Documenting Democracy
Australia's Story
Picture album
John Batman's Treaty
John Batman's Treaty, signed on the banks of a creek on 16 June 1835, was an agreement with eight Aboriginal leaders to transfer the land of the Port Phillip area to Batman. Both the transfer to a person rather than the Crown, and its implicit recognition of Indigenous ownership and occupation of the land, prompted Governor Bourke to disallow the Treaty the same year.

Location: State Library of Victoria 
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The scene at the site where Aboriginal leaders met with John Batman
The scene at the site where Aboriginal leaders met with John Batman and the copies of the Treaty were signed, as imagined by artist JW Burtt in this work, painted 50 years later.

Location: State Library of Victoria  [La Trobe Picture Collection. Reproduced with permission.]
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The opening of the new Legislative Council of Victoria
The opening of the new, two-thirds elected, Legislative Council of Victoria on 13 November 1851, sketched by William Strutt.

Location: Parliament of Victoria  [Parliamentary Library. Reproduced with permission.]
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Artist William Strutt's sketch of the opening of the first Parliament of Victoria
Artist William Strutt's sketch of the opening of the first Parliament of Victoria under responsible government, on 25 November 1856. The Parliament comprised a fully elected Legislative Assembly as well as the Legislative Council.

Location: Parliament of Victoria  [Parliamentary Library. Reproduced with permission.]
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The 'Secret Premiers' conference captured for the record
The 'Secret Premiers' conference captured for the record. In order to secure the agreement of all the colonies to the Constitution Bill, urgent changes were made at this meeting of the six Premiers at Parliament House, Melbourne, from 29 January to 2 February in 1899.

Location: National Archives of Australia  [A1200, L16930]
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This poster, featuring the six Colonial Premiers
This poster, featuring the six Colonial Premiers, was a voter's commemorative certificate recording the successful result of Victoria's final Federation referendum held on 27 July 1899 – of a total of 163 783 voters, 152 653 voted for the Constitution Bill and Federation. The voter presented with this certificate was Arthur A Calwell, father of the future Leader of the Australian Labor Party.

Location: National Archives of Australia  [M3967, 1]
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The Victorian Parliament still occupies this bluestone building in Spring Street Melbourne
The Victorian Parliament still occupies this bluestone building in Spring Street Melbourne, begun in 1856 when the Parliament gained the second Chamber, the elected House of Assembly. The building, completed in the 1890s with the addition of the imposing colonnade and stone staircase, was the venue for the 'Secret Premiers' conference in 1899 and housed the Commonwealth Parliament from 1901 until 1927.

Location: National Archives of Australia  [A6180, 29/10/81/33]
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