In 1835, John Batman was sponsored by a group of businessmen in Tasmania to travel to what we now know as the state of Victoria in order to find usable land for sheep farming. John arrived in Port Phillip Bay and found that the land in Melbourne was perfect. He then met with Aboriginal elders (as seen in source 1) and negotiated a settlement treaty which he traded 234,000 hectares of Victorian land for an annual payment of goods and protection services. This treaty benefited the Europeans more than it benefited the Aboriginals but both
Source 1: Batman's treaty with the aborigines at Merri Creek, 6th June 1835, John Wesley Burtt, communities were impacted positively and negatively by this event.
John Batman’s treaty undoubtedly benefited …show more content…
Batman’s treaty wasn’t all beneficial for the Europeans though. The treaty also had a negative impact on the European community once it was declared illegal by Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur and New South Wales Governor Richard Burke. George Arthur denied Batman’s ownership of the land because he had negotiated with an Indigenous tribe and Richard Burke declared the treaty would "void as against the rights of the Crown” because the British Crown already owned all the land in Australia. This was a negative impact of the treaty on the Europeans because it meant that in order to now own the land, they would have to negotiate with the British government, not the Indigenous peoples. If John had not ventured to Melbourne and not bothered with the treaty, he and the businessmen involved would have saved their money and time which could have been used better …show more content…
Aboriginals today claim that the Europeans took advantage of the language barrier between the two to convince the Indigenous that they were just giving them gifts. They also claim that the Aboriginal chiefs only signed the treaty so they could “limit the number of settlers in Port Phillip” “to at least curtail the destruction they had heard had happened elsewhere”. Still then, the treaty had much more of a negative impact on the Aboriginals than it did a positive one. The Indigenous communities lost ownership of their land, their homes, their food sources, and their religious values associated with that land. The Indigenous lost all power and control over the Europeans which lead to the full superiority of the invaders. The only positive impact the treaty could have possibly had on the Indigenous communities would be associated with the goods and protection they were offered as part of the trade. As mentioned previously, they received blankets, knives, tomahawks, scissors, mirrors, flour, handkerchiefs and shirts. All of these items would have remained unknown to the Aboriginals if it weren't for the treaty. These objects may have somewhat benefited the Aboriginals in the sense that they would have made hunting, keeping warm, and cooking their food easier for
Source 1: Batman's treaty with the aborigines at Merri Creek, 6th June 1835, John Wesley Burtt, communities were impacted positively and negatively by this event.
John Batman’s treaty undoubtedly benefited …show more content…
Batman’s treaty wasn’t all beneficial for the Europeans though. The treaty also had a negative impact on the European community once it was declared illegal by Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur and New South Wales Governor Richard Burke. George Arthur denied Batman’s ownership of the land because he had negotiated with an Indigenous tribe and Richard Burke declared the treaty would "void as against the rights of the Crown” because the British Crown already owned all the land in Australia. This was a negative impact of the treaty on the Europeans because it meant that in order to now own the land, they would have to negotiate with the British government, not the Indigenous peoples. If John had not ventured to Melbourne and not bothered with the treaty, he and the businessmen involved would have saved their money and time which could have been used better …show more content…
Aboriginals today claim that the Europeans took advantage of the language barrier between the two to convince the Indigenous that they were just giving them gifts. They also claim that the Aboriginal chiefs only signed the treaty so they could “limit the number of settlers in Port Phillip” “to at least curtail the destruction they had heard had happened elsewhere”. Still then, the treaty had much more of a negative impact on the Aboriginals than it did a positive one. The Indigenous communities lost ownership of their land, their homes, their food sources, and their religious values associated with that land. The Indigenous lost all power and control over the Europeans which lead to the full superiority of the invaders. The only positive impact the treaty could have possibly had on the Indigenous communities would be associated with the goods and protection they were offered as part of the trade. As mentioned previously, they received blankets, knives, tomahawks, scissors, mirrors, flour, handkerchiefs and shirts. All of these items would have remained unknown to the Aboriginals if it weren't for the treaty. These objects may have somewhat benefited the Aboriginals in the sense that they would have made hunting, keeping warm, and cooking their food easier for