John Batman

John Batman (1801 (?) - 1839) was an Australian farmer and businessman who was one of the first settlers of the Melbourne area. He is notable for being one of the few settlers who tried to reach agreement on land use with the local Aboriginal people.

Batman was born in Rose Hill, Parramatta (now a suburb of Sydney), and spent time in Tasmania (then called Van Diemen's Land) where he began farming, initially on granted land, but his holdings gradually expanded through purchases. During this time, he was involved in conflicts with the Tasmanian Aborigines, the end result of which was their near-extermination. His role in this period is debated.

He sought land grants in the Westernport area of Victoria, but the colonial authorities rejected this. So, in 1835, he sailed for the mainland and explored much of Port Phillip, and negotiated a treaty with some local Aborigines to rent their land on an annual basis for a quantity of items such as knives and flour. While hardly representing a fair commercial value for the land under question, it was one of the few times any attempt to reach an agreement between white settlers and the local Aborigines for land use was made. The Governor of New South Wales quickly overruled the agreement on the basis that the land was owned by the Crown rather than the Aborigines with which Batman reached agreement. The morality of Batman's actions in attempting to sign this treaty are also the subject of considerable debate.

Batman's health quickly declined after 1835, probably from syphilis, and he became estranged from his wife, convict Elizabeth Callaghan. They had had seven daughters and a son. His son drowned in the Yarra River. In his last months he was cared for by the local Aborigines.

Batman is remembered by a number of statues around Melbourne, and is buried in the Fawkner Cemetery, amusingly enough, a cemetery named after his rival colonist John Pascoe Fawkner. There is also a memorial in the Old Melbourne Cemetery.