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| Batman's house overlooking the Yarra River, Melbourne. |
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| Watercolour by colonial artist, Wilbraham Frederick Liardet (1799-1878) dated to 1875. Contributed by the La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria. |
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| Portrait of John Batman, 'the greatest landowner in the world', from an earlier drawing. Batman died in 1839, probably from syphilis. |
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| Print by James Flett (1906-1986), made c. 1950 from an original work by an unidentified artist completed between 1820 and 1839. Contributed by the La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria. |
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John Batman was born in New South Wales, the son of a convict. After an abortive apprenticeship to a blacksmith, he became a farmer and jack-of-all-trades.
In 1821 he moved to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), where he helped to capture a gang of bushrangers and was active in attempts to conciliate the indigenous people of the island. Governor Arthur described him as 'one of the few who supposed that they might be influenced by kindness'.
In his childhood, Batman had been friends with Hamilton Hume, who made the first overland expedition to Port Phillip in 1824-25. Hume's favourable reports on the district caught Batman's imagination, and he applied for a land grant at Westernport. The proposal was rejected by the colonial authorities, who were reluctant to open the land to European settlement. Eventually Batman and his lawyer friend Joseph Gellibrand decided to form a syndicate, which they called the Port Phillip Association, and mount a private expedition across Bass Strait.
Batman had become convinced that it was unjust simply to seize Aboriginal land. Instead he proposed a policy of conciliation, based on a recognition that the traditional owners were entitled to compensation - though the scale he proposed was hardly generous. Spurred on by a combination of idealism and self-interest, Batman sailed for Port Phillip Bay in the winter of 1835, bearing the draft of a 'treaty' to be signed by the local people. He returned triumphantly a few weeks later, announcing that he was now 'the greatest landowner in the world'.
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| Romanticised interpretation of John Batman's arrival in Port Phillip Bay in 1835. Note the 'M' for Melbourne, but one of Batman's preferred names for the site he chose on the Yarra River was 'Batmania'! |
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| Wood engraving by Charles Bennet published in a supplement to the Illustrated Australian News, June 25, 1887, by David Syme and Co, Melbourne. Contributed by the La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria. |
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Unfortunately for Batman, his boasting brought Port Phillip to the attention of rival adventurers, and the British government declared his 'treaty' null and void. His health was also declining rapidly, probably as a result of syphilis. By 1838, though still a young man, he had to be pushed around in a wicker pram. He died the following year, heavily in debt and estranged from his wife. His name was given to Batman's Hill at the south-western end of the settlement, where he had his dwelling.
Copyright Imagine The Future Inc. and Australian Film Commission, 2002.
Text by Jenny Lee for ITF.
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