Where Melbourne now stands and John Batman had declared, "This is the spot for a village", was already occupied land. Batman acknowledged this and drew up a legal document which he presented to the indigenous inhabitants of the area. Elders, or Chiefs as he thought they were, of the Wurundjeri Clan of the Woi wurrung people, "signed" the document.
The Treaty involved an annual tribute of axes, shirts, flour and other items in exchange for the use of 600 000 acres (about 245 000 hectares) of prime land along the Bellarine Peninsula, around Geelong (100 000 acres) and around the area where Melbourne stands today (500 000 acres).
The existing Government of Batman's day, did not recognise Batman's "Melbourne Deed" as a legal document. It thus was not honoured and European settlers just took Aboriginal land without any compensation or even negotiation with those who had lived in harmony with it for generations. The original Treaty is held today in the La Trobe Library.
This node was inspired by Sasha Gabba Hey!'s comment "You should node how Melbourne is cool 'cause it was founded by Batman" - it was originally going to be entitled 'Batman meets Melbourne'