James Christian Lang (25 March 1910 – 14 December 2002), usually known as Chris Lang, was an Australian politician. The son of Jack Lang,

Premier of New South Wales The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster system, Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales actin ...

1925–27 and 1930–32, he succeeded his father as the member for Auburn in the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

, serving from 1946 to 1950. Born in

Homebush Homebush is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Strathfield. The name o ...

, Lang was educated at North Auburn Public School and Burwood Intermediate High School before entering his father's real estate business, Lang and Daes, in 1925. In 1930, he became the manager, remaining so until 1958, when he became the manager of his own real estate company until 1962. On 22 February 1933, he married Mary Dowling, with whom he had three children. He also served as secretary of the Auburn Starr-Bowkett Co-operative Building Societies. In 1946, Jack Lang resigned from state parliament to run for the federal seat of

Reid Reid is a surname of Scotland, Scottish origin. It means "red". People with the surname * Alec Cunningham-Reid (1895–1977), British politician * Alan Reid (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Reid (disambiguation), multiple people * Alexan ...

, resulting in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

for the state seat of Auburn. By that time, both the federal and state branches of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

had repudiated the former Premier, who endorsed his son to run under the

Lang Labor Lang Labor was a faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) consisting of the supporters of Jack Lang, who served two terms as Premier of New South Wales and was the party's state leader from 1923 to 1939. It controlled the New South Wale ...

banner. Chris Lang was successful, achieving 52.32% of the primary vote and easily defeating the official Labor candidate, helped by the absence of a Liberal candidate. Lang thus joined Lilian Fowler as one of two Lang Labor MPs. Lang was forced to rely on preferences at the 1947 state election, when independent Alexander Kerr won 22.2% of the vote. Despite the fact that the majority of those preferences flowed to the official Labor candidate, Lang's primary vote lead was enough to retain the seat. In 1950, however, there was a redistribution, and

Edgar Dring Edgar Percy Dring (18 March 1896 – 17 December 1955) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1941 until his death in 1955. He was a member of the Labor Party (ALP). Dring was born in ...

, the sitting Labor MP for the abolished rural seat of Ashburnham, contested the new seat. By that time, Lang Labor was in decline (Jack Lang had lost his federal seat the previous year), and Chris Lang was effectively an independent Labor candidate. The Liberal Party contested the seat, with the result that Dring easily defeated Lang. Lang contested Auburn again in 1953 and 1956, but never came close to winning. During the 1960s, he was a gardener at St Joseph's Hospital at Auburn. He died on 14 December 2002 at Auburn.

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