Why Melbourne Is Named Melbourne: From Batmania to British PM

Melbourne's name journey: Batmania (1835) → Melbourne (1837).

The Sequence

1. June 1835: John Batman (Tasmanian entrepreneur) negotiates "Batman's Treaty" with Wurundjeri elders, claims 600K acres, names settlement Batmania.
2. Aug 1835: John Pascoe Fawkner's party arrives, establishes competing settlement.
3. 1836: NSW Governor Bourke declares Batman's treaty void (Crown sovereignty). Settlement renamed Bearbrass briefly.
4. Mar 1837: Governor Bourke visits, names town Melbourne after William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne — then British Prime Minister (Whig, 1834, 1835–1841).
5. 1847: Declared a city by Queen Victoria.
6. 1851: Victoria colony separates from NSW; Melbourne = capital.

Who Was Lord Melbourne?

• PM during young Queen Victoria's accession (1837); her close mentor.
• Architect of 1832 Reform Act, abolition of slavery (1833), Poor Law Amendment.
• Scandal: Caroline Norton affair (first "celebrity" divorce trial).
• No direct Australia connection—honorific naming was standard colonial practice.

What If Batmania Stuck?

We'd have "Batman, Victoria" — and endless superhero jokes. Fawkner (the rival founder) hated the name; he's memorialized in Fawkner Park, suburb of Fawkner.

Indigenous name: Naarm (Woiwurrung) — increasingly used in dual naming.