Batman's Treaty

( German: Batman Treaty) Batman's Treaty, also known as Dutigulla Treaty, Dutigulla Deed, Melbourne Treaty or Melbourne Deed, was born on June 6, 1835 between John Batman, an Australian farmer and businessman and a group of " elders " ( elders ) of the Wurundjeri Aboriginal closed for a lease of land around Port Phillip Bay, near the present city of Melbourne. The Agreement constitutes the only document in which European settlers their presence and occupation of Aboriginal land negotiated. He was later declared by the Governor of New South Wales, Richard Bourke, for invalid because the British Crown claimed ownership of all of Australia. Whether there was in fact a contract between the parties in the civil law sense is controversial, as is the authenticity of the signature of the tribal elders was called into question.

Contract negotiations

John Batman was the leader of an expedition of the Port Phillip Association of Tasmania, a group of businessmen and farmers who intended to gain legal control over the territory of Port Phillip, which was then still part of the colony of New South Wales. The expedition consisted apart from the whites of five Aboriginal men from Parramatta in Sydney. The group sailed with Rebecca on May 29, 1835 Port Phillip Bay and landed at Indented Head. In the following weeks, the men explored the bay, the Corio Bay first, near present-day Geelong, and later they navigated the Yarra River and Maribyrnong River in the north of the bay.

The expedition met a few times on Aborigines. At these meetings, gifts such as blankets, handkerchiefs, sugar, apples, and other items for gifts such as woven baskets and spears were exchanged.

On June 6, Batman met with eight Wurundjeri Elders, the traditional owners of the country to the Yarra River, including Bebejan and Billibellary. The meeting took place on the banks of a small stream, the exact location is unknown; it is considered an area on Merri Creek at Northcote today. After the exchange of gifts, including blankets, knives, scissors and flour, Batman submitted contract documents, which he wrote and which were allegedly signed by the eight " elders ".

For a purchase price that included several scissors, flannel jackets, red shirts and a yearly tribute of similar items, he received 2,000 square miles of land to the Yarra River and around the Corio Bay. The total value of the goods is estimated to be £ 100 in today's money.

In return, the Woiwurrung woven baskets, examples of their weapons and two prized possum cloaks offered. After the contract was signed, was a celebration held in conjunction with Parramatta - Aboriginal, in which the people of Batman dancing a Corroboree.

Batman returned on June 14 to Launceston in Tasmania back. A few days later he wrote to the Governor of Tasmania, George Arthur, whom he informed about the contract and that the Association plans to procure 20,000 sheep for the country. Arthur was not pleased, and wrote to the Governor of New South Wales, Richard Bourke. Not only that Batman tried to negotiate with the Aborigines, which the British conferred no legal title to land in Australia. Batman had acquired land for the Association and not for the crown.

On August 6, Bourke issued a proclamation out a document that legally clarified that the British crown from the doctrine of terra nullius ( no man's land ) extends that thus the entire Australian continent from her and claimed that only the crown distribute land and can sell. Thus any agreement or any contract was void, which was completed by a person without the consent of the government and explained that each person is in the wrong, is trying to conclude such a contract. That was the ultimate invalidation of Batman's Treaty. The Proclamation of Bourke was declared on October 10, 1835 by the " Colonial Office " for legally valid.

John Helder Wedge, another member of the Port Phillip Association, Launceston left on 7 August 1835 to settle on the land of the Association. This occurred before Bourke announced his proclamation. As Wedge at Barwon River arrived and then went towards the Yarra River, he met a group led by John Pascoe Fawkner. Wedge reported Fawkner of the contract, but Fawkner would not budge and declared the contract null and void. Ultimately both men were in the wrong, because they had no authorization by Governor Bourke.

Disputes

The validity of the contract was largely moot. It is possible that the markings brought instead of the eight " elders " of one of the five Aborigines, the Batman from Parramatta, were attached. The markings are similar to those that used the Aborigines in this area. Added to this was that neither Batman and the Aborigines of the Sydney area, nor the Wurundjeri possessed common language skills. It is certain that not understood " elders " the contract, instead they recognized the exchange of gifts, which extended over days, probably as a diplomatic Tanderrum ceremony, which according to their traditions, the use and the use of land by tribal strangers allowed. Only later dedicated Batman William Buckley, an escaped convict as an interpreter, who had lived among the Aborigines is 32 years.

In any case, the European legal system of property is entirely different from that of the Aborigines. Nonetheless, the contract has been touted as a unique document that tackled to enable an agreement on the use of land between white settlers and the local Aborigines. The agreement was significant because he is the first and only document that European settlers negotiated their presence and occupation of Aboriginal land.

Batman walked out to his death in 1839 of the validity of his contract.

Terra Nullius of Bourke

The legal opinion of Terra Nullius of Bourke from 1835 to 1992 had ultimately inventory. It was the decision of the High Court of Australia in Mabo Case and Others versus Queensland (No. 2 ) Regulations 1992 made ​​a fundamental decision on the legal status of indigenous peoples within the Commonwealth of Australia.

This landmark decision in 1988 was the decision Mabo and Another v. The State of Queensland and Another ( Mabo v. Queensland (No. 1) ) headed. This decision stated that even before the British colonization of Australia had the local indigenous people a kind of territorial sovereignty over their respective territories and in the colonization thus not exclusively Terra nullius was present.