John Batman | |
|---|---|
 Early-20th-century drawing of Batman, based on an earlier engraving | |
| Born | 21 January 1801 |
| Died | 6 May 1839(1839-05-06) (aged 38), ofsyphilis, |
| Burial place | Old Melbourne Cemetery |
| Occupation(s) | Grazier, entrepreneur, colonial founder |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Callaghan |
| Children | 8 |
John Batman (21 January 1801 – 6 May 1839) was an Australiangrazier, entrepreneur and explorer, who had a prominent role in thefounding ofMelbourne. He was also involved in many attacks against Aboriginal Australians.
Born and raised in the then-British colony ofNew South Wales, Batman settled inVan Diemen's Land (modern-dayTasmania) in the 1820s, where he rose to prominence for huntingbushrangers and leading massacres of Aboriginal people in theBlack War.
He later co-founded thePort Phillip Association and led an expedition which explored thePort Phillip area on the Australian mainland with the goal of establishing a new settlement. In 1835, Batman negotiateda treaty with Aboriginal people in Port Phillip by offering them tools, blankets and food in exchange for thousands of hectares of land. However, the treaty was declared void by the government and it has been disputed by Aboriginal descendants. This expedition ultimately resulted in thefounding of Melbourne, eventual capital ofVictoria and one of Australia's largest and most important cities. Batman moved to the colony with hisconvict wife,Elizabeth Callaghan, and their seven daughters, settling on what is now known asBatman's Hill. He died ofsyphilis shortly afterwards at the age of 38.
Batman's treaty stands as the only attempt by a European to engageAustralian Aboriginal people in a treaty or transaction rather than simply claiming land outright. However, Batman's motives and the validity of the treaty remain of great historical interest and debate.
John Batman was born on 21 January 1801 inParramatta,Colony of New South Wales. His parents, William and Mary Bat(e)man, arrived atSydney aboardGanges on 2 June 1797. William was sentenced to fourteen years'transportation the previous year for receiving stolensaltpetre, while his wife paid her fare to accompany him, bringing along their children Maria and Robert.[1][2]
William obtained histicket of leave and started a timber-yard at Parramatta, where his five sons and daughter were raised. His sentence expired in 1810 and William later became a devoutWesleyan; his children were trained asAnglican-Methodists. As Aboriginals were encouraged to come into Parramatta for charity and education, John knew many Aboriginals. John was apprenticed as a blacksmith in Sydney in 1816.[1][2]
In December 1821, John and his younger brother Henry journeyed toVan Diemen's Land (now known as Tasmania) to settle on land in the north-east, nearBen Lomond, to become agrazier.[1][2] He acquired "Kingston", a property said to be "...large in acreage and poor agriculturally,...".[3]
In early 1826 Batman captured the bushrangerMatthew Brady, resulting in an additional grant of land by the government.[1][4]Brady had been wounded in the leg in a conflict with the authorities, but got away safely. Batman went out unarmed on his own in search of Brady, and found him quite accidentally. He saw a man limping in the bush near a shallow creek, and hastened forward to him. It was Brady. He induced Brady to surrender and return with him. The outlaw was ill and suffering much pain, and did as he was asked. Brady was duly handed over to authorities at Launceston Gaol and later sentenced to death.[5] He was hanged atHobart.
Batman participated in the many killings ofTasmanian Aboriginal people while in Tasmania. Many such killings are well documented in the Tasmanian State archives and Victorian State library records.[7]
Batman participated in the capture of some Aboriginal people in 1829.[8] He employed mainland Aboriginal people hired in Sydney, New South Wales, for 'roving parties' hunting Tasmanian Aboriginal peoples.[9] Between 1828 and 1830 Aboriginal people in this region were shot or rounded up by bounty hunters like Batman.[6]
As Tasmanian Colonial Governor,George Arthur, observed, Batman "...had much slaughter to account for". Closer examination of this quote from Governor Arthur reveals a more complex picture of Batman's motives and actions on behalf of the government in these so-called "roving parties".[10] For example, in September 1829 Batman (aged 28), with the assistance of several "Sydney blacks" he brought to Tasmania, led an attack on an Aboriginal family group together numbering 60 to 70 men, women and children in theBen Lomond district of north-east Tasmania. Waiting until 11pm that night before attacking, he "...ordered the men to fire upon them..." as their 40-odd dogs raised the alarm and the Aboriginal people ran away into thick scrub. In his report of the incident to the police magistrate at Oatlands, Batman estimated that they killed 15 Aboriginal people.[11] The next morning, he left the place for his farm, with two badly wounded Tasmanian men, a woman and her two-year-old boy, all of whom he captured. However, he "...found it impossible that the two former [the men] could walk, and after trying them by every means in my power, for some time, found I could not get them on I was obliged to shoot them." The captured woman, namedLuggenemenener,[12] was later sent toCampbell Town gaol and separated from her two-year-old son, Rolepana, "...whom she had faced death to protect."[13] Batman reported afterwards to British Colonial Secretary, John Burnett, in a letter of 7 September 1829, that he kept the child because he wanted "...to rear it...".[14] Luggenemenener died on 21 March 1837 as an inmate at the Flinders Island settlement.[15]
Later, Rolepana (aged 8 years), traveled with him as part of the founding party of Melbourne in 1835. After Batman's death in 1839, Rolepana would have been 12 years old. Boyce notes that Rolepana was employed by colonist George Ware at 12 pounds a year with board on Batman's death, "...but what became of him after this is also unknown."[16] However, Haebich records Rolepana as having died in Melbourne in 1842 (he would have been about 15 years).[17] She also says that:
Batman rose to prominence during the time of theBlack War of 1830 (aged 29), during which he participated in theBlack Line—the formation of a "human chain" across the island to drive Aboriginal people from their lands into a 'manageable' area.
In February 1830, Batman wrote to the British Colonial Secretary, John Burnett, about his difficulty in 'coming up' with [i.e., capturing] the Aboriginal people.[19] In the same letter, he asked in explaining his difficulty in capturing Aboriginal people in the bush, "...if he could follow known [Aboriginal] offenders once they had made it 'to their own ground'.[20]
The 19th-century artist,John Glover, captioned one of his Tasmanian paintingsBatman's Lookout, Benn Lomond (c. 1840) "...on account of Mr Batman frequenting this spot to entrap the Natives."[6] Batman's neighbour in Van Diemen's Land, Glover said that he was "a rogue, thief, cheat and liar, a murderer of blacks and the vilest man I have ever known".[21]
Batman was diagnosed withsyphilis in 1833.
By 1835, Batman's property, "...Kingston [nearBen Lomond], covered more than 7,000 acres (2,800 ha), had appropriate animals and buildings, and numerous hands; but it was too rugged to be highly productive."[1]
Batman sought land grants in theWestern Port area, but the New South Wales colonial authorities rejected this. So, in 1835, as a leading member of thePort Phillip Association he sailed for the mainland in theschoonerRebecca and explored much ofPort Phillip.
When he found the current site of central Melbourne, he noted in his diary of 8 June 1835, "This will be the place for a village."[1][4][22] and declared the land "Batmania".[23][24]
Batman's Treaty negotiations withKulin peoples (Aboriginal peoples of now central Victoria) took place in June 1835 on the banks of theMerri Creek in present-dayNorthcote (an inner suburb of Melbourne), "...using legal advice from the former Van Diemen's Land attorney-general,Joseph Gellibrand, and with the support of his "Sydney Blacks", which were his Aboriginal employees fromNew South Wales andVan Diemen's Land."[25] These Aboriginal men, namely John Pigeon (Warroba), Johnny Crook (Jonninbia orYunbai), Joe the Marine (Quanmurrer), Stewart (Nillang), Mackey (Macher), John Allen (Lurnerminer), Bill Bullets, Old Bull, and Joe Bangett, performed a central role in the cross-cultural negotiations and the maintenance of these relations.[26][27]
However, Batman did not visit the colonial camp that was later set up on theYarra River (i.e., Melbourne) until November 1835.[28] Debate has continued for more than a century over this moment in the birth of Melbourne. Batman writes in his diary on Monday, 8 June 1835 that "... the boat went up the river I have spoken of, which comes from the east, and I am glad to state, about six miles up found the river all good water and very deep. This will be the place for a village. The natives on shore." The previous day Batman and his party had returned from their meeting with the Kulin Elders along the hills bordering the northern banks of the Yarra. It remains quite unclear whether the party saw the 'place for a village' by the 'Falls'—a long-used homesite for the local peoples, and similarly unclear whether Batman was in the boat that explored the Yarra on the 8th. But the site has already been noted for its virtues by numerous Britons including John Helder Wedge and Batman's Parramatta friend Hamilton Hume."
Batman negotiated a treaty (now known asBatman's Treaty but also known as the Dutigulla Treaty, Dutigulla Deed, Melbourne Treaty or Melbourne Deed), with Kulin peoples to rent their land on an annual basis for 40 blankets, 30 axes, 100 knives, 50 scissors, 30 mirrors, 200 handkerchiefs, 100 pounds of flour and 6 shirts. It is unlikely that Kulin people would have understood this as a transfer of land or agreed to it if they had, but, asPercival Serle wrote, "No doubt the blankets, knives, tomahawks, etc., that he gave them were very welcome". In any case,Governor Bourke deemed such a treaty invalid, as the land was claimed by the Crown, rather than the Kulin people, and other colonists including the rival party ofJohn Pascoe Fawkner arrived to settle Melbourne.
Batman and his family settled at what became known asBatman's Hill at the western end ofCollins Street. Having sold his property "Kingston" in Tasmania and brought his wife, formerconvictElizabeth Callaghan, and their seven daughters to Melbourne, he built a house at the base of the hill in April 1836. His son, John, was born in November 1837.[1]
However, Batman's health quickly declined after 1835 as syphilis had disfigured and crippled him, leaving him in constant pain. By the end of 1837 he was unable to walk and was forced to give up squatting and move into trading and investment, but he greatly overstretched his finances and was left vulnerable by his reliance on delegating work to others.[1] As the disease eroded his nose, forcing him to wear a bandage to conceal his ruined face,[29] he became estranged from his wife. In his last months of his life Batman was cared for by his Aboriginal servants, who carried him around in a wicker perambulator.[30][31]
Following Batman's death on 6 May 1839 his widow and family moved from the house at Batman's Hill and the house was requisitioned by the government for administrative offices.[32] Batman's will, made in 1837, was out of date at his death as many of the assets bequeathed to his children had already been sold.[1] Years of legal wrangling followed his death, led by Eliza Batman, who had remarried in 1841 to Batman's former clerk, William Willoughby, and had only been left £5 in the will by her embittered first husband. The case dragged on, even after Batman's heir-at-law, his son John, drowned in theYarra River in 1845, and its costs absorbed what was left of Batman's estate.[1]
Batman was buried in theOld Melbourne Cemetery[33] but was exhumed and re-buried in theFawkner Cemetery, a cemetery named after his fellow colonist (and rival),John Pascoe Fawkner.[34] A bluestoneobelisk was constructed in 1922 which was later moved to Batman Avenue before being returned to the Queen Victoria Market site in 1992. The obelisk is inscribed with the Latin "circumspice" meaning "look around", the entire city of Melbourne being his legacy. The obelisk also states that Melbourne was "unoccupied" prior to John Batman's arrival in 1835.[35]
Australian sprinterDaniel Batman was a direct descendant of John Batman.[36]
Despite his responsibility for many Aboriginal deaths, Batman is widely considered to have been sympathetic towards Aboriginal people.[37] Batman's legacy has been challenged in the 21st century, and most criticism has focused on his killings of Indigenous people in Tasmania. In 2016,Darebin Council voted unanimously to change the name of Batman Park inNorthcote.[38] It is now called Gumbri Park, after Gumbri (Jessie Hunter), great-niece ofWurundjeri leaderWilliam Barak and the last girl born on theCoranderrk Aboriginal Reserve in Healesville.[39]
In 2017, artistBen Quilty called for Batman's statue to be removed from the Melbourne CBD, describing him as a mass murderer who "makes theAmerican Confederates look friendly" and adding that "changing the inscription [on his statue] to 'mass murderer' might slightly appease my sense of justice."[40]
The Victorian electoralDivision of Batman was abolished in 2018 and renamed theDivision of Cooper after Aboriginal political activistWilliam Cooper.[41][42]
Constant pain in his feet and legs has made him dependent on this wickerwork Batmobile, and the bandage around his face (such a noble profile in his centenary portrait) hides the fact that his nose is decaying.
He was ostracised by the white community and wheeled around town in a barrow by two Aboriginal men – ironically among the few people who would acknowledge him.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) (2003 facsimile edition)