John Batman was an Australian grazier, entrepreneur and explorer.
22 Facts About John Batman
2.
John Batman is best known for his role in the founding of Melbourne.
3.
John Batman later co-founded the Port Phillip Association and led an expedition which explored the Port Phillip area on the Australian mainland with the goal of establishing a new settlement.
4.
In 1835, John Batman negotiated a treaty with Aboriginal people in Port Phillip by offering them tools, blankets and food in exchange for thousands of hectares of land.
5.
John Batman moved to the colony with his convict wife, Elizabeth Callaghan, and their seven daughters, settling on what is known as John Batman's Hill.
6.
John Batman died of syphilis shortly afterwards at the age of 38.
7.
John Batman's treaty stands as the only attempt by a European to engage Australian Aboriginal people in a treaty or transaction rather than simply claiming land outright.
8.
John Batman was born on 21 January 1801 in Parramatta, Colony of New South Wales.
9.
John Batman's sentence expired in 1810 and William later became a devout Wesleyan; his children were trained as Anglican-Methodists.
10.
John Batman was apprenticed as a blacksmith in Sydney in 1816.
11.
In early 1826 John Batman captured the bushranger Matthew Brady, resulting in an additional grant of land by the government.
12.
John Batman went out unarmed on his own in search of Brady, and found him quite accidentally.
13.
John Batman saw a man limping in the bush near a shallow creek, and hastened forward to him.
14.
John Batman induced Brady to surrender and return with him.
15.
John Batman participated in the many killings of Tasmanian Aboriginal people while in Tasmania.
16.
John Batman participated in the capture of some Aboriginal people in 1829.
17.
John Batman employed mainland Aboriginal people hired in Sydney, New South Wales, for 'roving parties' hunting Tasmanian Aboriginal peoples.
18.
John Batman sought land grants in the Western Port area, but the New South Wales colonial authorities rejected this.
19.
John Batman negotiated a treaty, 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.
20.
John Batman's will, made in 1837, was out of date at his death as many of the assets bequeathed to his children had already been sold.
21.
John Batman's legacy has been challenged in the 21st century, and most criticism has focused on his killings of Indigenous people in Tasmania.
22.
The Victorian electoral Division of John Batman was abolished in 2018 and renamed the Division of Cooper after Aboriginal political activist William Cooper.