Black History Victoria

John Batman founder of Melbourne , Victoria married Eliza Callaghan (convict)

Eliza Callaghan who at the age of seventeen was convicted of trying to defraud the bank of England by passing a forged pound note. She was sentenced to death, the sentence was commuted to fourteen years transportation.

On arriving in Horbart Town goal she was assigned to the keeper, she spent three years with him as a wife, during that time, she absconded three times, She was recaptured each time and sentenced to periods in the stocks, At times she was forced to wear an iron collar, Finally she fled into the Tasmanian bush, Where she came open John Batman and he took her in.

In 1828 after she gave birth to three children with Batman he approach Governor Arthur for permission to marry her, and grant her a pardon (by the time this was granted 1833 the family had grown to six)

1836 John Batman arrived in Port Philip with his family, consisting of his wife, six daughters, a son and thirty servants, However Batman died 5th May 1839, His widow Eliza married William Willoughby, (an employee) in 1841,

Note. Wesleyan Church records trustees named as being George Lilly, William Whitton.(ie witton), John Jones Peers,Thomas Jennings, and William Willoughby. dated 21 September 1842

In 1843 Eliza Willoughby and her children, then said to be in pitiable condition; pettitioned Queen Victoria for a grant of a portion of the waste lands of the District; but their appeal was refused. (the extensive documentation may be consulted at the Public Records Office Victoria)

Eliza Willoughby moved to Geelong 1847, and was kicked to death by a druken mob in 1852.

William Willoughby took his Aboriginal wife and bore him two children - Hannah and Alfred. When he died in 1856, she walked back 400 Kilometers to Gunditjmara Country, with her two children. Susannah, her husband and his and her children lived in a humpy at Lake Condah.

Annie Rich is an Aboriginal woman from South Australia, married Alfred (Willoughby) McDonald.
and his sister Hannah (Willoughby) McDonald married Jamie Lovitt

Alfred McDonald and Annie (Rich) McDonald had 5 Children

Fiora 26/02/1884 dec 1885 14 Months
Susannah 19/06/1885
Allen McKinnon 04/10/1887
Euphemia 25/05/1889
George McDonald 26/11/1890

Jamie Lovitt and Hannah (Willoughby) Lovitt had 4 Children

Ebenezer James 28/05/1882
Charles Leonard 14/04/ 1884
Norman Gordon 03/03/1886
Fedderick Amos 23/03/1887

More to be posted, Batmans Blacks Treaty
Batmans Blackline war