William Lanne, known to many as King Billy, changed Tasmanian legislation to protect all Tasmanians when they can no longer protect themselves. It's a lasting legacy that we now all take for granted, but it cost William Lanne his last dignity.
William Lanne (or Laney) is thought to have been born in 1835, though his exact date of birth is not known.
Lanne lived with his family in north west Tasmania and his family is believed to have been the last Tasmanian Aboriginal family to live a traditional life on mainland Tasmania before George Augustus Robinson 'found' them in 1842 and took them to Wybelenna on Flinders Island.
Lanne lost his traditional name as he was just seven years old when he was moved to Wybelenna and given the English name of William.
He later became known to many as King Billy.
"He lives on not just in the name of an endemic Tasmanian species, but with all sorts of other mythologies and misunderstandings surrounding him," says Greg Lehman, author and member of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery's Aboriginal Advisory Council.
Lanne was moved to the Oyster Cove Aboriginal settlement after a just a few years on Flinders Island, and from there he was taken to an orphan school in New Town.
He then joined a whaling ship and he worked on a number of whalers for many years.
"He was actually really well known across the Pacific as having the best set of spotter's eyes of any whaler in the south Pacific," says Greg.
Lanne was the third husband of Truganini and like Truganini, he is often referred to as the last full-blooded Tasmanian Aboriginal man.
But it is what happened to Lanne after he died in 1869 that led to changes in Tasmanian law.
William Lanne died in March in 1869 from a combination of cholera and dysentery.
After his death, a morbid battle over his remains grew between the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal Society of Tasmania, as both groups wanted to study the remains of what they thought was a dying 'breed' of people.
The argument over who would get to examine what part of Lanne's body led to his skull being stolen by William Crowther (later to become Premier of Tasmania) who cut the skull from Lanne's head and replaced it with another man's skull.
Lanne's hands and feet were also removed and what was left of his remains were buried.
"The Aboriginal community today after a very very long campaign succeeded in obtaining the return of Lanne's skull from Edinburgh and his remains were buried in his tribal land," says Greg.
The Tasmanian community at the time was shocked by the fighting over Lanne's remains and the theft of his body parts.
The uproar led to legislation being passed in the Tasmanian Parliament, the Anatomy Act of 1869. The Act made it law that medical experiments of any sort could only take place if the deceased had agreed to it before they died or the relatives gave permission.
Because of the indignity done to William Lanne, all Tasmanians can rest in peace.