nmore Lang, D. D., in New South Wales (1823), was
an important event in the ecclesiastical history of the Australian
colonies. Although an ordained minister of the church of Scotland, he
received no assistance or special authorisation; but, according to his
account, "set forth a solitary friendless wanderer." The different sects
of presbyterians welcomed him at Port Jackson, and the foundation of a
church was immediately laid. His supporters, contrary to his advice,
applied to Sir Thomas Brisbane for pecuniary aid, such as the catholics
had received already. The applicants were rejected with reproach, and
were told that it would be time enough to ask assistance, when they
should prove themselves equally deserving. To this Lang retorted, that
Scotsmen did not ask toleration; and, unless degenerate, would vindicate
those rights, the swords of their fathers had won. These warlike papers
were published in London, and Lord Bathurst spontaneously expressed his
regret "that his excellency had put to their probation ministers of the
church of Scotland in the colony--the established church of one of the
most enlightened and virtuous portions of the empire;"[204] The governor
was ordered to pay L300 per annum to Dr. Lang, as a stipend.

Dr. Lang, thus successful, henceforth disputed the preferable claim of
the Anglican church in every form: he celebrated marriages by bans, when
he was refused a governor's license; and when the registration act, of
1825, required every pastor to certify his ecclesiastical acts to the
parish minister, to be inserted in a general register, he questioned the
existence of a parish, and the ordinance was upset. The idea of an
established clergy was thus violently shaken, and Lang naturally
detested as an ambitious innovator.

The weight of the ecclesiastical establishments in the penal colonies
had been very considerable. The churches, some of great cost, had been
built wholly at the expense of the treasury; the inferior officers were
also paid or provided by the government.[205] The principal chaplains
were members of the legislative councils, and were consulted on most
measures relative to religion.

Mr. Commissioner Bigge recommended the crown to reserve lands for the
endowment of the church; and in 1824, a "church and school corporation"
was created in New South Wales: one-seventh of the crown lands were
granted for their use; for the endowment of a bishopric, parochial
ministers, and schools. Th