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Batman’s Treaty do so with a great variance in detail and perspective. Given Batman’s Treaty
is both an anomaly to usual interactions with Indigenous Australians and generally not a well
known aspect of Australia’s history, the inclusion of this event in textbooks was unexpected.
Although Batman is not an explorer in the conventional understanding of the term, given his
actions during the early exploration period, including being one of the first persons of non-
Indigenous descent to arrive in current-day Victoria (an Australian State), his attempt to
create a treaty is included in this category.
Students are first introduced to Batman’s treaty in Social studies for Queensland schools
grade 4 (Department of Education, 1954/1963/1966). The narrative (see Source 6.14)
describes Batman’s attempt to take advantage of the local Indigenous population in order to
secure large tracts of land.
Source 6.14. Batman’s Treaty extract from Social studies for Queensland schools
grade 4 (Department of Education, 1954/1963/1966, pp. 82-83).
Unfortunately for Batman, the government would not recognise this claim, as seen in Source
6.15.
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