author
John Lang
1816–1864
A restless 19th-century writer, lawyer, and newspaper man, he is often described as Australia’s first native-born novelist. Much of his most memorable work grew out of his years in India, where his sharp eye for character and conflict fed both his fiction and his journalism.
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About the author
Born in Sydney on 19 December 1816, John Lang trained in law and was admitted as a barrister before building a wider career as a writer. Reference works including the Australian Dictionary of Biography describe him as Australia’s first native-born novelist, and his life quickly stretched far beyond the colony where he was born.
After studying in England, he returned to Australia and then moved permanently to India in the early 1840s. There he founded newspapers, practiced law, and wrote prolifically, producing novels, journalism, and travel writing. His years in India gave his work much of its energy, mixing courtroom drama, colonial politics, and close observation of everyday life.
Lang is also remembered for his connection to the Rani of Jhansi, whose legal cause he took up against the East India Company. He died in Mussoorie on 20 August 1864, leaving behind a career that was unusually adventurous even for his time: part literary pioneer, part combative journalist, and part working lawyer.