Jun 212020
Read Jim Poulter's article entitled first contact in Port Phillip (pdf).
The names of the principal characters involved (William Buckley, John Batman, John Pascoe Fawkner and William Barak) are well known to the public. However, this article endeavours to lift the veil on this period of our colonial history through an understanding of the Aboriginal perspective. A little understood narrative dictated by William Barak in 1888 is examined to reveal new insights about the influence of William Buckley on Aboriginal thinking, and the location of the 1835 treaty meeting with Batman.
The sections in the article are:
- Buckley's adjustment to tribal life.
- Murrungurk's law.
- Barak's meeting with Batman.
- Interpreting Barak's story.
- Batman's second bogus treaty.
- The naming of the Yarra River in 1835.
- Melbourne’s feuding founding fathers.