John Batman (21 January 18016 May 1839) was an Australian
grazier, entrepreneur and explorer. He settled in the north-east of the
Van Diemen's Land Colony in the 1820s, and later as a leading member of the
Port Phillip Association he led an expedition which explored the
Port Phillip Bay area on the Australian mainland with a view to establishing a new settlement there. He is best known for his role in the
founding of the settlement on the
Yarra River which became the city of Melbourne, eventual capital of the new Colony of
Victoria, and one of Australia's largest and most important cities.