Batman's Treaty

[1] The treaty was implicitly declared void on 26 August 1835 by the Governor of New South Wales, Richard Bourke.

[2] In January 1827, John Batman and Joseph Gellibrand applied for a grant of land at Port Phillip,[3] which was at the time part of the colony of New South Wales.

Gellibrand, a lawyer, prepared a draft deed for Batman to take on his trip, in case he found an opportunity to use it.

He relies on a range of evidence including oral traditions, the description of the signing location in John Pascoe Fawkner's accounts, previous commemorative markers and ceremonies, interpretation of landmarks in contemporary descriptions, and later depictions such as Burtt's painting of the event,[9] which may have been prepared following discussions with participants in Batman's expedition.

[14][15] After leaving eight of the men, three of whom were white, at Indented Head with three months supply and told to build a hut and start a garden, Batman and the Rebecca returned to Launceston on 14 June.

Several days after his return Batman wrote to the Governor of Tasmania, George Arthur, informing him of the treaty and of the Association's plans to run 20,000 sheep on the lands purchased.

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.

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 ceremony which allows temporary access to and use of the land.

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.

[citation needed] Some historians continued to assume that the treaty was a forgery, however Aboriginal elder Barak, who was present at the signing of the treaty as a boy, states that Batman, with the aid of New South Wales Aboriginal peoples, did in fact participate in a signing ceremony.