John Thomas (Jack) Lang was born in George Street, Sydney. He was the sixth child (and third son) of James Henry Lang, an Edinburgh born watchmaker, and Mary Whelan, a Galway born milliner. James had converted from Presbyterian to marry the Catholic Mary, and the children were brought up in the religion.
James was bedridden with rheumatic fever for seven years, from 1882 until 1889. Prior to this, he had owned a jewellery store, but his health prevented him from working, and the family fell on hard times. Jack sold newspapers after school to help with the family finances, but his own health began to decline. As a result, he was sent to live with his mother’s sister on a rural farm property in the Gippsland region of Victoria. He eventually returned to Sydney as a teenager to seek employment.
Jack’s first job was on a poultry farm in Smithfield, and later as the driver of a horse-drawn omnibus in and around Merrylands and Guildford. He worked in the bookshop H.J. Douglas, and in 1893 was employed as an office boy to an accountant where he learned basic bookkeeping. Housing and employment were a constant source of trouble for him and his family, and he was well versed in the issues facing low-income families.
He then began working at W.H. McNamara’s bookshop. McNamara’s wife was Bertha McNamara, called “the mother of the Labor movement”. Bertha was a prominent socialist and was heavily involved in the push for women’s suffrage and other causes. On the 11th of March 1896, Jack married Bertha’s daughter, Hilda Amelia Bredt at St. Francis Catholic Church. He was 19 and Hilda was 17. The following month, Hilda’s sister, Bertha, married poet and author Henry Lawson in the Episcopal Church.
Political Interest
Lang had a change of career. In about 1899, he worked as a manager at R.W.J. Harely’s Real Estate Agency in Auburn. In 1901, he set up his own agency with H.H. Dawes as partner.
By 1902, Jack moved his growing family to Carnarvon Street, Auburn
Jack’s political career had already begun when he joined the Auburn Labor League in 1901. By 1906, he was the Secretary of Auburn Starr Bowkett, a co-operative building society which helped workers buy their own homes. He became a well-known person in the area and was elected to Auburn Council from 1907 until 1914. He served as Mayor of the Council from 1909 to 1911. During his terms as Mayor, Jack set about improving the amenities of the Auburn area, including the building of roads and footpaths, and the installation of the sewerage.
Prior to his time on the Council, Jack was the Secretary of the Newington Progress Association, campaigning for the area to join the Municipality of Auburn. On 20 June 1906l, this joining was proclaimed, with the area becoming the Newington Ward with three aldermen for election. Jack was elected as a member for this newly established ward.
New South Wales Parliament
In December 1913, Jack was elected the first Labor Member of Parliament for the state seat of Granville.
Jack Lang is best known for his wide-ranging social reforms, which he put in place to help lower paid workers and their families struggling with poverty. Jack knew from personal experience how difficult life could become when you were living pay-to-pay with little chance of savings. Jack began improving conditions for workers. On the 4th February 1926, working hours were reduced from 48 to 44 a week, with no reduction in wages, to allow families more time for leisure. In December of the same year, a child endowment was introduced for all families, irrespective of their circumstances, in what is considered the first universal welfare scheme in Australia. The endowment made a significant difference to the wellbeing of families and immediately helped to reduce the number of children being taken into care. This endowment, despite opposition, was to be paid directly to the mother. This benefit continued to be paid to mother’s during the Depression years.
Jack also introduced the Widow’s Pension. When he was first elected, widows were dependent on charity, and many were forced to hand over her children to state custody as a ward to get assistance. Jack’s Widow Pension Bill paid about $2 a week for the widow and $1 for each child under 14. Though this may not seem like much money today, in 1925 these amounts were equal to $100 and $50 and would have gone a long way on groceries and other necessities.
Jack resigned as Premier in May 1927 to achieve an early dissolution of Parliament and was re-commissioned. However, on 8th October that year, Jack lost the election, and Thomas Bavin became Premier.
Jack was once again elected in October 1930. The Great Depression was hitting the state hard as Jack was determined to pass the Moratorium Act. The act was designed to protect struggling debtors by restricting foreclosures, banning evictions, and suspending some debt repayments on land and mortgages.
Opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge
On the 19th of March 1932, the Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened.
Jack Lang had earlier ensured that the funding was available for the completion of the Bridge. Thousands gathered to watch the opening and to be amongst the crowd to cross over. Speeches from prominent people were broadcast over loudspeakers. The NSW Governor, Sir Philip Game read a message from King George V and Jack spoke about the unity of Commonwealth and state.
A speech by Mr. Davidson, the Minister for Public Works, was interrupted by a horseman in uniform, charging through the crowd and sliced through the ceremonial ribbon with his sword. The man, who identified himself as Captain de Groot of the New Guard, declared the bridge open in the name of “the decent and respectable people of New South Wales!”
Francis de Groot was arrested and fined £5 for his act.
The ribbon was tied back together and held in place for the official cutting ceremony, with Jack holding the scissors.
Lang’s Dismissal
Jack ran into battle with the Federal Government, headed by Prime Minster Joseph Lyons, for his refusal to pay loan interest due to England through the Great Depression. Jack’s view was that the people of New South Wales needed the money more than England. The back and forth arguing and political manoeuvring would eventually lead to Jack’s dismissal as Premier in May 1932 by the State Governor, Sir Philip Game.
Later Years
Jack retained many followers after his dismissal. He formed his own party in 1940, Labor Party (Non-Communist), which demanded home defence as a priority at the outbreak of World War II. Jack was a staunch opponent to conscription for the war, despite the Labor Party favouring the move, as well as many other wartime policies. As a result of his outspoken views, he was expelled from NSW Labor in March 1943.
In 1946, Jack briefly returned to politics when he was elected as an independent for the state seat of Reid. However, he subsequently lost this seat in 1949, partly due to the Local Government Amalgamations which redistributed election seats.
Jack was re-admitted to the NSW Labor Party in 1971 in a motion brought forward by future Prime Minister Paul Keating.
Jack spent his retirement lecturing at Sydney University and to school children about his political career and his childhood. He was also a writer and editor for his newspaper The Century and published a number of books about his life and political career.
Hilda, his wife, died at Wentworthville Hospital on 25th May 1964.
Jack died in St. Joseph’s Hospital, Auburn, on 27th September 1975, aged 98.
A state funeral was held in his honour at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney with large crowds inside and outside the church. He was survived by four of his children, Eirene, Laura, Nellie, and Chris. Three other children (Hilda, John Donald, and John Keith) had pre-deceased him. Jack is buried in Rookwood Cemetery, and Hilda’s ashes were later interred with him.
