Willem Baa Nip was born in 1836 at Geelong. He was otherwise known as ‘King Billy’, a member of the Wadawurrung (Wathaurung).
In 1861 the Duneed Aboriginal Land Reserve of one acre was set aside for Wadawurrung balug tribe on Ghazeepore Road just south of Andersons Creek, Mount Duneed. He fought for the right of his people to live on their land. He saw in his lifetime Geelong develop from a small camp to a major agricultural centre. Today, he is an enormously significant figure in Geelong, and particularly amongst the Wathaurong people.
Willem Baa Nip died on the 11 November 1885 of tuberculosis – 15 years after the last of his contemporaries Dan Dan Nook died of tuberculosis.
He was the last member of the Wadawarrung to witness colonisation. His grave is in Geelong’s western cemetery.
A road constructed in 2015 in Armstrong Creek, Geelong was named Baanip Boulevard in recognition of him.