As a young palawa man, William Lanne was made to work on whaling ships for many years along the coast of Tasmania. By all reports he would go in a trance when he saw the safety of headlands and shorelines. When William died in 1869 his body was mutilated by scientists competing for his skeleton, a symbol of the racially intolerant and violent colony. It was said that Crother, the premier of Tasmania at the time, beheaded William Lanne. A statue was built in Crothers name in Nipaluna Hobart, which has been a source of controversy ensuing a lengthy legal battle to have the statue removed.