History of Melbourne

The History of Melbourne: Narrm, Colonisation, and Transformation

Melbourne — known to the Woiwurrung and Boonwurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation as Narrm (or Naarm) — is today Victoria’s capital and one of Australia’s largest cities. Yet beneath its skyline lies a far older story: more than 40,000 years of continuous Indigenous presence and cultural law (Broome 2005).

For the First Peoples of the Kulin Nation, colonisation from the 1830s brought dispossession, disease, and population collapse, but also enduring resistance and cultural survival. The story of Narrm is one of transformation — from Indigenous Country governed by complex laws of kinship and ecology, to a colonial frontier port, to a global metropolis.

Narrm Before Colonisation: The Indigenous City

The Kulin Nations

The lands surrounding the Yarra River (Birrarung) and Port Phillip Bay were the home of the Woiwurrung (Wurundjeri) and Boonwurrung peoples, both part of the Kulin Nation, alongside the Taungurung, Wadawurrung, and Dja Dja Wurrung (Clark & Heydon 2002). The word Narrm refers to the swampy, low-lying plains and estuaries that once stretched across modern Melbourne.

Cultural Life and Law

·       Seasonal movement followed the cycles of food and ceremony: eels and fish from the Birrarung, murnong (yam daisy) from grasslands, and shellfish from the bay (Broome 2005).

·       Society was organised through moieties of Bunjil (wedge-tailed eagle) and Waang (crow), determining marriage, totems, and law (Clark 1990).

·       Ceremonial gatherings and trade meetings occurred at sites such as Merri Creek, Mount William, and Bolac, forming networks that stretched across south-eastern Australia.

For millennia, Narrm was not “empty land” but a living cultural landscape, deeply mapped by story, song, and kinship.

Colonisation and the Land Grab (1835–1851)

Batman’s Treaty (1835)

In May 1835, colonist John Batman claimed to have signed a “treaty” with Wurundjeri elders along Merri Creek, offering blankets, tools, and flour in exchange for 600,000 acres of land. Governor Bourke declared the treaty invalid under terra nullius, the doctrine denying Indigenous land ownership (Reynolds 1987). This decision marked the formal erasure of Indigenous sovereignty in colonial law.

Fawkner’s Settlement

That same year, John Pascoe Fawkner’s party aboard the Enterprize established a settlement near present-day William Street. The rivalry between Batman and Fawkner symbolised the opportunism of early colonisation, as pastoralists seized fertile Kulin lands.

Early Colonial Expansion

By 1839, thousands of sheep grazed on lands stretching from Geelong to the Yarra, devastating yam fields and hunting grounds. Melbourne quickly became a port for the wool trade, exporting wealth built on stolen Country (Cannon 1991).

The Gold Rush and the Growth of Melbourne (1851–1880s)

Transformation of the City

The discovery of gold in 1851 transformed Victoria and its capital. Melbourne’s population surged from 29,000 in 1851 to 140,000 by 1861 (Serle 1971). Gold-funded public architecture — Parliament House (1855), the State Library (1854), and grand banks — turned the city into “Marvellous Melbourne,” one of the wealthiest urban centres in the world (Broome 2005).

Social and Environmental Impacts

While settlers prospered, Indigenous communities were driven further from their lands. Mining and urban growth polluted waterways, cleared forests, and destroyed wetlands once central to Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung life (Clark 1995).

Dispossession and Survival on Country

Frontier Conflict and Disease

The Port Phillip Protectorate (1839–1851) failed to prevent massacres, forced removals, and starvation across Kulin Country. Epidemics of smallpox and influenza further decimated populations (Critchett 1990).

Missions and Regulation

Survivors were relocated to missions such as Coranderrk (1863) near Healesville, which became a site of both restriction and political activism (Barwick 1998).
Under the Aboriginal Protection Act 1869, Indigenous people required government permission to travel or work, and children could be removed from their families — early precedents to the Stolen Generations (Attwood 2003).

Population Collapse

·       Circa 1835: several thousand Indigenous people lived in the Narrm region.

·       1860s: fewer than 300 remained on Country.

·       Many were relocated under Protection Board policy to Coranderrk, Framlingham, and Lake Tyers missions.

Water, Environment, and the Reshaping of Country

The Yarra (Birrarung)

For the Kulin, the Birrarung was sacred — a source of food, ceremony, and spiritual power.
By the 1850s, colonial engineers had diverted and straightened the river, destroying wetlands and fish habitats (Cannon 1991).
By the late 19th century, the once-healthy river had become an industrial drain.

Urban Expansion

The draining of swamps and clearing of forests across Port Phillip turned ecosystems into farmland and factories. By the 1880s, Melbourne had become one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, its prosperity built on ecological and cultural destruction.

Modern Restoration

Today, organisations such as the Birrarung Council and the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation work to restore the river’s health and cultural value, recognising it as a living ancestor — not a resource.

Urban Development and Inequality (1900–Present)

Through the 20th century, Melbourne expanded through waves of industry and migration.
Factories, tramlines, and suburbs spread across what were once Indigenous gathering sites.
Post-war immigration from southern Europe, Asia, and the Middle East made Melbourne one of the world’s most multicultural cities — but Indigenous communities remained marginalised, often excluded from urban housing and employment (Broome 2005).

Suburbs such as Fitzroy became central to Indigenous activism, home to the Aboriginal Advancement League, Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, and later, the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service — institutions that continue to support community strength and self-determination.

Cultural Survival and Return to Country

Despite colonisation, the people of the Kulin Nations have maintained deep connection to Narrm through language revival, cultural practice, and land protection.
Ceremonial and educational programs by the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Council and Boonwurrung Land and Sea Council have re-established traditional knowledge in urban planning, art, and public space.

Cultural sites such as Birrarung Marr, Royal Park, and Mount William Quarry are recognised today as part of Melbourne’s living Indigenous heritage.

Truth-Telling and Treaty in Modern Narrm

Victoria is now leading the nation in Indigenous-led reform.
The First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria and the Yoorrook Justice Commission (2021–present) are advancing truth-telling and treaty processes that confront colonisation’s legacy and affirm Indigenous sovereignty (Victorian Government 2022).

Melbourne’s city councils now open major events with Welcome to Country ceremonies, and the word Narrm has re-entered everyday language — a return of Country’s true name and spirit.

Conclusion

The story of Melbourne (Narrm) is one of ancient presence, violent colonisation, and enduring transformation.
From the wetlands of the Birrarung to the skyscrapers of the CBD, every part of the city sits upon layers of Indigenous history.

While Melbourne became “Marvellous Melbourne” through gold and migration, it did so on land taken without consent — a truth now being reacknowledged through the work of communities, educators, and the treaty process.
Narrm remains a place of survival and renewal, where Indigenous people continue to shape the city’s future while reminding all Victorians that this is, and always will be, unceded Country.

Reference

Attwood, B 2003, Rights for Aborigines, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Barwick, D 1998, Rebellion at Coranderrk, Aboriginal History Inc., Canberra.
Broome, R 2005, Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Cannon, M 1991, Old Melbourne Town: Before the Gold Rush, Loch Haven Books, Main Ridge.
Clark, ID 1995, Scars in the Landscape: A Register of Massacre Sites in Western Victoria 1803–1859, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra.
Clark, ID & Heydon, T 2002, Dictionary of Aboriginal Placenames of Victoria, Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages, Melbourne.
Critchett, J 1990, A Distant Field of Murder: Western District Frontiers 1834–1848, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.
Reynolds, H 1987, The Law of the Land, Penguin, Ringwood.
Serle, G 1971, The Golden Age: A History of the Colony of Victoria 1851–1861, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.
Victorian Government 2022, Yoorrook Justice Commission Interim Report, Melbourne.

Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter (22 October 2025)

MLA

Sharing the truth of Indigenous and colonial history through film, education, land, and community.
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Copyright MLA – 2025

Magic Lands Alliance acknowledges the Traditional Owners, Custodians, and First Nations communities across Australia and internationally. We honour their enduring connection to the sky, land, waters, language, and culture. We pay respect to Elders past, present, and emerging, and to all First Peoples’ communities and language groups. This article draws only on publicly available information; many cultural practices remain the intellectual property of their respective communities.