52-534: The Port Phillip Association (originally the Geelong and Dutigalla Association ) was formally formed in June 1835 to settle land in what would become Melbourne, which the association believed had been acquired by John Batman for the association from Wurundjeri elders after he had obtained their marks to a document, which came to be known as Batman's Treaty . The leading members of the association were John Batman ,
104-709: A 'manageable' area. In February 1830, Batman wrote to the British Colonial Secretary, John Burnett, about his difficulty in 'coming up' with [i.e., capturing] the Aboriginal people. In the same letter, he asked in explaining his difficulty in capturing Aboriginal people in the bush, "...if he could follow known [Aboriginal] offenders once they had made it 'to their own ground'. The 19th-century artist, John Glover , captioned one of his Tasmanian paintings Batman's Lookout, Benn Lomond (c. 1840) "...on account of Mr Batman frequenting this spot to entrap
156-410: A century over this moment in the birth of Melbourne. Batman writes in his diary on Monday, 8 June 1835 that "... the boat went up the river I have spoken of, which comes from the east, and I am glad to state, about six miles up found the river all good water and very deep. This will be the place for a village. The natives on shore." The previous day Batman and his party had returned from their meeting with
208-552: A farmer, Joseph Gellibrand , a lawyer and former Attorney-General, Charles Swanston , banker and member of the Legislative Council, John Helder Wedge , surveyor and farmer, Henry Arthur , nephew of Lieutenant Governor George Arthur of Van Diemen’s Land, and various others including William Sams , Under Sheriff and Public Notary for Launceston, Anthony Cottrell , Superintendent of Roads and Bridges, John Collicott , Postmaster General, James Simpson , Commissioner of
260-584: A government order from Lord Bathurst , the Secretary of State. Counties had been used since the first year of settlement, with Cumberland County being proclaimed on 6 June 1788. Several others were later proclaimed around the Sydney area. A further order of 1829 extended these boundaries of the settlement to an area defined as the Nineteen Counties. From 1831 the granting of free land ceased and
312-558: A house at the base of the hill in April 1836. His son, John, was born in November 1837. However, Batman's health quickly declined after 1835 as syphilis had disfigured and crippled him, leaving him in constant pain. By the end of 1837 he was unable to walk and was forced to give up squatting and move into trading and investment, but he greatly overstretched his finances and was left vulnerable by his reliance on delegating work to others. As
364-491: A letter of 7 September 1829, that he kept the child because he wanted "...to rear it...". Luggenemenener died on 21 March 1837 as an inmate at the Flinders Island settlement. Later, Rolepana (aged 8 years), traveled with him as part of the founding party of Melbourne in 1835. After Batman's death in 1839, Rolepana would have been 12 years old. Boyce notes that Rolepana was employed by colonist George Ware at 12 pounds
416-567: A more complex picture of Batman's motives and actions on behalf of the government in these so-called "roving parties". For example, in September 1829 Batman (aged 28), with the assistance of several "Sydney blacks" he brought to Tasmania, led an attack on an Aboriginal family group together numbering 60 to 70 men, women and children in the Ben Lomond district of north-east Tasmania. Waiting until 11pm that night before attacking, he "...ordered
468-590: A prominent role in the founding of Melbourne . Born and raised in the then-British colony of New South Wales , Batman settled in Van Diemen's Land (modern-day Tasmania ) in the 1820s, where he rose to prominence for hunting bushrangers and leading massacres of Aboriginal people in the Black War . He later co-founded the Port Phillip Association and led an expedition which explored
520-526: A treaty (now known as Batman's Treaty but also known as the Dutigulla Treaty, Dutigulla Deed, Melbourne Treaty or Melbourne Deed), with Kulin peoples to rent their land on an annual basis for 40 blankets, 30 axes, 100 knives, 50 scissors, 30 mirrors, 200 handkerchiefs, 100 pounds of flour and 6 shirts. It is unlikely that Kulin people would have understood this as a transfer of land or agreed to it if they had, but, as Percival Serle wrote, "No doubt
572-469: A treaty or transaction rather than simply claiming land outright. However, Batman's motives and the validity of the treaty remain of great historical interest and debate. John Batman was born on 21 January 1801 in Parramatta , Colony of New South Wales . His parents, William and Mary Bat(e)man, arrived at Sydney aboard Ganges on 2 June 1797. William was sentenced to fourteen years' transportation
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#1732766307659624-567: A year with board on Batman's death, "...but what became of him after this is also unknown." However, Haebich records Rolepana as having died in Melbourne in 1842 (he would have been about 15 years). She also says that: Batman rose to prominence during the time of the Black War of 1830 (aged 29), during which he participated in the Black Line —the formation of a "human chain" across the island to drive Aboriginal people from their lands into
676-589: Is widely considered to have been sympathetic towards Aboriginal people. Batman's legacy has been challenged in the 21st century, and most criticism has focused on his killings of Indigenous people in Tasmania. In 2016, Darebin Council voted unanimously to change the name of Batman Park in Northcote . It is now called Gumbri Park, after Gumbri (Jessie Hunter), great-niece of Wurundjeri leader William Barak and
728-591: The Port Phillip area on the Australian mainland with the goal of establishing a new settlement. In 1835, Batman negotiated a treaty with Aboriginal people in Port Phillip by offering them tools, blankets and food in exchange for thousands of hectares of land. However, the treaty was declared void by the government and it has been disputed by Aboriginal descendants. This expedition ultimately resulted in
780-513: The Rebecca had already sailed on the return journey, but spent several weeks at a temporary site at Indented Head . When they returned to the Yarra River site on 2 September, they found the area already occupied by an independent expedition financed by a Launceston businessman, John Pascoe Fawkner , which had landed on 30 August. The two groups eventually agreed to cooperate in distributing
832-668: The Western Port area, but the New South Wales colonial authorities rejected this. So, in 1835, as a leading member of the Port Phillip Association he sailed for the mainland in the schooner Rebecca and explored much of Port Phillip . When he found the current site of central Melbourne, he noted in his diary of 8 June 1835, "This will be the place for a village." and declared the land "Batmania". Batman's Treaty negotiations with Kulin peoples (Aboriginal peoples of now central Victoria) took place in June 1835 on
884-549: The Yarra River occurred on 8 June, where he claimed to sail a boat up the river and found a pleasant spot with deep water about 6 miles inland. He stated in his diary "this will be the place for a village" , the village which eventually became known as Melbourne . After leaving some men to build a hut and start a garden at Indented Head, Batman and the Rebecca returned to Van Diemen’s Land. Here Batman showed Wedge where he had explored and, from these details, Wedge prepared
936-431: The founding of Melbourne , eventual capital of Victoria and one of Australia's largest and most important cities. Batman moved to the colony with his convict wife, Elizabeth Callaghan , and their seven daughters, settling on what is now known as Batman's Hill . He died of syphilis shortly afterwards at the age of 38. Batman's treaty stands as the only attempt by a European to engage Australian Aboriginal people in
988-501: The limits of location of the nineteen counties redundant. The counties continue to be used for cadastral division purposes, and the rest of New South Wales was likewise divided into counties, totaling 141 by the end of the 19th century. In January 1819, John Bigge was appointed a special commissioner to examine the government of the colony of New South Wales. Bigge arrived in Sydney in September 1819 gathering evidence until February 1821 when he returned to England. Bigge's first report
1040-658: The Bellarine Peninsula in Port Phillip Bay on 29 May 1835. Between 29 May and 10 June, Batman claimed to have explored an area, including; the Bellarine Peninsula, the eastern part of the Surf Coast, the coastal areas of Geelong to Port Melbourne, northeast from Geelong to either 'Mount Iramoo' near Sunbury or Mount Koroit north east of Melton, and easterly (his journal suggests he made it only to either Merri Creek or Edgars Creek near Fawkner, or perhaps
1092-541: The Darebin River or Plenty River, but the subsequent maps by Wedge suggest a far greater easterly point), and southwest to Melbourne and Port Melbourne. Batman's journal lists 6 June as the day he encountered Kulin Nations peoples and their leaders. Batman claimed a ceremony was held where he proclaimed the treaty and then exchanged his party's gifts in return for the land he explored. Batman's first exploration of
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#17327663076591144-515: The Governor of New South Wales, Sir Richard Bourke issued a proclamation that effectively voided Batman's treaty, whatever its merits, as the British government did not recognise Aboriginal title to the land. This in effect made any potential settlers trespassers, although the governor recognised the need for further action and recommended the establishment of a township and land sales. Batman and
1196-576: The Kulin Elders along the hills bordering the northern banks of the Yarra. It remains quite unclear whether the party saw the 'place for a village' by the 'Falls'—a long-used homesite for the local peoples, and similarly unclear whether Batman was in the boat that explored the Yarra on the 8th. But the site has already been noted for its virtues by numerous Britons including John Helder Wedge and Batman's Parramatta friend Hamilton Hume." Batman negotiated
1248-554: The Land Board and police magistrate, John Sinclair, Superintendent of Convicts, Michael Connolly, Thomas Bannister , George Mercer , and John and William Robertson . Some fifteen of the leading colonists of Tasmania (at the time called Van Diemen's Land ), plus the Edinburgh-based Mercer, formed a company in early 1835 with a view to purchasing a large tract of land from the Aboriginal peoples who lived on
1300-563: The Latin "circumspice" meaning "look around", the entire city of Melbourne being his legacy. The obelisk also states that Melbourne was "unoccupied" prior to John Batman's arrival in 1835. Australian sprinter Daniel Batman claimed to be a direct descendant of John Batman, although this claim is dubious, given that Batman's only son, John Charles Batman, died aged just 8 or 9 years old by drowning in at Yarra Falls on 11 January 1845. Despite his responsibility for many Aboriginal deaths, Batman
1352-585: The Natives." Batman's neighbour in Van Diemen's Land, Glover said that he was "a rogue, thief, cheat and liar, a murderer of blacks and the vilest man I have ever known". Batman was diagnosed with syphilis in 1833. By 1835, Batman's property, "...Kingston [near Ben Lomond ], covered more than 7,000 acres (2,800 ha), had appropriate animals and buildings, and numerous hands; but it was too rugged to be highly productive." Batman sought land grants in
1404-557: The Port Phillip Association did not intend the treaty to be a fair commercial transaction, but a means of obtaining permission from the Aboriginal peoples to avoid resentment (and subsequent violence) after settlement, whilst convincing the colonial and imperial authorities that they should be allowed to settle the land. The association knew that existing British policy (the Nineteen Counties Order)
1456-549: The aid of his New South Wales Aboriginal peoples, did in fact participate in a ceremony with Wurundjeri elders for permission to settle amongst them. In Aboriginal culture, this ceremony was called a tanderem . According to Batman’s petition to the Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land George Arthur , he and Wedge would proceed immediately to the district with stock, and only married servants (with their wives) would be allowed to accompany them. On 26 August
1508-512: The banks of the Merri Creek in present-day Northcote (an inner suburb of Melbourne), "...using legal advice from the former Van Diemen's Land attorney-general, Joseph Gellibrand , and with the support of his Aboriginal companions from New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land ." However, Batman did not visit the colonial camp that was later set up on the Yarra River (i.e., Melbourne) until November 1835. Debate has continued for more than
1560-680: The blankets, knives, tomahawks, etc., that he gave them were very welcome". In any case, Governor Bourke deemed such a treaty invalid, as the land was claimed by the Crown, rather than the Kulin people, and other colonists including the rival party of John Pascoe Fawkner arrived to settle Melbourne. Batman and his family settled at what became known as Batman's Hill at the western end of Collins Street . Having sold his property "Kingston" in Tasmania and brought his wife, former convict Elizabeth Callaghan , and their seven daughters to Melbourne, he built
1612-642: The boundaries within which the survey instructed by Bathurst in 1825 was to be conducted. The boundaries were the Manning River to the north, the Lachlan river to the west and the Moruya river to the south. Settlement beyond these boundaries was not to take place. The survey would allow the allocation of land grants and the boundaries, known as the limits of location , were used for other administrative purposes including police administration. Darling proclaimed
Port Phillip Association - Misplaced Pages Continue
1664-461: The disease eroded his nose, forcing him to wear a bandage to conceal his ruined face, he became estranged from his wife. In his last months of his life Batman was cared for by his Aboriginal servants, who carried him around in a wicker perambulator. Following Batman's death on 6 May 1839 his widow and family moved from the house at Batman's Hill and the house was requisitioned by the government for administrative offices. Batman's will, made in 1837,
1716-404: The first map of Melbourne in June 1835 (published in 1836), showing the location Batman had chosen as the site for the "village" and the division of land between association members. Batman’s treaty with the Aboriginal peoples of Port Phillip is the only example of any Australian settlers (official or unofficial) giving recognition to the rights of the Aboriginal peoples to the land. The members of
1768-404: The government. Brady had been wounded in the leg in a conflict with the authorities, but got away safely. Batman went out unarmed on his own in search of Brady, and found him quite accidentally. He saw a man limping in the bush near a shallow creek, and hastened forward to him. It was Brady. He induced Brady to surrender and return with him. The outlaw was ill and suffering much pain, and did as he
1820-544: The land in the area, but the sequence of events would provide room for future debate over the credit for Melbourne's founding. While the government in London was deciding what steps it should take in relation to the unlawful occupation of this remote and unsettled part of the existing colony of New South Wales , other settlers from Van Diemen’s Land followed suit, and soon Port Phillip became inundated with stock, squatters and servants, including escaped convicts. Conflict with
1872-705: The last girl born on the Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve in Healesville. In 2017, artist Ben Quilty called for Batman's statue to be removed from the Melbourne CBD, describing him as a mass murderer who "makes the American Confederates look friendly" and adding that "changing the inscription [on his statue] to 'mass murderer' might slightly appease my sense of justice." The Victorian electoral Division of Batman
1924-440: The local Aboriginal peoples followed. Governor Bourke was authorised to establish a settlement in April 1836, and the town of Melbourne was surveyed and laid out in 1837. The claims of the Port Phillip Association were only recognised to the extent of £7,000, allowed as a reduction on the purchase price of land bought by the association at public auction on 14 February 1839. Most of the members sold out to Charles Swanston , and
1976-427: The map. Despite the uncertainty of land tenure, squatters ran large numbers of sheep and cattle beyond the boundaries. From 1836 they could legally do so, paying £ 10 per year for the right. From 1847 leases in the unsettled areas were allowed for up to 14 years. The Robertson Land Acts of 1861 allowed unlimited selection and sale of agricultural crown land in designated unsettled areas at £1 per acre, making
2028-433: The men to fire upon them..." as their 40-odd dogs raised the alarm and the Aboriginal people ran away into thick scrub. In his report of the incident to the police magistrate at Oatlands, Batman estimated that they killed 15 Aboriginal people. The next morning, he left the place for his farm, with two badly wounded Tasmanian men, a woman and her two-year-old boy, all of whom he captured. However, he "...found it impossible that
2080-517: The name was changed to the Derwent Company before being dissolved in 1842. The obligations under Batman’s treaty to feed and clothe the Aboriginal peoples were assumed by the New South Wales colonial government, although proper protection was not afforded, especially in the remote parts of the colony. John Batman John Batman (21 January 1801 – 6 May 1839) was an Australian grazier , entrepreneur and explorer, who had
2132-576: The only land that was to be made available for sale was within the Nineteen Counties. The area covered by the limit extended to Taree in the north, Moruya River in the south and Wellington to the West. The Nineteen Counties were mapped by the Surveyor General Major Thomas Mitchell in 1834. The scale of the map that Mitchell produced was determined by the amount of ship's copper available in Sydney to engrave
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2184-520: The previous year for receiving stolen saltpetre , while his wife paid her fare to accompany him, bringing along their children Maria and Robert. William obtained his ticket of leave and started a timber-yard at Parramatta, where his five sons and daughter were raised. His sentence expired in 1810 and William later became a devout Wesleyan ; his children were trained as Anglican - Methodists . As Aboriginals were encouraged to come into Parramatta for charity and education, John knew many Aboriginals. John
2236-513: The south coast of Australia, and to there establish a settlement. Gellibrand prepared deeds for the transfer of an interest in the land and which provided for the payment of an annual tribute. John Batman took copies of the deed with him when he went into Port Phillip in May 1835, accompanied by some servants and Aboriginals from New South Wales . Batman sailed from Launceston in the schooner Rebecca on 10 May 1835 and landed at Indented Head on
2288-624: The survey one seventh of the land in each county was to be set a side for the Church of England and an educational system under the control of the church. Income from this land was to be managed under the Church and Schools Corporation. When Governor Darling was commissioned in July 1825, his commission extended the New South Wales boundary six degrees to the west compared with the commissions issued to previous governors. In September 1826, Darling announced
2340-414: The two former [the men] could walk, and after trying them by every means in my power, for some time, found I could not get them on I was obliged to shoot them." The captured woman, named Luggenemenener , was later sent to Campbell Town gaol and separated from her two-year-old son, Rolepana, "...whom she had faced death to protect." Batman reported afterwards to British Colonial Secretary, John Burnett, in
2392-557: Was abolished in 2018 and renamed the Division of Cooper after Aboriginal political activist William Cooper . Nineteen Counties The Nineteen Counties were the limits of location in the colony of New South Wales , Australia. Settlers were permitted to take up land only within the counties due to the dangers in the wilderness. They were defined by the Governor of New South Wales Ralph Darling in 1826 in accordance with
2444-451: Was apprenticed as a blacksmith in Sydney in 1816. In December 1821, John and his younger brother Henry journeyed to Van Diemen's Land (now known as Tasmania) to settle on land in the north-east, near Ben Lomond , to become a grazier . He acquired "Kingston", a property said to be "...large in acreage and poor agriculturally,...". In early 1826 Batman captured the bushranger Matthew Brady , resulting in an additional grant of land by
2496-885: Was asked. Brady was duly handed over to authorities at Launceston Gaol and later sentenced to death. He was hanged at Hobart . Batman participated in the many killings of Tasmanian Aboriginal people while in Tasmania. Many such killings are well documented in the Tasmanian State archives and Victorian State library records. Batman participated in the capture of some Aboriginal people in 1829. He employed mainland Aboriginal people hired in Sydney, New South Wales, for 'roving parties' hunting Tasmanian Aboriginal peoples. Between 1828 and 1830 Aboriginal people in this region were shot or rounded up by bounty hunters like Batman. As Tasmanian Colonial Governor, George Arthur , observed, Batman "...had much slaughter to account for". Closer examination of this quote from Governor Arthur reveals
2548-410: Was designed to prevent such settlement, but hoped to challenge the authority of the New South Wales government, who held jurisdiction of the Port Phillip area. For some time Batman's Treaty , as it came to be called, was assumed by some historians to be a forgery, but the recollections of the Aboriginal elder Barak , who was present at the signing of the treaty as a boy, established that Batman, with
2600-612: Was left of Batman's estate. Batman was buried in the Old Melbourne Cemetery but was exhumed and re-buried in the Fawkner Cemetery , a cemetery named after his fellow colonist (and rival), John Pascoe Fawkner . A bluestone obelisk was constructed in 1922 which was later moved to Batman Avenue before being returned to the Queen Victoria Market site in 1992. The obelisk is inscribed with
2652-444: Was out of date at his death as many of the assets bequeathed to his children had already been sold. Years of legal wrangling followed his death, led by Eliza Batman, who had remarried in 1841 to Batman's former clerk, William Willoughby, and had only been left £5 in the will by her embittered first husband. The case dragged on, even after Batman's heir-at-law, his son John, drowned in the Yarra River in 1845, and its costs absorbed what
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#17327663076592704-451: Was published in June 1822 and his second and third reports in 1823. His third report dealt with agriculture and trade. In 1824, Governor Brisbane approved the sale of crown land in accordance with one of Bigge's recommendations. Previously only a nominal quit rent was required for grants by the crown. In 1825, Secretary of State Lord Bathurst instructed Governor Brisbane to survey the territory to allow for more planned settlement. During
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