The Hon. John Thomas LANG (1876 - 1975)**

Date of Birth: 21/12/1876 Place of Birth: Brickfield Hill, New South Wales, Australia Date of Death: 27/09/1975 Place of Death: Auburn, New South Wales, Australia

Parliamentary Service

Position Start End Period Notes Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly 6 Dec 1913 15 Aug 1946 32yr(s) 8mth(s) 10day(s) Member for Granville 6 Dec 1913 21 Feb 1917 3yr(s) 2mth(s) 16day(s) 23rd (1913 - 1917) Member for Granville 24 Mar 1917 18 Feb 1920 2yr(s) 10mth(s) 26day(s) 24th (1917 - 1920) Member for Parramatta 20 Mar 1920 17 Feb 1922 1yr(s) 10mth(s) 29day(s) 25th (1920 - 1922) Member for Parramatta 25 Mar 1922 18 Apr 1925 3yr(s) 25day(s) 26th (1922 - 1925) Member for Parramatta 30 May 1925 7 Sep 1927 2yr(s) 3mth(s) 9day(s) 27th (1925 - 1927) Member for Auburn 8 Oct 1927 18 Sep 1930 2yr(s) 11mth(s) 11day(s) 28th (1927 - 1930) Member for Auburn 25 Oct 1930 18 May 1932 1yr(s) 6mth(s) 24day(s) 29th (1930 - 1932) Member for Auburn 11 Jun 1932 12 Apr 1935 2yr(s) 10mth(s) 2day(s) 30th (1932 - 1935) Member for Auburn 11 May 1935 24 Feb 1938 2yr(s) 9mth(s) 14day(s) 31st (1935 - 1938) Member for Auburn 26 Mar 1938 18 Apr 1941 3yr(s) 24day(s) 32nd (1938 - 1941) Member for Auburn 10 May 1941 15 Jul 1943 2yr(s) 2mth(s) 6day(s) 33rd (1941 - 1944) Member for Auburn 2 Oct 1943 24 Apr 1944 6mth(s) 23day(s) 33rd (1941 - 1944) Member for Auburn 27 May 1944 15 Aug 1946 2yr(s) 2mth(s) 20day(s) 34th (1944 - 1947) Colonial Treasurer 13 Apr 1920 10 Oct 1921 1yr(s) 5mth(s) 28day(s) Colonial Treasurer 10 Oct 1921 20 Dec 1921 2mth(s) 11day(s) Colonial Treasurer 20 Dec 1921 13 Apr 1922 3mth(s) 25day(s) Premier 17 Jun 1925 18 Oct 1927 2yrs 4mths 2days Acting Minister for Agriculture 23 Mar 1926 3 Sep 1926 5mth(s) 12day(s) Secretary for Lands and Minister for Forests 25 Nov 1926 26 May 1927 6mth(s) 2day(s) Premier 4 Nov 1930 13 May 1932 1yr(s) 6mth(s) 10day(s) Colonial Treasurer 17 Jun 1925 18 Oct 1927 2yr(s) 4mth(s) 2day(s) Colonial Treasurer 4 Nov 1930 13 May 1932 1yr(s) 6mth(s) 10day(s) The Governor's Opening Speech Committee No. 1 3 Mar 1914 3 Mar 1914 1day 23rd (1913 - 1917)

Political Party Activity

Australian Labor Party (ALP). Campaign director of James Catts 1904, secretary Granville and Auburn branch from c1903, secretary of Nepean Federation Electorate council from 1906; whip 1917-1918; leader 1923-1939, after 1931 of breakaway New South Wales branch; established Australian Labor Party (Non-Communist) in 1941; expelled from Labor in March 1943. Readmitted 1971.

Community Activity

Commissioned as a Justice of the Peace in 1914

Qualifications, occupations and interests

Real estate agent. Educated at St Francis Marist Brothers' School, Brickfield Hill and, while with uncle in Bairnsdale, local Catholic school; newspaper boy; entered Auburn office of Robert Harley, accountant and estate agent, c1896; in partnership with H. H. Dawes, opened own estate agency and auctioneering firm 1901, which later controlled, managed by family after election to the New South Wales Parliament; director of Labor Daily 1924-1938, established Century 1938, which edited to 1975; secretary of Newington Progress Association 1903-1907; foundation secretary of Auburn Starr-Bowkett Society 1906-1909; published Why I Fight! 1934, Communism in Australia 1944, Communism is Treason 1948, I Remember 1956, The Great Bust 1962, The Turbulent Years 1970.

Membership of other Parliaments & Offices Held

Member of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia. Member of the House of Representatives for Reid 1946 - 1949.

Local Government Activity

Alderman Auburn 1906-1914, Mayor 1909-1911, Executive of Local Government Association 1910.

Personal

Son of James Henry Lang, watchmaker, and his wife Mary Whelan. Married on 14 March 1896 to Hilda Amelia Bredt, and had issue, 3 sons and 4 daughters. Funeral at Rookwood Lawn Cemetery from St Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral.

Additional Information

Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 9 A. C. Willis, ‘The Lang plan: a case for Australia’, 1931 M. H. Ellis, ‘The red road : the story of the capture of the Lang Party by Communists, instructed from Moscow’, 1932 John H. C. Sleeman,’The life of J.T. Lang’, 1935 R. Dixon, ‘The story of J.T. Lang’, 1943 Arthur A Calwell, ‘Lang was never right’, 1949 Jack Lang, ‘I remember: autobiography’, 1956, 1980 Bethia Foott, ‘Dismissal of a Premier: the Philip Game papers’, 1968 Jack Lang, ‘The turbulent years’, 1970 Robert J Cooksey, ‘Lang and socialism: a study in the great depression’, 1971 Miriam Dixson, ‘Greater than Lenin? : Lang and Labor, 1916-1932’, 1977 Bede Nairn, ‘The Big Fella : Jack Lang and the Australian Labor Party 1891-1949’, 1986, revised 1996 Guide to the papers of Sir Philip Game and the Game Family in the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, 1988 Mark Latham, ‘Forgotten Lang’, 1992 Geoffrey Robinson, ‘How Labor governed : social structures and the formation of public policy during the New South Wales Lang government of November 1930 to May 1932’, 2002 Frank Cain, 'Jack Lang and the Great Depression', 2005 National Archives of Australia Fact Sheet 96: 'J. T. Lang and Lang Labor' http://www.naa.gov.au/fsheets/FS96.html

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