| Historical notes: | The Lang Family's Emigration to New South Wales
William Lang of Greenock in Scotland, was a wood merchant specialising in block making , coopering and ship's joinery. He married Mary Dunmore and four children were born to them:
John Dunmore, born August, 1799.
George Dunmore, born 1801.
Andrew, born 1804.
Isabella Ninian, born 1806.
In 1806, William retired from business and settled on the farm, Nethra Dochra near Largs (Scotland), which his wife had inherited.
The Laird, Colonel Thomas Brisbane, who was later to be knighted and become Governor of New South Wales, negotiated to purchase Dochra from the Langs for (Pounds)800, but the purchase fell through and the Langs remained on the farm.
John entered Glasgow University at the age of 12. After 8 years he graduated with a Master of Arts degree, later completing his Doctorate in Divinity.
George commenced his studies in Medicine, but was offered a glamorous position of superintendent of a large sugar plantation at Lucia in the West Indies. However, his patron was killed just before George left, putting George's future in jeopardy. His brother, John, wrote to his friend Captain Piper in New South Wales regarding a career in the new country for his brother. As a result, on 24th April, 1821, George sailed from London for Hobart on the Brixton under Captain Lush. He arrived in Hobart in the following August. He then proceeded to Sydney arriving 16th September 1821, a few months before Sir Thomas Brisbane was to arrive to relieve Lachlan Macquarie of his position as Governor.
John Dunmore Lang left for New South Wales at the urging of his brother George, to raise the moral tone of the colony. He sailed from Leith on October 14, 1822 on the Andromeda under Captain James Muddle. Most of his fellow travellers were settlers with grants and some were already agriculturalists.
The two elder boys now being so far away from the family, those of the immediate family remaining is Scotland, chose to emigrate also. In 1823, the Lang family comprising William and Mary and their children Andrew and Isabella accompanied by one female servant, who travelled steerage at a cost of (Pounds)40, left Leith aboard the vessel Greenock
They were greeted on arrival at Campbell's wharf by their older sons. The Brisbanes also welcomed them, with William being offered a grant of 2000acres, and pledging to take 20 convicts. Of these, he received four. William and Andrew began work as builders in the rapidly developing town of Sydney, a logical extension of his father's trade in Scotland.
Securing the Land Grant and the establishment of Dunmore.
On his arrival in Sydney, George Lang obtained a job in the mercantile house of Riley and Walker through the goods offices of Deputy Commissary, General William Wemyss (in whose house John was to board when he arrived in Sydney). Later, George moved to Parramatta where he joined the Commissariat Department.
He had been a conscientious worker, not having given time to the development of his land grants and in one case, not having even made a selection of land.
George did not have a Home Governor's Order for land. However, he applied for a grant of land on 5th March, 1822 and he was granted an initial 1000 acres(424 ha) from Governor Macquarie, adjacent Standish Harris' land . The site he chose was between the future villages of Largs and Paterson. He later purchased an additional 600 ha and named the property Dunmore. Cecily Mitchell ascribes the naming of Dunmore to William Lang's wife's maiden name, Mary Dunmore. This is verified in an implicit way in JD Lang's History of New South Wales.
Conditions applicable to the grant included the following:
- George Lang was not to sell within five years.
- The government reserved the right to take out timber deemed fit for naval purposes.
- And that grant "procure and have assigned to him 10 convicts who were to be clothed and fed until the expiration or remission of their respective sentences." The convicts were to be used exclusively on the grant of land.
Tragically, George Lang died in 1825, in Sydney, aged 23. The property was inherited by his elder brother, Dr John Dunmore Lang, who became the first Presbyterian minister in the colony. Dr Lang was unable to remain at Dunmore and the estate passed to his younger brother Andrew. Andrew supposedly paid 5/- (shillings) for the property. J.D. Lang in his account says that he was in England at the time of his brother's death, and that the land "consequently fell to my younger brother, Mr Andrew Lang."
Dunmore House was built by Andrew and his father William. It was possibly commenced in 1827 and completed in 1830. These dates are quoted differently in many references, ranging from a commencement in 1830 to a completion in 1833. J.D.Lang writes that his brother took possession of the land in 1826, but "as he had to reside in Sydney the whole of that year, he entrusted it to the management of an emancipated convict overseer, who proved a very inefficient servant, and did very little in the way of improving it."
Historical Records of Australia give an account of Andrew's later representations to the Governor to acquire further lands. He wrote to Governor Bourke from Dunmore, Hunter's River, 30th April, 1832 explaining that his brother George Lang arrived in the colony as a free settler in 1821, and that he, Andrew, as an heir to his brother's estate, was claiming 400 acres of land that had been offered to his brother from Governor Macquarie, but had not been selected by his brother. Governor Brisbane, to whom George had been well known, had granted George a further 1000acres. Andrew explained that until 1824, his brother had been employed in His Majesty's Service as a store keeper in the Commissariat Department and was unable to leave his station and go in search of land. He left the Department on December 24, 1824 to settle on his land at Hunter's River, then passed away in 1825. The recorded reasons vary. He "was seized with an inflammatory fever...of which he died on 18th January 1825" (in Sydney) according to one record. In Cynthia Hunter's work "The Settlers of Paterson's Plains" wherein George Lang is said to have drowned in the wreck of a sailing coaster between Sydney and Newcastle in January 1825.
In April 1827, Andrew was seeking to secure further lands comprising 400 acres immediately adjacent to his 1000 acres property, Dunmore. In the meantime, this land had been claimed by Mr George Sparke in August 1831. Lang wrote and warned him to "desist from improving it in any way until the case was referred to (the Governor)."
Governor Richard Bourke wrote to Viscount Goderich in Despatch number 73 (per ship Rubicon) in relation to this matter. This correspondence was acknowledged by the Right Honourable E G Stanley on 15th April 1833. The request of both Andrew Lang, as well as Mrs Lang, whom had also applied, was not accepted. Andrew Lang wanted alternative land, if he could not obtain the 400 acre adjacent parcel of land. The influence of Reverend Dr Lang was impetus enough for Governor Bourke to look further toward a positive answer.
In reply the Right Honourable E G Stanley wrote:
"The application of Mr Andrew Lang to be allowed to benefit by the Order for 500 acres, given by Governor Macquarie (sic) to his late brother, is totally inadmissible."
Standish Lawrence Harris had 2000 acres adjacent to Lang's grant. In 1825 he purchased 1114 acres which he named Goulburn Grove. This gave him an area of land from the banks of the Paterson River (Phoenix Park) to the Hunter River adjoining Maitland Vale north of the City of Maitland. Harris became insolvent in 1833 and his properties were put up for auction in 1835.. Andrew Lang purchased 1400 acres (556.560ha) for 24/- an acre. He estimated that it cost five to six pounds an acre to clear the impenetrable brush containing huge forest trees (the land was also still heavily wooded along the Paterson River). This gave him a large and superb estate with five miles of river frontage.
J.D.Lang describes the property;
"My deceased brother's grant...-consisted partly of a belt of heavily timbered alluvial land, extending about a mile and a half in length along the windings of the river, which at that part of its course and for several miles higher up is both deep and broad-sufficiently so indeed for the largest vessels-although towards the ocean, which is about 40 miles distant by water, there are shallows which large vessels could not get over. Beyond the belt of alluvial land , there are two large lagoons , nearly parallel to the course of the river, the frequent resort of innumerable wild ducks, and occasionally pelicans and black swans. The beds and banks of the lagoons consist of the richest alluvial soil, the rest of the farm being good forest pasture land, very lightly timbered."
Settling Dunmore
Just prior to moving north, the Langs sold some of their furniture, and the following advertisement appeared in The Australian:
"To be sold by Public Auction at the residence of Messrs. William and Andrew Lang builders Elizabeth Street, on Wednesday December 29th, 1824, an elegant assortment of Spanish mahogany furniture as follows:
1 set of Dining Tables 14' long; 4 Pembroke Tables; 1 Card Table; 2 Tea Tables;1 Ladies work table; 2 Chests of Drawers with wardrobe; Post and tent bedsteads etc., etc."
Andrew and his father William took possession of the property on the Paterson River in 1825, but did not settle the land until 1826. "The settlement of the Scots Church in Sydney having been attended with much greater difficulty and expense than was anticipated, and certain influential Scotsmen in the colony having rather augmented than diminished the burden that was thus entailed on its friends, my relatives had been induced to make common cause with myself, in bringing whatever capital and credit they could command in the colony to bear upon the ultimate accomplishment of that object. My brother was consequently left with comparatively little capital to commence upon his land."
Not only did they build the church, but the Langs had also to contribute their own monies for the completion of the church.
By his brother's account, Andrew Lang was a frugal man, who instead of following the trend of the surrounding landowners in mortgaging their properties and purchasing sheep and cattle, "he remained satisfied with the few that he possessed, and determined not to buy more until he could pay for them."
"Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house." Proverbs XXIV 27
Andrew Lang's method of going about establishment of the property, was scriptural according to J D Lang, when he drew on this verse to exemplify an object lesson of good stewardship. He put forward the development of Dunmore as a good example of this passage in action. He and his family were all given to take evangelistic opportunities.
By 1827, some dwelling had been erected at Dunmore, as Mrs Lang had furniture made by Quong and Tchion, cabinetmakers of Sydney. This was as JD Lang described the property: "The first dwelling erected was formed of rough slabs of split timber, the lower ends of which were sunk in the ground, the upper brought together in a wall plate. It was thatched with reeds or coarse grass, and contained three apartments-a parlour or sitting room, a store room, and a bedroom, each of which served a number of different purposes as required. The kitchen was detached, and was inhabited by a convict servant and his wife. The bare ground served as the floor, and the gaps between the vertical slabs were grouted with a composition of mud, to form a plaster. The walls were white washed inside and out. It was fitted with glass windows and a timber floor at a later stage. It served as the farmhouse for three or four years."
By 1830, with the aid of convict labour, they had erected two stone buildings incorporating a barn and granary, dairy, kitchen and store. The two stone pavilions were later used as outbuildings upon completion of the two storey stone residence, which formed the next phase in the establishment of the Dunmore buildings. The wooden buildings were given up to the farm overseer. In the interim period, these stone buildings were fitted up and used as a second temporary residence (from JD Lang's account).These buildings are still standing and after significant reconstruction and stabilisation, are in use today, and form two sides of a quadrangle behind the main house.
J D Lang goes on to describe the final residence, adjoining the out buildings "...on an elevated and commanding situation, between the two lagoons, and about half a mile from the river. It is a two story(sic) house, built of hewn stone, having a verandah or covered portico all around." That the rear (south) single storey flanking walls are completed in ruled render, would be accounted for by the fact of the verandah running around the whole house originally. It is therefore likely that the southern verandah was closed in to form a store room off the kitchen and a laundry at a later time. The turned balusters in the now roofed parapet of the south east and southwest flanking rooms are not explained in Lang's account. It is assumed that the rooms were a later addition. Also, as the stone pavilions were constructed prior to the main house, with direct reference to the detail and quality of stone work on the north faade, it would appear that the dressed facing stones are an applique or veneer, applied when the stonework for the main house was being cut and dressed, and as a final aesthetic touch to relate the earlier buildings to the newer homestead in their detail and outward presentation. Symmetry and congruency of detail are important elements in the Colonial Georgian style of building.
In the Sydney Gazette of January 9, 1828, W and A Lang advertised that they were going to erect a flourmill on Paterson's River. It would appear that the mill was ultimately run by the husband of Isabella, Mr Robert Muir.
From Robert Muir's diary, he went to Largs on August 2,1838 at three thirty bound for Plymouth. On September 15th 1838 the steamer Juno left for Plymouth. It arrived at 11pm on September 16th. He arrived in Sydney Tuesday 15th January 1839.
On Sunday June 21, 1840 he went to Maitland arriving in the afternoon. On Monday 22nd he visited Dunmore where he remained all day. He again visited Dunmore on Thursday 25th , staying until Friday 26th June. Conjecturally one would conclude that he met Isabella Ninian Lang on this occasion, leading ultimately to their subsequent marriage in Scots Church, Sydney (on 8 July )1845.
Muir's mill operated on the banks of the Paterson River at Woodville. Four masted barques came up the Paterson to Woodville to procure flour from Mitchell's flour mills. An old boiler-probably a ship's boiler- was to be seen until recently (1947) and still may be, in a creeper covered building on the water's brink, where the old punt used to be. In this building, the first flour mill worked by steam was erected by Mr Robert Muir. Later on the mill changed hands.
The road to the Paterson River was diverted from its original route as indicated as a "Sufferance Road" on the accompanying map (Figure 1), to make straighter and more direct approaches to the new bridge, constructed in 1864 or 5. Until then the road passed far closer to Dunmore House than it does now present, skirting the crown of the ridge upon which the house stands, and leading to the punt that was located to the west of the present position of Dunmore Bridge.
This would explain the definition of gate positions on the eastern side of the immediate house yard, and the presence of the stand of Giant bamboo in its position to the southeast of the house, a feature that designated an entry point in properties of the day.
The Midlothian Immigrants
One of the most important and indeed controversial phases in the growth of land settlement at Dunmore, was the arrival of the highland settlers who travelled to New South Wales on the Midlothian. During 1837, Dr J. Lang commenced his Bounty Scheme for bringing out to Australia carefully selected (described as upright calvanist highlanders ) Scottish and some Irish migrant families. The scheme continued through till 1852. It had a considerable effect on the development of society and religious values in the colonies. Amongst the Scots who settled on the Paterson at Dunmore were the Beatons, Campbells, Gillies, McKay, McLeod, McKinnons, McWilliams, McShaws, McLennans, McRaes, Munros, Shaws, Grants and Grahams. A great many of them were highlanders from the Isle of Skye, refugees from the Highland clearances.
The following is from G.S. Munro's essay on J D Lang.
"Much has been said (not least by Lang himself!) about the arrival of the Scots Mechanics on the Stirling Castle in 1831. But let us look at a lesser know(sic) episode which illustrates Lang's evangelical activism in the area of immigration, and again raises questions about possible mixed motives."
The barque Midlothian entered Sydney Heads on 12 December 1837. The passengers (FN55) disembarked the next day. It was the third ship of twenty in Lang's Bounty Scheme. Bounty ships gave assisted passage to 4000 Scots between 1837-40. The second, William Nicol, arrived in Sydney a week before the Midlothian. Lang himself arrived back from England at the same time on the "Portland". A week after arriving, the Midlothian passengers attended the first Gaelic speaking church service in Australia, at Scots Church. They refused to be split up as the first shipload had been, and demanded to be settled as a community, with their clergyman, William McIntyre (FN56). They presented a petition through Lang and McIntyre "representing that they had been induced to emigrate by the hope held out to them of being enabled to settle in one neighbourhood, so as to be within reach of religious ordinances administered in their native language, the only one understood by four fifths of their number, and praying that facilities to enable them to do so might be granted by the Government". (FN57)
The Executive Council had an emergency meeting, and decided that even though no such undertaking had been given, the Highlanders should be allowed to settle together, if any large landowner could be found who would accept them as a body. The government would give them free passage and supplies for six months. (FN 59)
Rather suspiciously, the landowner willing to take them was Lang's brother, Andrew, who ran the family property of Dunmore. It is hard not to wonder whether Lang orchestrated the whole affair so that Andrew could establish twenty families of tenant farmers on his property at the Government's expense (FN59).
FN 59 goes onto say that "Governor Gipps was not at all happy about the situation, as expressed in his despatch to Glenelg of 20th July, 1838...considerable dissatisfaction has been expressed in this Colony at the manner in which a number of Emmigrants [from] the ship "Midlothian" were disposed of, they having been settled as a Body and thus become occupiers of land on their own account, in stead of being forced to work for wages as farm labourers. One suspects the "considerable dissatisfaction" was felt by other landed gentry deprived of the opportunity to exploit these new migrants and jealous of Andrew Lang's windfall."
Added to the above sentiments, Harry Boyle writes in his publication Historic Largs Village "John Eales came to the government's aid and offered to take them. Before accepting, they sent two of their number to inspect the property, which they reported, was subject to flooding. The group said they would not accept. They settled on Goulburn Grove, which had now become part of the Dunmore Estate."
The village that began to form, probably as flood free place to build homes and to accommodate the services needed for this large group, was named Dunmore. This name was retained until the death of Emily Lang in 1889 when the name adopted was Largs.
Within the private village, a National School was built in 1838 as a school/ church for the Presbyterians, on land provided by the Langs, to educate the children of the tenant farmers, approximately 60 families and to be used as a Presbyterian Kirk on Sundays. St Andrews Presbyterian Kirk was built in 1846 and remained the only church for some time to come.
The Character of Dunmore
In 1827, John Dunmore Lang visited Dunmore describing the journey and the character. Forty miles from the mouth of the Hunter, 70 miles north of Sydney. It was hard riding over 110 miles of rugged mountainous countryside, via Wollombi, where he was forced to sleep out for two nights. If he travelled by boat, he still took several days on the journey, as the boat trip ended at the mouth of the river (Paterson) and he had to be rowed upriver by two boat men, which all meant delay, fatigue, annoyance and expense.
He wrote that Dunmore Estate was "250 acres-4 square miles, 1500 acres of alluvial land, 300 acres of wheat, worked by 40 convicts under an overseer. The land was let in small farms of 20 to 150 acres for 10/- to 20/- per acre per annum."
Lang describes there being 300 souls on the property. There was a 14 horsepower mill, the Presbyterian Church, the National Board School, with 76 pupils, of whom but 30 were of the tenantry. Grain was grown for the Sydney market. In 1830 Dr Lang commented on the advisability of growing tobacco in the district, after his father had pointed out to him indigenous tobacco growing in the bed of the dried up lagoon. It was he who suggested the cultivation of cotton, and he was a strong advocate for the cultivation of the grape. Historical Records of Australia shows that German immigrant vinedressers were brought to Dunmore for the purpose of caring for the vineyards in the 1840's.
The grape crop yielded 1800 gallons of wine in 1849 under the supervision of George Schmid. The property was famous for its vineyards in its early days. Grapes still grow in the southern courtyard. Whether these are black Hamburgh, remnant of Schmid's time is not known.
The grapes grew on the alluvial flats of the Paterson. In 1850 Andrew Lang had eight acres planted. Grapes were sold on site as well as being taken to the Maitland Fruit Market, as well as wine being produced.
Initially, Andrew establish a small dairy establishment with the cattle he already possessed, and agricultural operations were commenced on the alluvial flat. The dairy was managed by a tenant family, with the produce being regularly sent to market in Sydney "to meet the various items of expenditure incurred in the maintenance of the other convict- servants on the farm."
The convict labour was employed in felling and burning off trees for land clearing operations and cultivation, or in grubbing up the roots of those that had been already felled; in ploughing, sowing, reaping, threshing and grinding wheat; in planting, hoeing, pulling, and threshing Indian corn. About one hundred and fifty acres of heavily timbered land had been cleared and cultivated in this way.
In 1832 about eighty acres of land was under wheat and another eighty acres was under maize. The wheat was ground into flour and sold as flour in Maitland. The maize was either shipped to Sydney or used in the feeding of horses, or in fattening pigs and poultry on the farm.
Potatoes and tobacco was also grown for sale as well as for consumption on the farm.
During the summer months, the dairy produce was cheese, which was sold in Sydney by the hundred-weight or the ton. For the rest of the year, butter was produced for shipping fresh to Sydney every week by steam-boat and sold at market. The quantity per week was in the order of 70 to 100 pounds.
In 1832, when the cattle herd had increased to 3400 head, he purchased a flock of fine wool sheep. These were sent, together with his horses and cattle to his property some 30 miles distant to form a grazing station under the management of a hired overseer.
A garden comprising fruit trees had earlier been destroyed through floods, so a second orchard was established beyond the reach of flood waters, together with a vineyard. To the northwest of the house is a steep cliff. Described in the Newcastle and Hunter District Historical Society article relating to a visit to the house in 1946;
"A walk down one of the fields led to an unexpected change of altitude. The ground level ended abruptly in a line of heard rocks, the edges straight and clean as if sliced out by a gigantic knife. Immediately below was an orchard with some of the trees bearing blossoms. Between there and the river smooth acres of cultivation lay like a patchwork quilt. Miss Swan, of Lemon Grove, remembers her mother saying that this land had been known in Andrew Lang's time to have 18 feet of water on it."
There is no orchard remaining in this location on the property.
The Lang Family
William Lang, aged 52 (the patriarch) was drowned in 1840 while travelling from Newcastle to Sydney in a small coastal vessel. Cecily Mitchell puts his death in April 1830 and offers the following description of the circumstances surrounding his death:
"William Lang was to make a visit to Sydney to attend the May meeting of the Sydney College Committee. He could not get a berth on the usual packet so accepted passage on a very small vessel. During the night a southerly gale blew up, the vessel wrecked and William was drowned."
Mary Lang
In the Weekly Register, 10th August 1844: " DEATH: On 5th inst. At the residence of her son, Mr Andrew Lang, of Dunmore, Hunter's River, in the 75th year of her age, Mrs Mary Dunmore Lang, relict of Mr William Lang of Sydney, and mother of Dr. Lang."
Andrew Lang married Emily Caswell in Maitland Presbyterian Church on 8 November 1849 at the age of 45. Emily Caswell was from the nearby property of Ballicara. Emily, daughter of Lieutenant William Caswell, was 23. There was one child to this marriage, said to have been a son, who died at birth in June 1851. After this occurrence, they returned to England settling in Devonshire.
Andrew returned to sell Dunmore and his other properties. Andrew returned to his English home, also called Dunmore, dying in London on June 3 1874.
Emily died in Devonshire on 17th October 1889, aged 63.
Isabella Ninian Muir died as a result of childbirth on 20th June 1847, leaving a two month old baby, John Sibbald Muir, born 11 April 1847. He died unmarried at the age of 27 in August 1874, as a result of falling from a horse.
Robert Muir, Isabella's husband died on July 1 1851, again leaving the child of nearly 5 years of age, parentless.
The Reverend Doctor John Dunmore Lang was the founder and minister of Scots Church Sydney, between 1826 and 1878, when he died aged 79.
In the property to the east of Dunmore lay a tomb, bearing the inscription:
Sacred to the Memory of
Mary Dunmore Lang
Isabella Ninian Muir
Robert Muir
Infant Child of Emily and Andrew Lang
Refer to Figures 3 and 4 for these gravesites located adjacent the current property.
Later Owners of Dunmore
Joseph Pearce, of "Edinglassie" near Muswellbrook, who owned other properties near Denman and Jerry's Plains, bought Dunmore in 1872, then a 490 ha property. He subdivided the property into four small farms , which were let to tenant farmers, keeping the house on a block (Lot 4) of six hectares.
A few years later, when Pearce retired to Armidale, the property was sold to Henry Trenchard, a West Maitland Bank Manager on Saturday October 30, 1886.
The Warden family, Arthur and Amy of Paterson, purchased "Dunmore House" in 1892. They kept it for 18 years until Arthur's death, when Amy moved to Sydney.
John Graham, born 1843, apparently in the kitchen of Dunmore House, purchased the property in 1910 and died there in 1932. The property passed onto William, his son. In 1954, William's eldest son, Malcolm, bought out his brother's interests and embarked on a much needed renovation of the property, before taking up residence in 1965 with his wife, Elizabeth. The residency ended with Elizabeth's death in 1999.The property was occupied by the Graham family for 90 years, until it was sold to Paris and Mittie Osborne in 2000.
Paris and Mittie Osborne have made a significant contribution to the repair and reconstruction of the two flanking outbuildings to the south east and south west of the two storey homestead. These buildings were in a state of partial collapse when they purchased the property. The stone work has been dismantled and relayed on new footings. The roofs having been maintained in their original line and position through supplementary support during reconstruction. The outbuildings have become viable residential and potential hospitality resources, ensuring these important elements in the group remain intact and serviceable condition. |
