In settler societies colonisers have found it necessary to persuade themselves that the indigenous people’s land they seized is rightfully their possession and hence truly theirs. In the case of the Australian colonies, this task has been especially difficult because the imperial and colonial governments never negotiated any treaties of cession with the Aboriginal people. Yet, there was at least one historical moment when colonisers seemed to have recognised Aboriginal ownership and treated with them for the purchase of their land. In this lecture, I will consider two competing legends, which came to be forged in words and images about the maker of this treaty, in order to chart the roles that historical narratives of this kind have played in trying to resolve the fundamental contradiction that has lain at the heart of the settler society
