Cirrus@Austlit

19th-Century Australian Travel Writing

Scotsman John Dunmore Lang (1799-1878) was a politician, clergyman, educationalist, immigration organiser, journalist and prolific author. At the time of publishing Phillipsland (1847), he was a senior minister of the Presbyterian Church, and member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales; honorary vice-president of the African Institute of France, and honorary member of the Literary Institute of Olinda in the Brazils. Phillipsland presents a mixture of descriptive and historical information, particularly in the first three and final three chapters of the text, as well as narratives of travel within Victoria. These travels include excursions to the country surrounding Melbourne, Geelong, the Western Plains, Portland Bay, and Gippsland. Lang described the daily incidents of travel, the landscape, with particular attention to geology, and the people and societies encountered on these travels. The narrative was interspersed with quotations from contemporary authorities on Australia. Lang also wrote The Australian Emigrant’s Manual; or A Guide to the Gold Colonies of New South Wales and Port Phillip (1852); Queensland, Australia: A Highly Eligible Field for Emigration, and the Future Cottonfield of Britain: With a Disquisition on the Origin, Manners, Customs of the Aborigines (1861); Notes of a Trip to the Westward and Southward, in the Colony of New South Wales; In the Months of March and April 1862; Re-published from the Sydney “Empire” (1862).