There are many lonely graves on properties around Melton, from the times before the cemetery opened in 1861. The best known of these is the “forgotten girl who sleeps in the wooded folds of the Green Hills” at Toolern Vale. Could it be Ellen Batman, daughter of John Batman?

Although the person whose remains lie in the grave is thought to have been a young woman who died in the 1840s, her identity remains a mystery. The oldest and most enduring story is that it contains the remains of Ellen Batman. Ellen was one of seven daughters of John Batman, a notorious and divisive personality in the history of Victoria and his ex-convict wife, Eliza. In researching the Batman women, Michelle Berry, a University of Tasmania historian, has found that violence and insecurity plagued the lives of these colonial women. Three of the daughters, Eliza, Adelaide and Ellen ended up in Toolern Vale at the properties of John Aitken and the Collyer brothers and Ellen died at Greenhills Station in 1851. Their mother was murdered in Geelong in 1852.

This talk will discuss the history of the Batman women and their relationships, and the difficulties faced by ‘women without means’, in colonial society.

This discussion and talk by Michelle Berry was filmed during the lockdown in 2020, and has been made available again for the Heritage Festival.

When: Sunday 16 May to Tuesday 18 May 2021,

Where: Online here

For more information: www.melton.vic.gov.au/heritagefestival