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Batman's Treaty was an agreement between John Batman, an Australian grazier, businessman and coloniser, and a group of
Wurundjeri The Wurundjeri people are an Australian Aboriginal people of the Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin nation. They are the Traditional Owners of the Birrarung (Yarra River) Valley, covering much of the present location of Narrm (Melbourn ...
elders, for the purchase of land around
Port Phillip Port Phillip ( Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, narrow channel known as The Rip, and is com ...
, near the present site of
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
. The document came to be known as Batman's Treaty and is considered significant as it was the first and only documented time when Europeans negotiated their presence and occupation of Aboriginal lands directly with the
traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have right ...
.Richard Broome, pp10-14, ''Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800'', Allen & Unwin, 2005, , The treaty was implicitly declared void on 26 August 1835 by the Governor of New South Wales, Richard Bourke.


Making of the treaty

In January 1827, John Batman and
Joseph Gellibrand Joseph Tice Gellibrand (1792 – 1837) was the first Attorney-General of the British colony of Van Diemen's Land where he gained notoriety with his attempts to establish full rights of trial by jury. He became an integral part of the Port Phill ...
applied for a grant of land at
Port Phillip Port Phillip ( Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, narrow channel known as The Rip, and is com ...
,Joseph Gellibrand
"Australian Dictionary of Biography"
which was at the time part of the colony of
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...
. The petitioners stated that they were prepared to bring with them sheep and cattle to the value of £4000 to £5000. The application was refused, as inconsistent with the
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 Sout ...
Order. By 1835, Batman prepared to sail to Port Phillip to explore the area. Gellibrand, a lawyer, prepared a draft deed for Batman to take on his trip, in case he found an opportunity to use it. The deed was for a transfer of an interest in land and provided for the payment of an annual tribute. On 10 May 1835 Batman sailed the 23-ton schooner '' Rebecca'' from Launceston for the mainland. The expedition included master Harwood, mate Robert Robson, three seamen, seven Aboriginal men from
Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...
, outside Sydney,
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...
and three other white men, James Gumm, William Todd and Alexander Thomson. The party finally sailed into Port Phillip on 29 May 1835 after being delayed by bad weather. On hearing a native dog howling, they landed at
Indented Head Indented Head is a small coastal township located on the Bellarine Peninsula, east of Geelong, in the Australian state of Victoria. The town lies on the coast of the Port Phillip bay between the towns of Portarlington and St Leonards. Indent ...
to investigate. After letting his own dogs play with the native dog, they drove it into the sea and shot it. Over the next week, they explored the area around the Bay, first at
Corio Bay Corio Bay is one of numerous internal bays in the southwest corner of Australia's Port Phillip, and is the bay on which abuts the City of Geelong. The nearby suburb of Corio takes its name from Corio Bay. Etymology When Hamilton Hume and Will ...
, near the present site of Geelong, and later moving up the Yarra and Maribyrnong rivers at the north of the Bay. Batman's party met with Aboriginal people several times, presenting gifts of blankets, handkerchiefs, sugar, apples and other items, and receiving gifts of woven baskets and spears in exchange. On 6 June, Batman met with eight elders of the
Wurundjeri The Wurundjeri people are an Australian Aboriginal people of the Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin nation. They are the Traditional Owners of the Birrarung (Yarra River) Valley, covering much of the present location of Narrm (Melbourn ...
, including
Ngurungaeta An Ngurungaeta is a Woiwurrung head man or tribal leader of clans of the Woiwurrung tribes and Taungurung Ngurai-illum Wurrung. Ngurungaeta held the same tribal standing as an Arweet of the Bunurong and Wathaurong people. The current Ngurungaeta is ...
s Bebejan and three brothers with the same name, Jika Jika or
Billibellary Billibellary (c. 1799–10 August 1846) was a song maker and influential ngurungaeta of the Wurundjeri-willam clan during the early years of European settlement of Melbourne. He was known by various names including Billi-billeri, Billibellary, Jik ...
, the traditional owners of the lands around the Yarra River. For 600,000 acres of Melbourne, including most of the land now within the suburban area, Batman paid 40 pairs of blankets, 42 tomahawks, 130 knives, 62 pairs of scissors, 40 looking glasses, 250 handkerchiefs, 18 shirts, 4 flannel jackets, 4 suits of clothes and 150 lb. of flour.


Location of treaty signing

The meeting with the Aboriginal elders took place on the bank of a small stream, which Batman described in his diary as a "lovely stream of water". Although the precise waterway and location is not given, 20th century historians suspect a likely location to have been
Merri Creek The Merri Creek is a waterway in southern parts of Victoria, Australia, which flows through the northern suburbs of Northcote. It begins near Wallan north of Melbourne and flows south for 70 km until it joins the Yarra River at Dights Fa ...
, in what is currently Northcote. Alternative locations have been suggested on the Plenty River near Greensborough, Edgars Creek, and on Darebin Creek. These were generally based on analysis of the description of the journey given in the diary. However, there have been some suggestions that the critical period in the diaries was manipulated to allow for a larger tract of country to be obtained.Harcourt, Rex (2001), ''Southern Invasion. Northern Conquest. Story of the Founding of Melbourne'', Golden Point Press, Blackburn South. Harcourt identifies the treaty signing location as "West Bend", a bend in the Merri Creek at the western end of Cunningham Street, Northcote and opposite Rushall Station. . He relies on a range of evidence including oral traditions, the description of the signing location in
John Pascoe Fawkner John Pascoe Fawkner (20 October 1792 – 4 September 1869) was an early Australian pioneer, businessman and politician of Melbourne, Australia. In 1835 he financed a party of free settlers from Van Diemen's Land (now called Tasmania), to sail ...
's accounts, previous commemorative markers and ceremonies, interpretation of landmarks in contemporary descriptions, and later depictions such as Burtt's painting of the event, which may have been prepared following discussions with participants in Batman's expedition. In 2004, a 45 square centimetre concrete block was found during works by the
City of Darebin The City of Darebin is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of and in June 2018 Darebin had a population of 161,609. Municipal offices are located at 350 High Street, Preston. Dar ...
which now incorporates Northcote; the top of the white painted block has four upright steel bolts and a coating of glue, which indicate that it had been used as the base for a plaque. The
Yan Yean Reservoir Yan Yean Reservoir is the oldest water supply for the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. At the time of its completion in 1857 it was the largest artificial reservoir in the world. It is north of the city within the eponymous locality of ...
was named after the Aboriginal leader who signed Batman's Treaty in 1835 with the name "Yan Yan" ("young male").Jamie First
The A-Z story of Melbourne's suburbs
''Heraldsun.com.au'', 7 January 2014 (accessed on 11 September 2019)


Return to Tasmania

On 8 June, he wrote in his journal: "So the boat went up the large river ... 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 last sentence later became famous as the "founding charter" of Melbourne, and named the land "Batmania". After leaving eight of the men, three of whom were white, at
Indented Head Indented Head is a small coastal township located on the Bellarine Peninsula, east of Geelong, in the Australian state of Victoria. The town lies on the coast of the Port Phillip bay between the towns of Portarlington and St Leonards. Indent ...
with three months supply and told to build a hut and start a garden, Batman and the ''Rebecca'' returned to Launceston on 14 June. Here Batman showed
John Helder Wedge John Helder Wedge (1793 – 22 November 1872) was a surveyor, explorer and politician in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania, Australia).G. H. Stancombe'Wedge, John Helder (1793 - 1872), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Online Edition Wedge was ...
where he had explored and, from these details, Wedge prepared the first map of Melbourne (published in 1836), showing the location Batman had chosen as the site for the "village" and the division of land between association members. Several days after his return Batman wrote to the
Governor of Tasmania The governor of Tasmania is the representative in the Australian state of Tasmania of the Monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. The incumbent governor is Barbara Baker, who was appointed in June 2021. The official residence of the ...
,
George Arthur Sir George Arthur, 1st Baronet (21 June 1784 – 19 September 1854) was Lieutenant Governor of British Honduras from 1814 to 1822 and of Van Diemen's Land (present-day Tasmania) from 1823 to 1836. The campaign against Aboriginal Tasmani ...
, informing him of the treaty and of the Association's plans to run 20,000 sheep on the lands purchased. According to Batman's petition to George Arthur, Batman and Wedge would proceed immediately to the district with stock and only married servants (with their wives) would be allowed to accompany them. Arthur was not pleased with the Association's actions and wrote to the Governor of New South Wales, Richard Bourke. Wedge left Launceston on 7 August 1835, to set up a settlement on the Association's new lands. After stopping at the Barwon River, Wedge moved on to the Yarra River, where he encountered a party sent by
John Pascoe Fawkner John Pascoe Fawkner (20 October 1792 – 4 September 1869) was an early Australian pioneer, businessman and politician of Melbourne, Australia. In 1835 he financed a party of free settlers from Van Diemen's Land (now called Tasmania), to sail ...
. (Fawkner himself arrived only in October.) Wedge told Fawkner of the treaty, but Fawkner would not leave, dismissing the treaty as worthless.


Disputes over the treaty

On 26 August 1835, Governor Bourke issued a ''
Proclamation A proclamation (Lat. ''proclamare'', to make public by announcement) is an official declaration issued by a person of authority to make certain announcements known. Proclamations are currently used within the governing framework of some nations ...
'' which formally declared that agreements such as Batman's Treaty were "void and of no effect as against the rights of the Crown" and declared any person on "''vacant'' land of the Crown" without authorisation from the Crown to be
trespass Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, woundi ...
ing. The proclamation was approved by the
Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of c ...
on 10 October 1835. The official objection to the treaty was that Batman had attempted to negotiate directly with the Aboriginal people, whom British colonists did not recognise as having any claim to any lands in Australia. Also, Batman had purchased the lands for the Association, and not for
the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
. The validity of the treaty has been widely disputed. It is possible that the marks which Batman claimed were the signatures of the eight
Wurundjeri The Wurundjeri people are an Australian Aboriginal people of the Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin nation. They are the Traditional Owners of the Birrarung (Yarra River) Valley, covering much of the present location of Narrm (Melbourn ...
elders were instead made by one of the five Aboriginal men he had brought with him from
Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...
, since they resemble marks commonly used by Aboriginal people from that area. Furthermore, since neither Batman, the Sydney Aboriginal men or the Wurundjeri men spoke anything approaching the same language, it is almost certain that the elders did not understand the treaty, instead probably perceiving it as part of the series of gift exchanges which had taken place over the previous few days amounting to a
tanderrum A tanderrum is an Aboriginal Australian ceremony enacted by the nations of the Kulin people and other Aboriginal Victorian nations allowing safe passage and temporary access and use of land and resources by foreign people. It was a diplomatic ri ...
ceremony which allows temporary access to and use of the land. In any case, the European system of understanding
property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...
was entirely alien to almost all Aboriginal peoples. Nevertheless, the treaty has been praised as the only documented attempt to reach an agreement for land use between white colonists and the local Aboriginal people. The treaty is significant more broadly as it is the first and only documented time when Europeans in Australia have negotiated their presence with Aboriginals. Batman maintained until his death in 1839 that the treaty was valid. Some historians continued to assume that the treaty was a forgery, but the recollections of the Aboriginal elder
Barak Barak ( or ; he, בָּרָק; Tiberian Hebrew: '' Bārāq''; ar, البُراق ''al-Burāq'' "lightning") was a ruler of Ancient Israel. As military commander in the biblical Book of Judges, Barak, with Deborah, from the Tribe of Ephrai ...
, who was present at the signing of the treaty as a boy, established that Batman, with the aid of
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...
Aboriginal peoples, did in fact participate in a signing ceremony. All the same, although the document has come to be known as "Batman's Treaty", it does not classify itself and its key terminology is of private rather than of public law: "Do for ourselves our Heirs and Successors Give Grant Enfeoff and confirm unto the said John Batman his heirs and assigns". It isor, more exactly, is the deed which recordswhat later came to be termed a "private treaty", a sale between private parties on negotiated terms. On 23 December 2015 a New South Wales solicitor prepared and entered into a private treaty with the Dabee clan of the Wiradjuri Nation, in which the nation agreed to the Dixon family staying on traditional Dabee lands on certain conditions. The treaty was not based on the concept of Native Title and was the first of its kind.


See also

*
Meusebach–Comanche Treaty The Meusebach–Comanche Treaty was a treaty made on May 9, 1847 between the private citizens of the Fisher–Miller Land Grant in Texas (United States), who were predominantly German in nationality, and the Penateka Comanche Tribe. The treaty ...


Notes


References

* * * Harcourt, Rex (2001), ''Southern Invasion. Northern Conquest. Story of the Founding of Melbourne'', Golden Point Press, Blackburn South. * *


External links


Images and transcript of the Batman Treaty
at State Library of Victoria
National Museum of Australia: Take a closer look at the Batman Land Deed (requires Flash)

National Museum of Australia: Transcript of the Batman Land Deed

National Museum of Australia: Detailed description of Batman Land Deed
{{Indigenous Australians 1835 in Australia History of Victoria (Australia) Wurundjeri Port Phillip 1835 treaties Treaties of Australia Treaties with indigenous peoples June 1835 events