John Batman and the Aboringines

            
             John Batman's treaty deed was a mutual understanding with the aboriginal people involved.
            
             There is much historiographical disparity surrounding the 'Batman Treaty', made in early June 1835 between the Kulin nation and the Port Philip Association, and whether the Aboriginal people understood the full significance of their acceptance of the agreement. Whilst prior to the 1930's national and historical remembrance of Batman's city-founding tended to ignore the fact a treaty with Aborigines ever occurred, it has become an increasingly popular topic to study among historians.1 Occasionally, the treaty has been celebrated and viewed in a positive light. Blainey accepts Batman's account of the treaty largely at face value, arguing there was mutual understanding between Batman and the Kulin.2 However, more commonly the historiographical record concerning the 'Batman Treaty' is littered with arguments stating the treaty was no more than a expedient trick that took advantage of the Kulin nations incomprehension of European land settlement. As Macintyre argues; it tricked them out of their land in return for a few 'trinkets'.3 What this essay will argue however, is that whilst many historians have seen the contract as opportunistic trickery, this undermines the intelligence of the Kulin nation and their understanding of the white man and settlement. The Kulin nation were very aware that they were agreeing to something highly significant, as was Batman. However, whether this significance amounted to more than that achieved in a tanderrum ceremony in the Kulin's eyes is more debatable. .
             It is first necessary to establish why 'the contract was a fraud' according to Presland and other historians alike.4 As Ford says, 'Aborigines resisted European expansion persistently'; why would they have signed a contract giving away 600,000 acres of land unless there was some misunderstanding involved?5 Something many historians have noted is the issue with the signatures on the treaty itself.