In 29 June 1861, the Duneed Aboriginal Land Reserve was set aside for the Wadawurrung (

Wathaurong The Wadawurrung nation, also called the Wathaurong, or Wathaurung, are an Aboriginal Australian people living in the area near Melbourne, Geelong, and the Bellarine Peninsula in the state of Victoria. They are part of the Kulin alliance. The ...

) people. The reserve was located on Ghazeepore Road just south of Armstrong Creek, in Mount Duneed, Victoria, Australia. At that time it appears to have had 11 people residing there including

Willem Baa Nip Willem Baa Nip (c. 1836–1885) also known as King Billy, Wormebaneep, William Gore or Billy Wa-wha, was a member of the Wadawurrung ( Wathaurung). He was born in about 1836, on the banks of a lagoon believed to be located in central Geelong, near ...

. They stayed at the reserve as

Aboriginal people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

were prohibited from staying in the Geelong Township after sundown. In September 1866, J. M. Garratt reported to the

Parliament of Victoria The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria that follows a Westminster System, Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the Monarchy in Australia, King, represent ...

"The stores are distributed periodically under the supervision of Mr. Charles Read, my colleague correspondent taking care as much as possible to induce the blacks to go out of town to consume them. Indeed, Mr. Read has supplied one of the neighboring farmers, who appears a trustworthy man, with rations for the use of the natives who camp on and around his homestead, so that they may have as little inducement as possible to visit the town at all. Ten years ago the number of the Geelong blacks was considerable, now only four males remain as a wretched remnant of a once powerful tribe."

On 1 October 1907, its status as an

Aboriginal reserve An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th ...

was revoked. The ''

Geelong Advertiser The ''Geelong Advertiser'' is a daily newspaper circulating in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, the Bellarine Peninsula, and surrounding areas. First published on 21 November 1840, the ''Geelong Advertiser'' is the oldest newspaper title in Victo ...

'' reported at the time of the revocation that it had gone unused for many years.{{cite news , url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article147906312 , title=AN OLD TIME PROCLAMATION. , newspaper=

, issue=18,661 , location=Victoria, Australia , date=25 January 1907 , accessdate=26 August 2021 , page=2 , via=National Library of Australia

References

Indigenous Australian reserves