John Batman

John Batman ( born January 21, 1801 in Rose Hill at Parramatta; † May 6, 1839 in Melbourne) was an Australian farmer and businessman and one of the first settlers in the region of Melbourne. His name has gone down in Australian history because he completed a written agreement for the use of land with the Aborigines; this was named Batman's Treaty after him. Batman is also known for his commitment to the creation of the modern state of Victoria in Australia.

Life

Batman was born in Rose Hill at Parramatta (now a suburb of Sydney ). He lived for a time in Tasmania (then called Van Diemen's Land ), where he began while on authorized by the government land with agriculture, but his company wanted to expand by buying land. In December 1825 or at the beginning of 1826 Batman captured the notorious bush ranger Matthew Brady.

In Batman 1835 syphilis was diagnosed, and crippled him mentally altered and estranged from his wife Elizabeth Callaghan. They had seven daughters together, and a son, who drowned in the Yarra River. Batman and his family settled at Batman Hill on the west end of Collins Street Melbourne, where he laid the foundation for his house in April 1836 and lived until his death. In his last months he was cared for by the local Aborigines. After his death his widow and family left the house at Batman Hill and the government requisitioned the house for government offices.

Contract negotiations

Batman tried to obtain guarantees on land in the Western Port region of Victoria, but the competent British colonial authorities prevented this. Therefore, he sailed in 1835 as a leading member of the Port Phillip Association with the schooner Rebecca to Port Phillip. Batman ended with eight Wurundjeri elders, among them Billibellary, the Batman's Treaty, which went down in the history of Australia (also known as Dutigulla Treaty, Dutigulla Deed, Melbourne or Melbourne Treaty Deed ). Subject of the contract was renting the land from the Aborigines to Batman for 40 blankets, 30 axes, 100 knives, 50 scissors, 30 mirrors, 200 handkerchiefs, 100 pounds of flour and six shirts.

It is unclear whether the Aborigines have understood this trade, or agreed. William Buckley served as an interpreter and later Batman Percival Serle wrote: " No doubt the blankets, knives, tomahawks, etc., did he gave them were very welcome" ( no doubt were the blankets, knives, axes, etc., which he gave them, very welcome). In any case deemed the Governor of New South Wales, Richard Bourke, that this contract is not valid because the land belonged to the crown and not the Aborigines.

When Batman found the present territory of Melbourne, he wrote in his diary: "This will be the place for a village. " (This is a place for a village ) and declared the country to " Batmania ".

Legacy

Batman was buried at the Old Melbourne Cemetery, where a memorial stone at him. Later he was exhumed and buried in the Fawkner Cemetery again, a cemetery, named after his fellow colonists Pascos John Fawkner. At Batman remember a number of statues around Melbourne and Batman and the Batman Bridge Railway Station in the north of Tasmania. A direct descendant of his was the Australian sprinter Daniel Batman.