Photo: Victor Crittenden (Left) writer of John Lang: Australia’s Larrikin Writer’ with friend Rory Medcalf
By RAJU GUSAIN
DEHRADUN:No photograph or portrait of Australia’s first novelist John Lang is available in England. The same is the case with Australia. But a biography on barrister, writer and novelist John Lang released recently in Australia has published a rare sketch of this unsung writer.
The biography, titled ‘John Lang: Australia’s Larrikin Writer’, published by The Mulini Press (Canberra) is an extensively researched work by Victor Crittenden. The biography throws new light on the life of Australia’s first novelist Lang, who died in Mussoorie. On the cover of the book is a sketch of John Lang. The picture has been taken from the cover of John Lang’s well-known book ‘Wandering in India.’
Incidentally the biography is among the first books to republish the portrait.Though the microfilms of Lang’s newspaper ‘The Mofussilite’ are available at the British Library (London) but there is no photograph extant. Hedley Sutton of the India Office Records in the British Library, says, “We have no photographs, portraits or private papers of John Lang. The library has microfilms of his newspaper “The Mofussilite” from 2 August to 22 November 1845 and then from 1 January 1847 to 24 May 1876.”
The case is no different in Australia as Anne Chittleborough, Researcher at the Australian Literature Gateway in Adelaide, states: “We don’t have a photo of Lang. I even tried at archival holdings in Australian libraries but failed to located the photo there either.”
Victor Crittenden needs to be lauded for bringing out an extensively researched title. Commenting on the problem faced in penning ‘John Lang: Australia’s Larrikin Writer’ the author says, “One of the difficulties in writing about the life story of John Lang is the lack of original material. There are no diaries and particularly no letters. He is seldom mentioned in the writing of his many friends and acquaintances.”
“I had to rely on his published works which ere often autobiographical in nature. Most important was his newspaper ‘The Mofussilite’,” Victor adds.
Expressing pain at the present situation, with Lang remaining an unsung hero in Australia, the author says, “Today we claim any celebrity who has even a vague connection with Australia and any such celebrity who was born in this country is forever vigorously claimed as one of our own. So, let it be with John Lang. He was a real Australian - let us re-establish our claim to him and his works.
Garhwal Post
8-14 January, 2006
Dehradun (Uttaranchal, INDIA)
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