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English: The Batman land deed is a very significant document that has had far-reaching and long-term ramifications for Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The deed, one of three originals covering the purchase of land in the Port Phillip region, was drawn up by colonial lawyer and member of the Port Phillip Association, Joseph T Gellibrand. The 'treaty' between John Batman, representing the Port Phillip Association, and eight Aboriginal elders of the Kulin nation, traditional owners of lands around the Yarra River prior to European settlement, granted Batman and his associates freehold ownership of 240,000 hectares - almost all of the ancestral lands of the Kulin peoples. As a privately drawn-up treaty, this document was unusual at this time because under English feudal law all land belonged to the crown. It is unlikely that Aboriginal people understood what the document represented, or would have agreed to it if they had. The deed was effectively annulled on 26 August 1835 by Governor Bourke who proclaimed it 'void and of no effect as against the rights of the Crown'. Burke's proclamation became the basis for the concept of terra nullius, which did not recognise prior ownership of Australian land by Aboriginal peoples. The principles expressed in Bourke's proclamation did not change until the Australian High Court ruling in the [Mabo v. Queensland (2)|Mabo v. Queensland] case in 1992 recognised native title in Australia for the first time.