Children's Resources

Thank you for visiting our local history web site

John Batman signing his treated on the banks of the Merri Creek

This is the place to read about the people and events which have shaped Darebin's history.  From early settlers to bushrangers to Test cricketers Darebin has had a lively and interesting past. 

In 1835 John Batman arrived in what was to become Melbourne.   It was in Darebin that he met up with a group of local Wurundjeri peoples and after spending a day with them came away convinced he had signed a treaty which gave him all of Melbourne. 

Was it legal?  No.  Was it honest? No.   But nevertheless the white man was here to stay.   And it all began in Darebin!

The first schools

Yes even the early settlers had schools.  But life for teachers could be tough in the early days.  They had very strict rules about how they had to live their lives.  Women school teachers were forbidden from wearing bathing suits, hang around ice cream parlours, wearing bright colours or worse still dyeing their hair.

For the male teachers if they went to a public dance hall they could be sacked immediately, and if they had a shave at a hairdressers they better have a very good reason for it, or they could be sacked for that too.

Every day the teacher was expected to:

• Light the lamps and clean the chimney;
• Be at school for at least ten hours a day and then spend the rest of the day reading the bible;
• Spend no more than one evening a week on a date (but not with female teachers who were forbidden from dating);
• Make pencils for the children to use in class.

Northcote's first primary school

Local history talks for school classes

Darebin Libraries provides local history talks for Primary school children.   To book a visit to the library ring 1300 655 355 and talk to a member of the Information Team.