J. D. Lang, Scottish rights and the introduction of the 1836 Church Act

Abstract

Church of Scotland ministers represented the established church of the Scottish people, the third largest immigrant group in the colony of New South Wales (NSW). Their influence was legitimised and expanded through the Church Act (1836), reinforcing and perpetuating Scottish values and culture. This Act committed the colony to support from general revenue, the expansion of religion by generously funding the building of churches and the income of clergy. Proposed by Governor Richard Bourke in 1833, the scheme received Colonial Office approval in 1836. John Dunmore Lang dominated NSW Presbyterianism in the period before the Church Act, and by looking at his beliefs, conflicts and actions a number of important aspects of Presbyterianism and Scottish rights can be explored. These were important factors impacting on the approval and introduction of the Church Act. Lang's political career was dominated by his opposition to the Act, but in the 1830s his advancement of Scottish rights and beliefs, and his lobbying for increased government funding for the Church of Scotland, stimulated awareness about religious inequality in NSW that solidified support in Britain for the Church Act. This article also contributes to current understandings of radical political ideas in NSW by demonstrating that Lang's political ideology was essentially underpinned by the belief that Scottish Presbyterianism and Scottish immigrants were agents of morality, essential to the establishment of a prosperous Christian nation.