Bearbrass: Early Melbourne Tour – Walking Tours of Melbourne

EXPLORE the early Melbourne township known as ‘Bearbrass’ or ‘Batmania’. This includes the sites of colonists’ homes, Batman Hill, gaols, pub, church, docks, woolstore, warehouses, auction house, market, customs, newspaper office, Melbourne Club, Yarra Yarra falls, Indigenous meeting places and others.
DISCOVER the founding colonists, their challenges, and the events that led to a settlement in defiance of British law.
VIEW historic paintings, maps and documents by by early artists, surveyors and settlers eg, historic pictures, timelines,
LEARN about the impact of colonisation on the Kulin Nation.

WHEN: Tours are normally 2.5 hours by arrangement at a time of your convenience.

SCHOOLS: See our SCHOOLS TOUR OF EARLY OR COLONIAL MELBOURNE

SEE – BOOKINGS AND PRICES – FOR INDIVIDUALS, GROUPS AND SCHOOLS

SCHOOL GROUPS: See also our other Early Melbourne School Excursions below:
MELBOURNE CITY SCHOOLS TOUR..More
MELBOURNE INDIGENOUS LANDSCAPES TOUR…More
A NEW LAND – PORT PHILLIP DISTRICT 1830-1860….. More
MELBOURNE GEOGRAPHY TOUR….More
TRADERS AND EXPLORERS.. More
MELBOURNE EXPLORERS SCHOOL EXCURSION… More
THE GOLDEN MILE – MARVELLOUS MELBOURNE …..More

I just wanted to thank you for the marvellous walking tour for our group. It was an incredibly interesting morning, and very much appreciated. As I’ve been telling people about it, what struck me was your detailed knowledge of early Melbourne history, the maps and photos you showed us, the Batman pole that will soon be a thing of the past, your insight into the Indigenous community, the former waterfall which marked the Yarra River crossing and freshwater mark, the idea of the young Tasmanian girl about to give birth to the first European child in Melbourne, and the artifacts that we examined at the Rialto.
Mary Jo and friends

On 11-12 March 2012, 160 descendants of the Solomons convened in Melbourne. We attended the Bearbrass Tour to celebrate the reunion and explore the family’s extraordinary history. A Solomon was an early settler with John Batman, another fire chief at Broken Hill, four fought at Gallipoli, one went down on the Titanic, one was Premier of South Australia, another helped write the Australian Constitution! See Age article

We pursue the political, social, and economic reasons that created this village on First Nation land in defiance of British law. Learn how Melbourne began and who were the personalities that shaped it. Discover the characters living in what was once a muddy, stump-infested collection of shanties. grog houses, shepherds, and gentrified speculators. Pioneer ancestors of Melbourne regularly come on the Bearbrass tour to experience the resurrection of Old Melbourne Town in 1835.

We explore the opposed characters of John Fawkner and John Batman and the debated question of who was the original European founder. Or was it Charles Evans and Captain John Lancey? We peruse and the original Dutigalla or Batman treaty. We also examine the impact of settlement on the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation.

And why is it called Bearbrass anyway?

See our video: ‘Old Melbourne Town’

See our list of Characters of Early Melbourne

Bearbrass or Melbourne 1839

Further Reading about Melbourne’s history

See Prices & Bookings