Australia’s long-lost writer remembered in India

Rake sketch of John Lang (The Mulini Press)
Australia-India Focus,
July-Sept 2 0 0 5

A long-neglected cultural link between Australia and India is being revived, with the unveiling of a memorial plaque to the first Australian-born novelist, John Lang, in the Indian town where he is buried. Born in Parramatta in 1816, Lang moved to India at 25, and spent most of the rest of his life there. He died in 1864 in the Himalayan hill station of Mussoorie, where a hundred years later his grave was discovered by local resident and celebrated author Ruskin Bond.
As a barrister, journalist, writer, scholar and inveterate traveller, Lang was a friend of India. He was a gifted student of Indian languages. His travel writings about India for Charles Dickens’ journal Household Words are among the most vivid accounts of the India of his day. Lang founded a popular newspaper, The Mofussilite, which often took a critical line against the East India Company. He also represented some prominent Indians, including the Rani of Jhansi, in their legalfights against the British — which did not earn him friends in the establishment. He was even imprisoned after being convicted of defaming a Company officer in his newspaper.In Australia, meanwhile, John Lang is known more for his works of fiction set in the early decades of the colony, including the novel The Forger’s Wife and the collection of short stories Botany Bay.

The new Lang plaque is in Mussoorie’s Christ Church, the oldest church in the Himalayas. This church was where Lang’s second marriage took place in 1861. Three years later, Lang’s funeral rites were performed by the Christ Church Chaplain.The plaque was commissioned by two Australian Lang scholars, Rory Medcalf — who began his study of the subject during a diplomatic posting to India — and Victor Crittenden, who has been researching Lang for many years. The Mussoorie plaque is not the only recent boost to Lang’s profile. In September, Victor Crittenden’s long-awaited biography of Lang, John Lang: Australia's Larrikin Writer was launched in Canberra by the Director-General of the Australian National Library, Jan Fullerton AO. This is the first comprehensive account of Lang’s life in Australia, England and India, and reflects a wealth of in-depth literary detective work onLang’s novels and journalism.

Through his Mulini Press, Mr Crittenden has also commenced a ‘John Lang Project’. This includes developing a dedicated website as well as plans to republish many of John Lang’s works in the years ahead. In 2006, the Project is due to publish a collection of Lang’s Indian stories edited by Mr Crittenden and Mr Medcalf.

The Indian press is also beginning to take an interest in John Lang. A journalist in Dehra Dun, Raju Gusain, is helping to generate publicity about the subject, while another, Jai Prakash Uttarakhandi, has even named his weekly English/Hindi newspaper the Mafasilite in honour ofLang’s journal. Rick Hosking of the Department of English at Flinders’ University, who has a long-standing interest in Lang’s and other English-language literature of India, has welcomed the revival of interest in Lang, and the momentum that this reflected for ‘generating cultural connections between Australia and India’.

(The Australia-India Focus newsletter is produced bi-monthly by the Australia-India Council www.dfat.gov.au/aic/australia_india_focus_newsletter_jul_sep2005.pdf)