In 1835, John Batman attempted to make a treaty with Melbourne's Aboriginal owners. Here's what happened

In 1835, a group of men led by a grazier from Tasmania, John Batman, met with Kulin leaders in an apparent attempt to lease – or purchase — an extraordinary area of land stretching from modern-day Melbourne to Geelong. The Kulin are an alliance of five distinct but strongly linked nations in the area of modern day Melbourne and surrounds, including: Wurundjeri, who speak the Woiwurrung language, traditional owners of the Yarra Valley and much of Melbourne, who speak the Woiwurrung language, traditional owners of the Yarra Valley and much of Melbourne Bunurong, whose lands span Melbourne's south-west, the Mornington Peninsula and parts of Gippsland, whose lands span Melbourne's south-west, the Mornington Peninsula and parts of Gippsland Wadawurrung, traditional owners of a large area west of Melbourne and including Geelong and Ballarat traditional owners of a large area west of Melbourne and including Geelong and Ballarat Taungurung, of Central Victoria including the upper reaches of the Goulburn River and parts of the Great Dividing range of Central Victoria including the upper reaches of the Goulburn River and parts of the Great Dividing range Dja Dja Wurrung, traditional owners of the Bendigo region of Central Victoria The original deeds look like a European contract, while the cultural authority of powerful Kulin clans is represented by shaky black marks. "We had not ceded our sovereign rights to our Country, nor did we sell it or give it away," he told Victoria's First Peoples truth-telling inquiry, the Yoorrook Justice Commission. Batman's treaty not 'a particularly good bargain' Historians told the Yoorrook Justice Commission the treaty was 'signed' despite language barriers and different relationships to land in European and First Nations cultures. Uncle Andrew Gardiner, who sits on the Assembly as the representative for Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung, said he believed the upcoming treaty negotiations were no longer "underhanded" or "deceitful" like Batman's were.