[3] Due to this significant legacy, Nicholson Street, a major north–south traffic artery in modern Melbourne, is named after him.

[4] In 1853, he became a member of the committee which drafted the Constitution of Victoria,[4] and on 18 December 1855, Nicholson moved a successful motion which stated that any Victorian electoral act should include voting by secret ballot.

In 1856, Nicholson visited England, where he was congratulated for his work in establishing the secret ballot,[4] which had been advocated by the Chartist movement there.

[4] Much of Nicholson's premiership was spent trying to pass a bill which allowed small farmers to settle on grazing lands appropriated by the squatters, but it encountered strong opposition from the Legislative Council, which was dominated by landowners.

That stiffened conservative resistance and the bill was eventually passed in a much weaker form, which the squatters easily evaded.

In January 1864, William Nicholson became severely ill[1] and, unable to fully recover, died in little more than a year, less than two weeks after his forty-ninth birthday.