Events Held in 2005

Melbourne Conversations

Treaty Supporters' Scroll

Darebin Public Hypothetical

Urban History Tour

Image: Plaques on the memorial at Indented Head where John Batman landed. This memorial is one of many Batman memorials in Melbourne celebrating his status as the city's "founder".

Melbourne Conversations

Talk Blak: A series of conversations on human rights, reconciliation and justice

Melbourne Conversations is a series of regular, free discussions exploring issues and topics that make Melbourne - and Melburnians - tick. Developed by the City of Melbourne, Melbourne Conversations aims to provide information, engagement and entertainment through free talks about popular themes.

Remembering Batman – Treaties and Justice
15 June, 6.00pm-8.00pm

BMW Edge Federation Square, Corner Flinders and Swanston Streets Melbourne

A contemporary discussion on treaties and justice to commemorate the 170th anniversary of the infamous Batman Treaty

Speakers:

Sean Brennan - Treaty Project Director, Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public
Law
Geoff Clark - Instigator of the Treaty Let's Get it Right campaign
Ian Hunter – Wurundjeri Traditional Owner
Michael Mansell - Aboriginal Provisional Government
Marji Thorpe – Gunnai Maar woman, member of the Black GST collective
Alexis Wright – Participating MC - member of the Waanyi Nation, research fellow at La Trobe University

Presented and developed in partnership with ANTaR

For information on the other sessions in the Talk Blak series go here.

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Treaty Supporters Scroll

A Treaty Supporters’ Scroll will be travelling from event to event and to different sites in Victoria for non-Indigenous people to ‘sign’ with their thumbprint.

Supporters receive an information sheet and a Treaty Supporters’ badge for a small $ sum to keep the project going.

See ANTaR Victoria's Treaty page for more info.

Please contact ANTaR Victoria for an update or to host the scroll in your community.

Email: antar@bsl.org.au
Phone: (03) 9419 3613

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Hypothetical

Engage with some of the all too often ignored issues concerning the shared heritage of Melbourne's Indigenous and Non-indigenous people by attending the ANTAR Hypothetical at the Northcote Town Hall.

Local Indigenous memory and popular history identifies the treaty site as beside the Merri Creek near Rushall Station, others mantain it was further north on another waterway. Some say the treaty was an attempt at a fair deal, others a hoax. Governor Bourke could not allow it to stand as it challenged Terra Nulius and the Sydney authorities.

Interesting issues, but this sort of history conceals a multitude of other important stories. Through a public Hypothetical, based on a mystery fictional event, we will probe beyond these disputes to flush out some of the meanings and consequences of the Batman encounter - for the Indigenous people of the time, the new settlers and all of us today, black and white.

7 pm, Wednesday 3 August
Northcote Town Hall, High St, Northcote

Brought to you by ANTaR in Darebin, supported by the City of Darebin.

For more information contact Chris Adams

Ph: 9489 9691 chris.j.adams@roads.vic.gov.au

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Urban History Tour

Join this unique guided bus tour in the heart of Melbourne, marking the 170th anniversary of the Batman Treaty.

Guided by historian Meyer Eidelson (author of The Melbourne Dreaming and President of the St Kilda Historical Society), the tour will take in Dight’s Falls and urban sights.

Discussion will cover topics ranging from the “Founding of Melbourne” to the debate over Treaty and agreement-making in the political present.

Sunday 5th June 2005, 10:00am-1:00pm

Meet 10:00am at the Batman monument, Victoria Market carpark, corner Therry St and Queen St, Melbourne

The tour concludes at Flagstaff Gardens – site of the burial of the first victims of conflict between settlers and traditional owners. This final site is only 500m from the start of the tour.

Tickets $30 – includes complimentary morning tea and lunch at 12:45pm.

Limited tickets available so be quick!
Tickets on sale from ANTaR, 67 Brunswick St Fitzroy. Ph: 9419 3613.
And at the Royal Historical Society of Victoria, 239 A'Beckett Street. Ph: 9326 9288.

Brought to you by ANTaR Vic - Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation

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