Australian indigenous culture stretches back more than 40,000 years, when Europeans first settled in Melbourne on the banks of the Yarra River in 1835 when it was part of the British colony of New South Wales. In 1851, the colony of Victoria was separated from New South Wales and this area became the state of Victoria. Melbourne was founded by John Batman, whose immortal words, jotted into his diary in 1834 after he had viewed a site on the banks of the Yarra River, were: “This will be the place for a village.” It was then purchased from the Doutgalla tribe for an annual tribute of goods worth about 200 pounds. The fledgling city was named after then British Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne.