Batman's Treaty

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The contract was signed in 1835 based on a drawing around 1880
Map of Port Phillip Bay from 1835. Title says this is land "[acquired] by treaty with the native chiefs, June 6, 1835"

Batman's Treaty (German: Batman contract), also called Dutigulla Treaty, Dutigulla Deed, Melbourne Treaty or Melbourne Deed , was signed on June 6, 1835 between John Batman , an Australian farmer and businessman and a group of "elders" (tribal elders) Wurundjeri - Aborigines on a lease of land around Port Phillip Bay , near the present-day city of Melbourne . The treaty is the only document in which European settlers negotiated their presence and occupation of Aboriginal land. It was later invalidated by the Governor of New South Wales , Richard Bourke , as the British Crown claimed ownership of all of Australia. Whether it actually came to a contract between the parties in the civil-legal sense is controversial, and the authenticity of the signature of the tribal elders has also been questioned.

Contract negotiations

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

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

On June 6, Batman met with eight Elders of the Wurundjeri , the traditional owners of the land around the Yarra River , including Bebejan and Billibellary . The meeting took place on the bank of a narrow stream, the exact location is unknown; an area on Merri Creek at what is now Northcote is assumed. After exchanging gifts, including blankets, knives, scissors and flour, Batman submitted contract documents, which he signed and which were supposedly signed by the eight "elders".

For a purchase price that included several scissors, flannel jackets, red shirts, and an annual tribute for similar items, he was given 2,000 square kilometers of land around the Yarra River and Corio Bay. The total value of the goods is estimated at £ 100 in today's value.

In return, the Voivurrung offered woven baskets, examples of their weapons, and two treasured possum cloaks. After the contract was signed, there was a celebration with the Parramatta Aborigines, where the Batman people danced a corroboree .

Batman returned to Launceston , Tasmania on June 14th . A few days later he wrote to the Governor of Tasmania, George Arthur , informing him of the treaty and that the Association was planning to bring 20,000 sheep for the country. Arthur was not pleased and wrote to the Governor of New South Wales, Richard Bourke. Not only did Batman try to negotiate with the Aborigines, who the British did not grant ownership of land in Australia. Batman had acquired land for the Association, not the Crown.

On August 6th, Bourke issued a proclamation , a document that legally clarified that the British Crown is based on the doctrine of Terra Nullius (No Man's Land), that it claims the entire Australian continent and that only the Crown will distribute and can sell. This invalidated any agreement or contract entered into by any person without the consent of the government and clarified that any person would be wrong to attempt to enter into such a contract. That was the ultimate invalidation for Batman's Treaty. The Bourke Proclamation was declared legally valid on October 10, 1835 by the Colonial Office .

John Helder Wedge , another member of the Port Phillip Association, left Launceston on August 7, 1835 to settle on the association's land. This happened before Bourke made his proclamation. When Wedge arrived at the Barwon River and then headed towards the Yarra River, he encountered a group led by John Pascoe Fawkner. Wedge reported the contract to Fawkner, but Fawkner refused to leave and declared the contract null and void. Ultimately, both men were wrong because they were not authorized by Governor Bourke.

Disputes

The legal validity of the contract was largely disputed. It is possible that the markings instead of the eight "elders" were made by one of the five Aborigines that Batman brought from Parramatta. The markings are similar to those used by the Aborigines in the area. In addition, neither Batman and the Aborigines from the Sydney area, nor the Wurundjeri had common language skills. It is certain that the "elders" did not understand the treaty, instead they recognized the exchange of gifts, which lasted for days, presumably as a diplomatic tanderrum ceremony that, according to their traditions, included the use and use of land by aliens allowed. It was only later that Batman hired William Buckley , an escaped convict as an interpreter who had lived among the Aborigines for 32 years.

In any case, the European legal system of property is completely different from that of the Aborigines. Nonetheless, the treaty was touted as a unique document that set out to facilitate an agreement on land use between white settlers and local Aborigines. The treaty was significant because it is the first and only document for European settlers to negotiate their presence and occupation of Aboriginal land.

Batman assumed his contract was valid until his death in 1839.

Terra Nullius by Bourke

The legal conception of a Terra Nullius by Bourke from 1835 lasted until 1992. Only the decision of the High Court of Australia in the Mabo and Others versus Queensland case (No. 2) in 1992 formed a fundamental decision on the legal status of indigenous peoples within the Commonwealth of Australia .

This fundamental decision was the decision of Mabo and Another v. The State of Queensland and Another ( Mabo v. Queensland (No. 1) ). This decision established that even before the British colonization of Australia, the indigenous peoples there had a kind of territorial rule over their respective areas and therefore not only Terra Nullius was present during the colonization.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Richard Broome, Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800 , pp. 10-14, Allen & Unwin, 2005, ISBN 1741145694 , ISBN 9781741145694
  2. ^ A b National Archives of Australia, Governor Bourke's Proclamation 1835 (UK) ( Memento of July 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) . Retrieved November 3, 2008
  3. ^ National Museum of Australia, Canberra, The Deed , Batmania. Retrieved November 3, 2008
  4. ^ A b Carolyn Web, History should have no divide , The Age, June 3, 2005. Retrieved November 3, 2008
  5. ↑ Isabel Ellender and Peter Christiansen, People of the Merri Merri. Pp. 18-23, The Wurundjeri in Colonial Days , Merri Creek Management Committee, 2001 ISBN 0957772807
  6. ^ Robert Kenny (2008): Tricks or treats? A case for Kulin knowing in Batman's treaty . History Australia 5 (2): pp. 38.1 to 38.14. Tricks or Treats? Retrieved February 26, 2019 .