Cirrus@Austlit

John Dunmore Lang was born in Scotland and was educated at Glasgow University. After completing a Doctor of Divinity degree he migrated to Sydney in 1823 where he became Australia's first Presbyterian minister. As a clergyman, politician, educationist and journalist, he was a prominent public figure in New South Wales. He held seats for Port Phillip and Stanley (Moreton Bay) in the Legislative Council, and the seat of West Sydney in the Legislative Assembly (1859-1869). He wrote numerous religious, political and historical books and pamphlets, and he founded successively the three weekly newspapers, the Colonist (1835-1840), the Colonial Observer (1841-1844) and the Press (1851). He was an advocate of immigration, education and republicanism, and he criticised the system of convict transportation. Lang's poetry includes translations from Greek and German, and from Australian Aboriginal dialects.