John Batman (1801 - 1839), by James Flett, courtesy of La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria. H29825. .Image Details

BATMAN, JOHN (1801-1839), pioneer of Melbourne, was born on 21 January 1801 in New South Wales. His parents, William and Mary Bat(e)man, had reached Sydney in the Ganges on 2 June 1797. William was a Middlesex cutler and grinder of Yorkshire background, transported for receiving stolen saltpetre; his wife paid her fare and brought with her their children, Maria and Robert. After obtaining his ticket-of-leave, William Batman established a timber-yard at Parramatta. Here his five sons and Maria were brought up, baptized at St John's in 1810, the year when his sentence expired, and all thenceforward trained as Anglican-Methodists. John, the second son, was apprenticed blacksmith at Sydney in 1816. He left home alert and active, probably a product of John Tull's elementary school, sufficiently literate ...

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Source:

Australian Dictionary of Biography