Botanical Gardens Mission

The History of the Botanical Gardens Mission and Early Indigenous Reserves in Victoria

Before the establishment of larger missions such as Coranderrk, Framlingham, and Lake Condah, one of the earliest sites of government “protection” for Indigenous peoples in Victoria was located at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne.
Known informally as the Botanical Gardens Aboriginal Mission or encampment, it operated during the late 1830s and 1840s — the first decades of Melbourne’s colonisation.

Though framed as a place of refuge where Indigenous people could be “settled” and provided with food, shelter, and instruction, the site reflected the contradictions of colonial policy: people displaced from their own Country were confined in reserves designed to enforce dependence and erode culture (Broome 2005; Presland 1994).

Indigenous Melbourne Before Colonisation

Kulin Nations on Country

The area surrounding the Birrarung (Yarra River), Maribyrnong, and Dandenong Creek formed part of the living lands of the Kulin Nations — including the Woi Wurrung, Boonwurrung, Taungurung, Dja Dja Wurrung, and Wadawurrung peoples.
For millennia, communities camped seasonally along the Birrarung flats — the site where the Botanic Gardens now stands — gathering for ceremony, trade, and resource collection.

The river and wetlands provided eels, fish, birds, and murnong (yam daisy), central to the Kulin economy and women’s food systems (Clark 1990; Presland 1994).

Colonial Arrival and Dispossession

After John Batman’s so-called “treaty” in 1835 and the rapid influx of settlers, Woi Wurrung and Boonwurrung communities were dispossessed of their lands.
Introduced disease, disruption of food sources, and violence caused catastrophic population collapse (Attwood 2003; Reynolds 1987).

The Botanical Gardens Mission (1837–1849)

Establishment

By the late 1830s, colonial officials were alarmed by the visible poverty and displacement of Indigenous families around Melbourne.
In 1837, an encampment was established on the southern bank of the Yarra, within the area now forming part of the Royal Botanic Gardens.
The settlement was initially managed by government officials and missionaries who distributed rations, clothing, and shelter while promoting English language, Christianity, and European agricultural practices (Broome 2005).

Life on the Site

Rations of flour, sugar, and tea were provided in exchange for labour.
Ceremonial practices were discouraged; residents were expected to remain in one place rather than follow traditional seasonal patterns.
Despite the constraints, many continued to travel on Country, resisting confinement.
Poor sanitation, hunger, and infectious disease led to high mortality rates (Presland 1994).

Conflict and Closure

The mission clashed with Indigenous cultural life.

·       Ceremony, song, and kinship structures were suppressed.

·       Alcohol and settler violence spread through nearby Melbourne camps.
By the mid-1840s, colonial officials declared the experiment a failure.
The government began planning new, more remote reserves under tighter control (Broome 2005).

William Buckley and the Early Mission Context

The story of William Buckley — escaped convict and long-term resident with the Wadawurrung — illuminates this early period of cross-cultural contact.
After escaping the Sullivan Bay penal camp in 1803, Buckley lived with the Wadawurrung for over 32 years, becoming fluent in language and integrated into kinship systems (Presland 1994; Broome 2005).

When settlers returned to Port Phillip in 1835, Buckley re-emerged as an intermediary between Indigenous communities and colonists.
Colonial officials later drew on him to “interpret” Indigenous behaviour in contexts such as the Botanical Gardens mission — hoping to translate traditional life into European terms.

Yet Buckley’s role was conflicted: once accepted as Wadawurrung family, he became entangled in a colonial system that sought to control the very people who had sustained him. His life symbolised both the potential for understanding and the moral contradictions of colonial “protection.”

From the Gardens to the Protectorate (1839–1851)

The Port Phillip Protectorate

In 1839, the British Government appointed George Augustus Robinson as Chief Protector of Aborigines.
The Botanical Gardens camp became one of the earliest “urban” components of this wider system.
Under the Protectorate, “protection” meant rations, religious instruction, and control — not recognition of Indigenous law or sovereignty (Attwood 2003; Reynolds 1987).

Early Reserves Across Victoria

As the Gardens encampment collapsed, displaced families were relocated to early reserves, including:

·       Nerre Nerre Warren (Dandenong) – 1840s, for Woi Wurrung and Boonwurrung.

·       Acheron Station (near Marysville) – 1850s, Dja Dja Wurrung and Taungurung.

·       Yarra Flats and Mordialloc Depots – temporary rationing posts.

These foreshadowed later missions such as Coranderrk (1863), Framlingham, and Lake Condah, forming the foundation of Victoria’s assimilation policies (Broome 2005).

Impact on Indigenous Communities

Dispossession and Symbolism of Place

The Botanical Gardens mission was built on land long used as a Woi Wurrung ceremonial and living area.
Its conversion into a “holding ground” marked a profound shift from autonomy to dependency.
The site symbolised both colonial erasure and continuity of Indigenous presence (Presland 1994).

Cultural Suppression

Mission rules forbade song, ceremony, and the use of language.
Traditional foods were replaced with rations.
Spiritual and ecological relationships with the Birrarung were disrupted, foreshadowing later cultural prohibitions at missions and reserves (Clark 1990; Broome 2005).

Population Decline and Displacement

By the 1840s, Indigenous populations in and around Melbourne had declined by up to 90% due to disease, malnutrition, and violence (Attwood 2003).
Survivors were removed to distant reserves as Melbourne expanded across Kulin land.

From the Gardens to the Missions

Coranderrk: Resistance and Renewal

After the Botanical Gardens mission failed, the government established Coranderrk in 1863, near Healesville.
Founded through the leadership of William Barak and Simon Wonga, it became a centre of political resistance — where residents petitioned for land rights and self-management.
Coranderrk proved that Indigenous people could sustain productive communities despite colonial interference (Broome 2005).

Other Missions and Consolidation

·       Framlingham (1861–1916) and Lake Condah (1867–1918) in the Western District.

·       Lake Tyers (1861–1970s) in Gippsland.
These stations combined protection, confinement, and forced Christianisation.
They became both places of endurance and sites of trauma — shaping generations of Indigenous life in Victoria.

Continuity and Survival: From the Gardens to Camp Sovereignty

The story of the Botanical Gardens mission finds new meaning in modern acts of Indigenous resurgence.
In 2006, during the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, Indigenous activists established Camp Sovereignty in Kings Domain, adjacent to the Gardens.
A sacred fire was lit and maintained, asserting that Melbourne stands on unceded Kulin land.

Camp Sovereignty reconnected the present to the past:

·       The Botanic Gardens once symbolised control and exclusion.

·       The camp transformed that same ground into a site of renewal, ceremony, and political strength.

Through song, smoke, and ceremony, it reasserted the continuing presence of Indigenous law and sovereignty in the heart of Melbourne (Attwood 2003).

Conclusion

The Botanical Gardens mission of the 1830s and 1840s was a short-lived but pivotal chapter in Victoria’s colonial history. It represented the beginning of government attempts to control Indigenous lives through “protection,” yet it also revealed the resilience and adaptability of the Kulin peoples.

From the Birrarung flats to Coranderrk, from forced settlement to Camp Sovereignty, this history traces a powerful arc — from dispossession to renewal. The ground on which the Royal Botanic Gardens now stand remains a living archive of Indigenous history, ceremony, and sovereignty — a reminder that Melbourne’s foundation lies upon Kulin Country, law, and spirit.

References

Attwood, B 2003, Rights for Aborigines, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Broome, R 2005, Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Clark, ID 1990, Aboriginal Languages and Clans: An Historical Atlas of Western and Central Victoria, 1800–1900, Monash Publications in Geography, Melbourne.
Presland, G 1994, Aboriginal Melbourne: The Lost Land of the Kulin People, Harriland Press, Melbourne.
Reynolds, H 1987, The Law of the Land, Penguin, Ringwood.

Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter (25 October 2025)

MLA
Sharing the truth of Indigenous and colonial history through film, education, land, and community.
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Magic Lands Alliance acknowledges the Traditional Owners, Custodians, and Indigenous 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.