Australia's Trail-Blazing First Novelist: John Lang

'Writer, journalist, barrister, larrikin'

Who was the first Australian novelist?

John Lang, born in a Parramatta pub in 1816 with the convict ‘stain’ upon him, was a singular character. The first native-born person to have a novel published, he was also a newspaperman, a classical scholar and translator, barrister, celebrity, jailbird … enigma. He was hugely energetic, capable and original, but he also had his demons.

A larrikin polymath who refused to be bound by convention, Lang didn’t j...