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The Australian city of Melbourne is famous for its diversity, good coffee, and amazing street art. Nevertheless, there are many not so well-known facts about the capital of the State of Victoria and the State itself that are, to say the least, interesting.

One of the first things we both backpackers and tourists find curious is the number of places called Batman both in the city and in the State of Victoria as a whole: Batman's Hill, Batman park, Batman street, Batman Walk, Batman Avenue, Batman railway station…

This, as you might expect, does not mean that Melbournians are obsessed with DC comics. So, why are all these places called Batman?

They are named so after John Batman, an explorer of the 19th century. Through the so-called Treaty of Batman (1985), he gave tools and food to Aboriginal people in exchange of thousands of hectares of land. This treaty was, however, never acknowledged by the colonial government in New South Wales.

This means that while the city of Melbourne was a colonial settlement it was actually called Batmania.

Queen Victoria, who survived nor 1 nor 2 but 8 assassination attempts, was not very keen on the idea and the town was finally called Melbourne after William Lamb, the 2nd Viscount Melbourne, who she was more fond of.