Batman Apple Tree and Pioneer Graves

The Batman Apple Tree and Pioneer Children's Cemetery located along the Plenty River behind Corowa Crescent, Greensborough.

How is it significant?

The Batman Apple Tree and Pioneer Children's Cemetery located along the Plenty River behind Corowa Crescent, Greensborough are of local historic and social significance to the Shire of Nillumbik.

Why is it significant?

The Batman Apple Tree is of local historical significance for its associations with Melbourne founder, John Batman. The tree was one of a number of fruit trees brought over by Batman from Tasmania in 1836 and planted as part of the orchard on his property known as Batman's Paddock. In 1841, after Batman's death in 1839, T. Flintoff purchased fruit trees from the sale of Batman's estate and planted them at his property on the banks of the Plenty River. The Batman Apple Tree is of historical significance as the only surviving tree from Flintoff's original orchard and as one of the trees brought to Victoria and planted by Batman in 1836. The tree is of historical significance for its demonstration of the pioneering settlement of the Greensborough area in the 1840s and for its associations with pioneering settlement families including the Flintoffs and the Whatmoughs. The Pioneer Children's Cemetery is of historical significance for its demonstration of the pioneering settlement of the Greensborough area in the 1840s and 1850s. The cemetery is significant for its associations with the Whatmough and Partington families who settled in the area in the 1840s and 1850s respectively. (Criteria A, B & H)

The Batman Apple Tree is of local social significance for the interest generated, and myth making surrounding investigations into its origins. Stories and investigations regarding the tree's origins have been the subject of a number of journal articles from the 1910s to the present day. The Batman Apple Tree and Pioneer Children's Cemetery are of social significance as they have become memorials to early settlement in the area and are highly valued by the local community as important links to the past. The Pioneer Children's Cemetery is of social significance as a commemorative place for the Greensborough community and descendants of the Whatmough and Partington families. (Criterion G)

Group

Cemeteries and Burial Sites

Category

Isolated Grave/Burial Site