was held where he proclaimed the treaty and then exchanged his party's gifts in return for the land he explored. Batman's first exploration of the Yarra River occurred on 8 June, where he claimed to sail a boat up the river and found a pleasant spot with deep water about 6 miles inland. He stated in his diary "this will be the place for a village", the village which eventually became known as Melbourne. After leaving some men to build a hut and start a garden at Indented Head, Batman and the Rebecca returned to Van Diemen’s Land. Here Batman showed Wedge where he had explored and, from these details, Wedge prepared the first map of Melbourne in June 1835 (published in 1836), showing the location Batman had chosen as the site for the "village" and the division of land between association members. Batman’s treaty with the Aboriginal peoples of Port Phillip is the only example of any Australian settlers (official or unofficial) giving recognition to the rights of the Aboriginal peoples to the land. The members of the Port Phillip Association did not intend the treaty to be a fair commercial transaction, but a means of obtaining permission from the Aboriginal peoples to avoid resentment (and subsequent violence) after settlement, whilst convincing the colonial and imperial authorities that they should be allowed to settle the land. The association knew that existing British policy (the Nineteen Counties Order) was designed to prevent such settlement, but hoped to challenge the authority of the New South Wales government, who held jurisdiction of the Port Phillip area. For some time Batman's Treaty, as it came to be called, was assumed by some historians to be a forgery, but the recollections of the Aboriginal elder Barak, who was present at the signing of the treaty as a boy, established that Batman, with the aid of his New South Wales Aboriginal peoples, did in fact participate in a ceremony with Wurundjeri elders for permission to settle amongst them. In Aboriginal culture, this ceremony was called a tanderem. According to Batman’s petition to the Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land George Arthur, he and Wedge would proceed immediately to the district with stock, and only married servants (with their wives) would be allowed to accompany them. Proclamation On 26 August the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Richard Bourke issued a proclamation that effectively voided Batman's