John Batman

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John Batman

Statue of John Batman at former National Mutual Plaza off Collins Street in Melbourne unveiled 26 January 1979

John Batman (born 21 January 1801 - 5 May 1839) was an Australian farmer and businessman who was one of the first British settlers of the Melbourne area.

Batman was born in Rosehill, 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.

In December 1825 or early 1826 Batman captured the notorious bushranger Matthew Brady. He sought land grants in the Westernport area of Victoria, but the colonial authorities rejected this. So, in 1835, as a leading member of the Port Phillip Association he sailed for the mainland in the schooner Rebecca and explored much of Port Phillip Bay. Batman negotiated a treaty, now known as Batman's 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 this has been praised as one of the few times any attempt to reach an agreement between white settlers and the local Aborigines for land use was made. It is also unlikely that Wurundjeri would have understood this transfer of land or agreed to it if they had. In any case, The Governor of New South Wales deemed such a treaty invalid as the land was owned by the Crown rather than the Aborigines. 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, a cemetery named after his rival colonist John Pascoe Fawkner. There is also a memorial in the Old Melbourne Cemetery.

Melbourne was called Batmania for a very brief time, in 1835, after John Batman.

His direct descendant is Australian sprinter Daniel Batman