THE FOUNDER OF MELBOURNE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2809, 15 January 1908, Page 78

THE FOUNDER OF MELBOURNE.

(By an Australian.) On the morning of 29th May, 1835, a rough little schooner of 15 tons burthen, with che name Rebecca painted on her bows, glided between Port Phillip Heads • and boldly ventured the unknown ,sea« within. Eleven days earlier she had set out from Laraiceston upon her romantically jwlventurous mission to e^jlore the reaches of Port Phillip, and to establish a settlement somewhere on the inner shores, if such an enterprise should prove on close investigation feasible. There was quite a crowd of persons on the deck of the little ship that bright May morning. A group of more than a dozen f half-naked Sydney blacks was gathered aft. Near the wheel stood three white ! men, to judge by their dress ■Government ' servants or assigned men. They were hardy-looking fellows with ragged, reckless faces ; homy -fisted, bronzed dhd bearded sons of Anak. They were talking eagerly together, and every now and them

exchanging swift, excited questions and replies with the sailor at the wheel. A little further forward, bending over tae ' taffrail and peering shorewards, hi 6 eyes shaded by his hand v was a more remarkable /figure — a man to arrest attention and interest in any assembly in which, he might be placed. Tall, straight as a lance, and magnificently proportioned, he looked a veritable Hercules, and the prolonged intentoess of his attitude suggested exceptional powers of mefatal concentration. After a considerable interval he turned about and came towards his companions, thus revealing a face nicely in ' keeping with his splendid physique. It was a frank, manly. face (with a strong jaw and keen yet^limdly eyes), leonine with, the thick mane that framed it. "Gumm, Dodd, . Thomson," he said quickly, speaking to his three servants with cHaracteristic abruptness, "do you realise xhat, you are helping me to make history? We've done a thing to-day that will give a text to scores of chronicles in after time." Then, without awaiting an answer, he laughed out loud and breezily and 5 hurried down the gangway. Then© was a little silence after he had vanished. It was broken by the helmsman's curiosity. "History," he observed, "ain't worth the trouble o' making, to toy 'idee. I prefers cash or grog, I does. Say, Mr Gumm, what does Mr Batman really expect to gain from this here expedition? " > "Fame — .land — fortune," responded Gumm laconically. " Huh ! " scoffed the sailor. "He oughteT be satisfied with what he's got, I reckon. As for fame, young as he is he's known half through Van Diemen's Land as the man that got the natives to submit peaceably to Government, arid the only man that could have done it. lAs for land, he owns the best farm on 1 the Derwent; and as for fortune, he's worth hie thousands they say, and he's got the prettiest wife and the nicest younkers on the island. Why in thunder couldn't he stay at home? " " Hef always was a wild blade and over- >- fond of adventure," explained Thomson. *' His father, who was a missionary, left him a nice property in New South Wales, and -afore he -was 18 -'he ■ was making a tidy living at Parramatta as aT>lacksniith. But it 'was all fro .go. He's the sort of man- who can't settle down. • He cleared ' out -from Sydney side before he was of age,- in 1820, and crossed over to Van Diemen's Land, where he married, as you say, the handsomest girl you could Bet ©yes on, and quickly got hold of the best farm in the northern part of the island, too. But even that couldn't chain him. He was /lever happy, except when be was out for Government, exploring or chasing the blacks, and for years past now he's been trying to persuade the Governor to let him. lead an exploring expedition from Westernport to Carpentaria." •• Why shouldn't the Governor let him ?" Thomson shrugged his shoulders. "Sir George Arthur ain't what you'd call a bigminded man. He reckons- he's got his hands - full already, and he don't want more territory to bother looking after. You take my word for it, if John Bateman^'does' happen to found a settlement hereabouts the Governor will serve him notice to quit as soon as he hears of it." " Bah ! " said Dodd. " It's little John Batman will care for that. He's noVthe man to be shifted by a bit of blue paper." Three days later the Rebecca, after much .time lost and temper wasted in fighting baffling air currents, dropped anchor off the site of what now is Williamstown. Then it was a white untrodden wilderness of ti-tree swamp and eucalyptus covered slopes, with the waters of the Saltwater emptying into a marsh ' near by that smelt acridly at low tide of rotten weeds and molluscs. Next morning at daylight, after an anxious night spent in listening to the melancholy wailing of the curlews and trying to distingiusb human sounds, John Batman took a boat, and, accompanied by his three white servants and half a 'dozen Sydney blacks, he pulled some distance up the Saltwater River. Landing in the early noon, the party breakfasted at a spot where no human beings but aboriginals had visited since the creation of the world. John Batman took off his hat as he stepped ashore, and" he gazed around him with an air of eager pride. "In the name of the King ! " he said, md his servants gave a hearty cheer. The party walked 20 miles before nightfall, and were like to- be famished at even for lack of fresh water ; but Gumm saved the situation by digging a well with his •walking stick in a little muddy hollow, which operation caused a tiny spring to burst forth gurgling from its hiding place. On ihe following day Batman discovered and named Mount Wedge and Samq, and during the week that ensued he traversed "" iDeep Creek and the Keilor Plains, and found Eliza and Herri Creeks. * -^-The Blacks.— On the 6th J>une smoke was seen in the west, and next day they came up with the aborigines in the wild bush on the present site of Northcote, near the sands of Collingwood Flat. The tribe was a numerous one, and well armed with spears and boomerangs. They showed fight as the party approached, but Batman knew the blacks better than any white man Born at Parramatta in the year 1800, he had been brought iip among native servants. He understood several tribal -tongues, arid he was deeply versed in their way« and customs. Halting his associates, he advanced towards the -hostile seeming tribe unarmed and " holding forth his empty hand, accompanied, only by * naked Sydney aboriginal. The pair stopped about 26ft from the Pert Phillip bucks, who still held their spears poised to throTT-. Batman spoke to the Sydney bjaok, *&& he instantly began yabberingto the strangers. _ It was at once evident that tney at least partially understood him. They put down -their spears, and began, to laugh - and talk with every sign of pleasure. Pre- - "^ntlj they came forward, and Batman

gave them some handkerchiefs and beads. Their delight knew no bounds. With the simplicity of little children they crowded around him asking with gestures for more and shouting loudly to their women, who now appeared, to the number of 24, from the scrub and timidly approached. Batman made his interpreter tell the natives that he wished to occupy their country, and if they would allow him to do so he promised to treat them very kindly. They assured him that he was welcome, and they brought a piece of burning wood ■ from the bush,' with which a fire was kindled as a sign of hospitality. On this they quickly cooked an opossum, and | eagerly invited Batman and his servants j to eat. After this meal Batman gave the I tribe eight pairs of blankets. 18 necklaces I of beads, 30 coloured handkerchiefs, and I 61b of sugar. The natives were almost frantic with joy, and ihe women to show their gratitude sang and danced,. i A camp having been formed, Batman j I remained on. this spot wrth his party for i | several days, studying their language and i 1 manners, and making acquaintance with j all the neighbouring chiefs. He found ■ that the Jagga Jagga tribe was the domin ant race of the district, and he~ attached ! their three headmen to his service so kindly and so cleverly that they remained ever afterwards his devoted followers. Having made a thorough examination of the countryside and perfectly satisfied himself of its suitability for settlement, Batman sailed back in the Rebecca for supplies to Launceston, and on his return made preparations to occupy the territory on an extensive scale. He was hailed by all the tribes on his second arrival with extravagant demonstrations of deUght, and so wisely did he treat ,them and so greatly did his humane methods endear him to- them, that the three Jagga Jagga chiefs and five other of the native kings came forward presently and voluntarily invested him with their' ekin cloaks of kingship, their royal mantles of authority, thus making him the over-lord of all the tnoes. Batman now prepared, to acquire a legal right to the land on which he wished to settle. He therefore I gathered all the chiefs together and plainly told them what he desired, whereupon his memorable/ treaty with the aborigines was solemnly drawn up and signed. ( Many writers have either ignorantly or ; maliciously attempted to sully John Batman's reputation in connection, with this agreement./ They allesre that ha defrauded and deluded ihe blades, and that he induced them; to sell their ancient birthrights for a mess of pottage. Nothing could be further from the truth. John Batman was an adventurer, but he was also an honest and a fair-minded man. Instead of purchasing the fee simple of tne land from the blacks, as he could quite easily have done, and as his traducers say he did, all he asked them to do was to lease the present site of Melbourne to him in exchange for an annual tribute. For this concession he gave them a large/ quantity of implements and provisions, and bound himself to pay them a yearly rent of 50 pairs of blankets, 50 knives, 50 tomahawks, 50 pairs of scissors, , 50 mirrors, 20 suits of clothes, and two tons of/ flour.

it is true that s-uch a consideration appears trifling for the use ,of some 600,000 -acres of fine land, but we have to remember that the land was a primeval wild, that it 'had no value whatever at the moment, and that the blacks thoroughly comprehended what they were doing, and thought so little of their territory that they considered they had made a most excellent bargain for themselves. To evidence the anxiety of Batman to make the tribes understand the solemnity of the contract he had it explained to them by several different interpreters on separate occasions, and when they were ready to •complete the agreement he required them to- sign it in a fashion that they could not help but appreciate. It should be observed that each Australian native tribe is possessed of a peculiar secret sign or mark, to which attaches the most extraordinary significance in the aboriginal mind. The mark is never revealed to their own women, and is guarded from white men with the utmost jealousy. It is never employed except to seal intertribal treaties and arrangements. It is then cut on tree trunks growing in some particularly inaccessible spot with tomahawks by the head men of the tribes as a symbol of the execution of the arrangement, and when 6O employed it is the act, deed, and signature of the country and the tribe, and sacred beyond words. .Knowing all this, John Batman," as soon as the agreement was ready, collected the chiefs, and, taking them apart with him into the bush, asked each man to 6how him

— The Sacred Mark. — Such a thing was unheard of. No white man had ever before been given such a proof of native confidence. But the chiefs did not hesitate. Only pausing to make certain that their movements were not observed, each on& of them took his tomahawk and cut his mark into a tree under Batman's eyes. John Batman had these marks transferred to the parchment whereon, the agreement was writ, and the transaction was completed. There is no more interesting document in the records of Victoria. The names of the signatories are Jagga Jagga (3), Cooloolock, Bungarie, Van Ya-n, Modwhijl, and Monmarmalar, chiefs of the Dutigallar tribe, and Iransnoo and Geelong. Opposite the name of each chief is affixed his mystic sign manual, and the agreement sets out in plain terse language the terms of the lease and covenant, words that would be intelligible even to the simplest black. But .-we have sure proof that they were perfectly understood, for no sooner was the agreement signed than the tribes blazed a line of trees as landmarks all around John Batman's holding, and the chiefe, addressing their subjects, solemnlyWarped them that they must not again venture on that territory without pitman's permission. I have; said enough, Jf fancy, to demonstrate thai Batman neither deluded nor coerced the blacks, but merely, as he wfts. quite entitled to do, made fl-

fair bargain with them for -the use" of land which was not much use to them, for game thereabout wa6 scarce, and although they lived there they had to do their hunting far afield.

— Favkner and Batman. —

Not long after this business was concluded Batman one day beheld from his camp at Indented Head the approach of the ships carrying John Pascoe Fawkner's party, which had come too late to have the honour of founding the future colony of Victoria. Batman was none too pleased by their advent. Mounting his horse, he rode down to the beach and warned the intruders off his estate. Some of them accepted his representations and retired inland, but Mr Fawkner laughed at Batman, and took up a position on the north bank of the Yarra. Batman could easily have compelled him to withdraw, but his good sense prevailed, and he resolved to await the issue of legal proceedings. It was a vain expectation. Governor Arthur absolutely refused to recognise his treaty with the natives, and all his trouble went for nothing. But no — not entirely for nothing. Batman's marvellous influence over the blacks enabled the new settlers who presently came swarming to the spot (of which when first he saw it he said to Gumm, his servant : " This will be the place for a village ") to clear the ground and till the soil without molestation by the original inhabitants. -As for Batman himself, like the loyal, law-abiding citizenhe was, he acquiesced in the Governor's high-handed decree, and, resigning his hard-won rights, he took up his residence on a hill at the western end of what is now Collins street, Melbourne, and^ bringing over his family from Tasmania he Ihere settled down and spent his last few years working hard for the Government in the service of his fellow-colonists. According to the Sydney Gazette of April, 1836, Ire' acted as the locum tenens in .Melbourne of Governor Arthur, and there is no doubt that while he lived he was the ruling spirit of the new-born settlement. His beautiful homestead was pulled down in 1870 to make way for increased accommodation for the railway offices. Until that moment it bore his name, and was, moreover, the site from <ehich the latitude and longitude of Melbourne were determined. It is something of a shame ■upon us as a people that ite old title has long been discarded, and the very memory o f its first owner sunk into oblivion. John Batman died in 1839, the victim of a sad disease that waste the-health and shattered the prosperity of too many of our early pioneers. He left but little fortune, and no son to inherit his honoured patronymic.

It is full time that we rescued the fame ot Batman from the neglect and forgetfulness into which we have so ungratefully allowed it to fall. We owe him much. He was the discoverer of the site ot Melbourne and the founder of the city. He was a native-born Australian, one of the first, and in every sense of the term a brave and gallant gentleman, one of whose memory we have every right to be proud. Let us see what his contemporaries said of him. The historian of Tasmania pays him this fine tribute : " Among those distinguished for their knowledge of the bush, compassion for the natives and skill in pursuing them, Mr Batman is the subject of frequent and approved mention." Melville says of him that he " proceeded not with the sword, but with the olive branch " in dealing with the native of Port Phillip ; and West remarks : "To Batman belongs the praise of mingling humanity with severity, of perceiving human affections in the creatures he was commissioned to resist. Be began in the midst of violence and bloodshed (in Tasmania) to try the softer influence of conciliation and charity — being one of the few who entertained a. strong confidence in the power of kindness." When we reflect that there are very^ few of the early colonial leaders of men whose records in dealing with the natives aTe not stained with ruthless deeds of bloodshed and oppression we have a great title to feel a deep pTide in the humanitarian reputation the founder of Victoria and Melbourne left behind him. Almost any other people- in the world would long ere this have erected statues to perpetuate his memory. We have so far done nothing except attach his name to portion of a street in the city he originated. Portion of a street! Are we prepared to let this graceless stigma rest upon u«T