Narrm - Melbourne Area - Kulin Nation Country
Narrm and Melbourne: Indigenous Origins and Colonial Renaming
The place now known as Melbourne is also known as Narrm (or Naarm), a word from the Woi Wurrung and Boonwurrung languages of the Kulin Nation. For tens of thousands of years, Indigenous peoples lived, traded, held ceremony, and cared for Country along the Birrarung (Yarra River) and its surrounding grasslands and wetlands (Broome 2005; Presland 1994).
The renaming of Narrm as Melbourne during British colonisation in the 1830s reflects a wider process of dispossession, erasure, and the assertion of European authority (Reynolds 1987). Today, the resurgence of the name Narrm across cultural institutions, sporting organisations, and education represents a powerful act of truth-telling and cultural renewal.
The Meaning of Narrm
Language and Culture
The word Narrm (also spelt Naarm or Nairm) originates from the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Boonwurrung dialects. Its meanings vary slightly between these neighbouring languages but generally refer to:
“The place” or “Country” — describing the open plains around the Birrarung.
“Bay” or “estuary” — in Boonwurrung, referring to the waters of Port Phillip Bay (Clark & Heydon 2002).
Narrm is not simply a name — it is a cultural concept, describing both physical geography and spiritual belonging. It situates people in relation to the land, the waters, and the responsibilities of caring for Country under Bunjil’s law, which guides respect, balance, and reciprocity (Broome 2005).
Narrm in Kulin Society
For the Kulin peoples, Narrm was:
A major gathering and trade hub, where clans met along the Birrarung and surrounding grasslands.
A place for ceremony and tanderrum (welcome), which granted visiting groups safe passage and access to resources.
A centre of ecological abundance, where fish, eels, plants, and birds sustained communities for millennia (Broome 2005; Presland 1994).
The name encapsulates the interconnectedness of people, water, and law — where the flow of the river mirrored the flow of cultural exchange.
Colonial Arrival and Settlement
John Batman and the “Treaty”
In 1835, settler John Batman claimed to have signed a “treaty” with Wurundjeri elders, exchanging goods and blankets for large tracts of land around Narrm. Batman declared he had “purchased” the land, but the colonial government in New South Wales nullified the agreement, declaring all land the property of the Crown under terra nullius — the legal fiction that the land belonged to no one (Reynolds 1987).
This event marks one of the earliest examples of dispossession through legal denial in Victoria, setting the foundation for frontier conflict and forced removal (Broome 2005).
The Founding of Melbourne
Following Batman’s arrival, settlement expanded rapidly. By 1837, the township was formally surveyed and renamed Melbourne, in honour of William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne, then British Prime Minister (Cannon 1991).
This renaming was a deliberate act of colonial imposition — transforming Indigenous Country into a British possession and erasing Indigenous language from maps and government documents (Clark & Heydon 2002). Narrm became Melbourne, symbolising the displacement of Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung sovereignty by European cartography and law.
The History of the Name “Melbourne”
Viscount Melbourne
William Lamb (1779–1848), Viscount Melbourne, held office during the formal establishment of the Port Phillip District. Although he never visited Australia, his name was bestowed on the new settlement in 1837 as a gesture of loyalty to the Crown (Cannon 1991).
The act illustrates how colonial naming practices privileged imperial figures over the people and places they replaced — embedding empire into the Australian landscape.
Other Early Names
Before “Melbourne” was formalised, various other names were used:
“Batmania” — suggested by settlers after John Batman, though never official.
“Bearbrass” — used informally in 1837, possibly derived from a misheard Woi Wurrung term.
“Doutta Galla” — a Woi Wurrung name for a local clan area used by early surveyors (Clark & Heydon 2002).
These competing names reveal a moment of cultural and political instability, where Indigenous language intersected with colonial imagination before being overwritten.
Dispossession and the “Silent War”
The founding of Melbourne coincided with the violent frontier wars across the Werribee Plains, Western Port, and Mount Cottrell regions — territories of the Wadawurrung, Wurundjeri, and Boonwurrung peoples (Clark 1995; Broome 2005).
Colonial expansion brought massacres, disease, and displacement. Survivors were confined to missions such as Buntingdale, Coranderrk (1863), and other reserves controlled by the Board for the Protection of Aborigines (Barwick 1998).
Renaming Narrm to Melbourne thus symbolised not only linguistic erasure but also the systematic removal of Indigenous people from their lands and governance systems (Reynolds 1987).
Narrm Today
Cultural Revitalisation
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung communities reasserted the use of Narrm in public life. It now appears in:
The Narrm Oration (University of Melbourne).
The Melbourne Football Club’s Narrm guernsey during Indigenous Round.
Public signage, schools, and civic events acknowledging Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Boonwurrung Country (Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation 2021).
This re-emergence of Narrm is a form of linguistic and cultural reclamation — a statement that the city’s true name and story endure beneath its colonial surface.
Truth-Telling and Recognition
The revival of Narrm aligns with broader truth-telling movements in Victoria, such as the Yoorrook Justice Commission and the Treaty process, both of which recognise that Indigenous sovereignty was never ceded (Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung 2021; Reynolds 1987).
Using Narrm alongside Melbourne acknowledges a continuity of identity, language, and law that long predates colonisation.
Global Analogies
The renaming of Narrm to Melbourne parallels global colonial patterns:
Lenapehoking → New York under British rule.
ǁHuiǃgaeb → Cape Town under Dutch and British colonisation.
Aotearoa → New Zealand, now reasserted through Māori revitalisation movements.
These examples reveal that naming is an act of power, but reclaiming names is an act of sovereignty and healing (Reynolds 1987; Broome 2005).
Conclusion
Narrm is not an alternative name for Melbourne — it is the original name, grounded in the languages and custodianship of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Boonwurrung peoples.
The renaming of Narrm to Melbourne in 1837 reflected the broader dispossession and cultural suppression that accompanied colonisation (Clark 1995; Broome 2005).
Today, the return of Narrm signifies resilience, renewal, and respect. To speak it is to participate in truth-telling, to acknowledge that Melbourne stands on unceded Indigenous land, and to recognise that the city’s history stretches back tens of thousands of years before British arrival.
References
Barwick, D. (1998) Rebellion at Coranderrk. Canberra: Aboriginal History Monograph.
Broome, R. (2005) Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Cannon, M. (1991) Old Melbourne Town: Before the Gold Rush. Main Ridge: Loch Haven Books.
Clark, I. D. (1995) Scars in the Landscape: A Register of Massacre Sites in Western Victoria 1803–1859. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.
Clark, I. D. & Heydon, T. (2002) Dictionary of Aboriginal Placenames of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages.
Presland, G. (1994) Aboriginal Melbourne: The Lost Land of the Kulin People. Melbourne: Harriland Press.
Reynolds, H. (1987) The Law of the Land. Ringwood: Penguin.
Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation (2021) Caring for Country Statement. Melbourne.
Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter (22 September 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 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.