Forget Gotham Melbourne very nearly went down in history with a name that sounds like a comic book city: Batmania. And it wasn’t a joke.
Enter John Batman
In 1835, colonial settler John Batman arrived on Wurundjeri land with the goal of claiming territory. He brokered what he called a treaty (now highly contested) and described the area as “the place for a village”.
The Working Name? Batmania
On early maps and plans from the Port Phillip Association, the region was marked as Batmania in honour of Batman. Some documents used the name for several months in 1835–1836.
Then Came Governor Bourke
New South Wales governor Richard Bourke refused to recognise Batman’s land claim. He officially founded the settlement as Melbourne in 1837, named after Lord Melbourne, the British Prime Minister.
The Batman Name Lives On
- Batman Park and Batman Avenue still exist in the city
- Batman Hill was the name of a slope where Southern Cross Station now stands
- The suburb Batman, in the north, is still on the map and it even had a train station named after it (now called Merlynston)
Today, Batmania lives on as a fun “what could’ve been” and a reminder that Melbourne’s colonial foundations are layered, complex, and still being reckoned with.
