« Countering the “satanic device of mixed marriages” in New South Wales with the emigration of “reputable Scotch Protestant females”: John Dunmore Lang’s 1849 visit to Orkney and Shetland »

Résumé En

During the Summer of 1849, Orkney and Shetland received the visit of Rev. John Dunmore Lang as part of a tour of the British Isles aimed at promoting Protestant emigration to the Australian colonies. During his journey through the northern regions of his native Scotland, Lang, founder of the Presbyterian Church in New South Wales and member of the Legislative Council in the colony, delivered a series of five lectures in the Northern isles. It was during this period that he developed a new interest in female emigration. Lang's concerns stemmed from the fact that adult migration to New South Wales over the previous decade had shown discernible patterns, particularly concerning ethnic origin and religious affiliation. These patterns were particularly evident among single women, who were predominantly of Irish and Roman Catholic background and led Lang to swiftly denounce this new scheme as “a plot to replace Protestantism by ‘Romanism’” by “suppl[ying] Roman Catholic wives for the English and Scotch Protestants of the humbler classes in Australia.” This paper will show how the gender imbalance he became acquainted with in the context of his visit to Shetland and Orkney unexpectedly provided Lang with a solution to counter “the vile, Jesuitical, and thoroughly Satanic device of mixed marriages” and led to his subsequent attempts to promote the emigration of these single Protestant females to NSW.