The Proclamation of Governor Bourke was a document written by

Sir Richard Bourke General Sir Richard Bourke, KCB (4 May 1777 – 12 August 1855) was an Irish soldier, who served in the British Army and was Governor of New South Wales from 1831 to 1837. As a lifelong Whig (liberal), he encouraged the emancipation of convi ...

, KCB, the

Governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the representative of the monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia, Governor-General of Australia at the national level, the governor ...

, and issued by the British

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created in 1768 from the Southern Department to deal with colonial affairs in North America (particularly the Thirteen Colo ...

on 26 August 1835. The proclamation was prompted by the actions of

John Batman John Batman (21 January 18016 May 1839) was an Australian Pastoral farming, grazier, entrepreneur and explorer, who had a prominent role in the foundation of Melbourne, founding of Melbourne. He also was involved in many attacks against Indigen ...

, who when establishing a settlement at what is now Melbourne and would become the colony of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, agreed to a

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention ...

with the local Aboriginal inhabitants. Bourke's proclamation effectively declared Batman's treaty null and void, and implemented the concept of ''

terra nullius ''Terra nullius'' (, plural ''terrae nullius'') is a Latin expression meaning " nobody's land". Since the nineteenth century it has occasionally been used in international law as a principle to justify claims that territory may be acquired ...

''—that the colonies belonged to no-one prior to settlement by the British Crown.Governor Bourke's Proclamation 1835 (UK)
''Founding Documents—Documenting Democracy'', National Archives of Australia.

References

{{Wikisource, Governor Bourke's Proclamation, 26 August 1835 1835 in Australia 19th century in New South Wales August 1835 1835 documents