Frontier History in Colonial Early Victoria
The Crown: Law, Land, and Sovereignty in Victoria
The Crown is the foundation of Australia’s colonial and legal framework — the authority through which sovereignty was claimed, land was governed, and ownership was redefined. In Victoria, this concept underpinned the entire process of colonisation. It justified the seizure of Indigenous lands without treaty or consent and continues to shape how land, governance, and justice operate today.
From the moment Governor Richard Bourke invalidated John Batman’s 1835 “treaty” with the Woiwurrung and Wadawurrung peoples, all land in Victoria was declared Crown Land — property of the British monarch, held in trust by the colonial government. This declaration established a legal fiction that ignored Indigenous sovereignty, shaping every subsequent law about property, power, and rights.
The Crown: Legal and Constitutional Definitions
Sovereignty and Authority
In British and Australian law, the Crown refers not only to the monarch but to the institutional authority of the state. It encompasses the executive, legislative, and judicial arms of government, exercised through the Crown-in-right-of-Victoria (Reynolds 1987).
In Victoria, this authority is represented by the Governor of Victoria, who acts on behalf of the monarch, symbolising continuity from the colonial to the modern state.
Radical Title
Under the doctrine of radical title, all land is legally vested in the Crown, which may grant leases, freeholds, or licenses to others (Reynolds 1987).
This doctrine enabled colonisation by presuming Crown ownership of land despite millennia of Indigenous occupation and law.
Radical title remains the legal basis of all property in Victoria, subject only to native title, where traditional rights are proven to have survived colonisation.
The Crown in Early Victoria (1835–1850s)
Batman’s “Treaty” and Bourke’s Proclamation
In 1835, settler John Batman claimed to have negotiated a land purchase from Woiwurrung and Wadawurrung leaders, offering blankets, tomahawks, and flour in exchange for over 600,000 acres around Geelong and Port Phillip Bay.
Governor Richard Bourke, acting for the Crown, annulled the arrangement through the Proclamation of 26 August 1835, declaring that only the Crown could acquire or distribute land in the colonies (Broome 2005).
This action formalised the doctrine of terra nullius — the legal claim that Victoria was “land belonging to no one,” despite thriving Indigenous societies.
Distribution of Land
Squatter licenses (1836): Granted temporary rights to graze livestock for £10 a year.
Land sales (1839 onwards): Crown auctions turned Country into commodities, particularly around Melbourne, Geelong, and Ballarat.
Reserves and grants: Allocated to settlers, churches, and early administrative institutions.
Impact on Indigenous Nations
Wadawurrung Country, spanning Ballarat, Geelong, and the Barwon–Moorabool rivers, was among the first absorbed into Crown tenure. Within two years of Bourke’s proclamation, most hunting grounds, freshwater sources, and sacred sites were claimed as pastoral leases (Clark 1995).
Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, and Woiwurrung lands soon followed, triggering violent frontier conflict and the collapse of traditional economies.
The Legal Doctrines that Justified Colonisation
Doctrine of Discovery
The Doctrine of Discovery declared that lands not ruled by a Christian monarch could be claimed for the Crown. British legal thought treated Indigenous nations as “uncivilised” and therefore incapable of sovereignty under European law (Reynolds 1987).
Radical Title vs. Native Title
Throughout the 19th century, colonial courts reaffirmed Crown supremacy in all land matters.
The Mabo decision (1992) overturned the fiction of terra nullius, recognising that native title could coexist with radical title where traditional laws and customs survived (Attwood 2003).
However, in Victoria, the intensity of early settlement and widespread Crown land sales left few areas where native title could legally be claimed.
The Crown’s Land in Modern Victoria
Extent of Crown Land
Approximately one-third of Victoria’s landmass remains Crown Land today (DELWP 2021). This includes:
National and State Parks: e.g., Gariwerd (Grampians), Wilsons Promontory, the Otways.
State forests and water catchments: Managed for biodiversity and public use.
Coastal and riverine reserves: Including the Barwon, Murray, and Yarra systems.
Roads, public commons, and cemeteries.
Crown Land Management
Crown land is managed by the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) on behalf of the Crown-in-right-of-Victoria.
Certain lands cannot be sold without parliamentary approval, reflecting their public trust status.
Many reserves and parks are now jointly managed with Traditional Owner Corporations — including Budj Bim, Gariwerd, and Barmah Forest.
Indigenous Peoples and the Crown: Dispossession and Renewal
Colonial Control
Declaring all land Crown property enabled the systematic removal of Indigenous peoples. Communities who returned to their ancestral areas were criminalised as trespassers on what had become “government land.”
Missions and Reserves
By the late 19th century, surviving families were forced onto missions such as Framlingham, Lake Condah, and Coranderrk — all built on Crown land and managed by the Board for the Protection of Aborigines. Residents lived under Crown law, not Indigenous law (Markus 1990).
Modern Recognition
Registered Aboriginal Parties (RAPs) now hold cultural authority to consult on heritage and land management across Crown lands (Victorian Government 2022).
Recent handbacks — such as Budj Bim (2017) and parts of Gariwerd — represent a shift toward restitution and co-management.
The Yoorrook Justice Commission (2022) has highlighted how Crown sovereignty remains at the centre of ongoing structural inequality.
The Crown and Treaty in Victoria
The Victorian Treaty process is formally between First Peoples and the Crown-in-right-of-Victoria. This acknowledges that the same authority responsible for dispossession must also be the one to negotiate recognition and redress.
The Treaty process aims to:
Recognise Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination.
Establish shared decision-making over land and resources.
Address the unfinished business of colonisation within a legal framework still grounded in Crown law.
Mapping Crown Land: Past and Present
Historical Crown Land (1835–1850s):
Initially, nearly all of Victoria was technically Crown land.
Early auction sites clustered around Melbourne, Geelong, Portland, and Ballarat, cutting deep into Wadawurrung, Woiwurrung, and Gunditjmara territories.
Modern Crown Land (Today):
One-third of Victoria remains under Crown tenure.
Major areas include:
Alpine regions and forest reserves.
Otway Ranges and Central Highlands.
Coastal reserves and estuaries such as Apollo Bay, Aireys Inlet, and Port Phillip Heads.
Cultural landscapes like Budj Bim, recognised for their ancient aquaculture and ongoing Indigenous stewardship.
A map accompanying this article could depict:
The original 1830s–40s Crown land auctions and squatter runs.
The distribution of contemporary Crown parks and co-managed Indigenous protected areas.
Conclusion
The Crown is both the foundation and paradox of Victoria’s land history. It served as the legal mechanism for dispossession — declaring Indigenous lands as vacant and placing them under monarchical authority — yet today it remains the entity through which justice and treaty are negotiated.
In the 1830s, it invalidated Batman’s attempt at a treaty and enforced terra nullius; in the 21st century, it stands as the negotiating partner for the return of Country. The legacy of the Crown in Victoria is therefore a story of transformation: from conquest to cautious recognition, from unilateral power to shared custodianship.
For the Wadawurrung, Wurundjeri, Gunditjmara, Taungurung, and all First Peoples of Victoria, the challenge remains to ensure that the Crown’s enduring authority finally serves restoration — not control.
References
Attwood, B 2003, Rights for Aborigines, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Broome, R 2005, Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Clark, ID 1995, Scars in the Landscape: A Register of Massacre Sites in Western Victoria 1803–1859, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra.
Critchett, J 1990, A Distant Field of Murder: Western District Frontiers 1834–1848, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.
Markus, A 1990, Governing Savages, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Reynolds, H 1987, The Law of the Land, Penguin, Ringwood.
Victorian Government Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) 2021, Crown Land Facts and Figures, Melbourne.
Victorian Government 2022, Yoorrook Justice Commission Interim Report, Melbourne.
Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter (17 October 2025)
MLA
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