Modi gift commemorates Aussie John Lang

Visiting Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has presented Tony Abbott with a photo collage dedicated to John Lang, an Australian with a remarkable connection to India.

Mr Modi presented Prime Minister Abbott with this gift at the start of their bilateral talks in Canberra on Tuesday.

John Lang (1816-64) is regarded as Australia's first native born novelist, although he was also a lawyer and journalist.

He travelled to India in 1842 and made it his home, working as a lawyer and newspaper proprietor, often critical of policies of the powerful British East India Company.

As a lawyer, he represented the Maharani Lakshmibai of Jhansi in legal battles at the East Indian Company. She was later a central and revered figure in the 1857 uprising against British rule.

Lang was well known as the Indian correspondent for the weekly magazine Household Words, edited by Charles Dickens. He died at 48 and is buried in India.