.

  35. 35.

    Lang 1837, I, pp. 236–7.

  36. 36.

    NLA, Lang papers, A2226 [CY 893], Darling to Lang, 23 May 1834.

  37. 37.

    Lang 1972, p. 63.

  38. 38.

    Lang 1837, II, p. 237.

  39. 39.

    Lang 1837, I, p. 257.

  40. 40.

    Lang 1837, I, p. 335.

  41. 41.

    Lang 1972, p. 66.

  42. 42.

    Lang 1831a, p. 26.

  43. 43.

    See e.g., Lang 1831b, pp. 24, 31.

  44. 44.

    Lang 1837, II, p. 270.

  45. 45.

    Lang 1837, II, p. 238.

  46. 46.

    Lang 1837, II, p. 269.

  47. 47.

    See ML, Lang papers, A2236 CY 1487, Broughton to Lang, 16 January 1830.

  48. 48.

    Lang 1837, II, p. 324.

  49. 49.

    Baker 1963, p. 226.

  50. 50.

    Lang 1831a, p. 3.

  51. 51.

    ML, Lang papers, A2236 CY 1487, Prospectus of an Institution proposed to be formed in Sydney under the designation of the Caledonian Academy.

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  1. School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

    Valerie Wallace

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Wallace, V. (2018). John Dunmore Lang in Sydney. In: Scottish Presbyterianism and Settler Colonial Politics. Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70467-8_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70467-8_4

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