This talk will analyse an archive of letters, written in 1934–5 during the centenary celebrations of Melbourne, by adults who were children in the 1860s and 70s in Hotham. Through these letters we can uncover a narrative of self-indigenisation of the settler residents, that is their positioning of white colonial-born children of Hotham as natural inhabitants of the area.

Several themes in the letters evidence this narrative: conquering the space through play; local personalities positioned in the settler space; pride in key colonial moments; positioning First Nations people as wandering fringe-dwellers; and claims of colonial childhood as ‘original’ or ‘native’ to the area.

This talk offers the opportunity to engage with an appreciation of how the literal and symbolic building of Hotham/North Melbourne was/is embedded in the attempted erasure of its Traditional Owners.