Francis Ormond
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Francis Ormond, pastoralist and philanthropist, was born in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1829, the son of a sea captain. He was educated at Tyzack's academy, Liverpool. In 1842, the family emigrated to Port Phillip, Australia. His father opened an inn at Shelford, near Geelong. During this time, Francis worked as a stable boy, and later kept the books at his father's inn.
Ormond's father subsequently procured 30,000 acres (120 km²) of pastoral land west of Ballarat around 1848, and at nineteen, Francis became manager of the run. On 6 February 1851, Black Thursday, the fire passed through Ormond's run, and though some of the stock were saved the place was practically burned out. This, however, was a blessing in disguise as much of the station had been covered with thick scrub. When the rains came grass sprang up everywhere, and Ormond was able to sell the station at an advanced price and buy better land. In 1854, Francis bought out his father's interest, and it was this landholding, combined with his excellence as a breeder of sheep and business acumen that provided the basis for his wealth.
In 1860 he visited Europe and was much impressed with an appeal he heard from Dr Guthrie on behalf of ragged schools. On his return he continued to prosper and to take an interest in education, and in 1872 made his first large subscription of £1000 for the founding of a scholarship at the Presbyterian Theological Hall. Three years later he took a house in Melbourne and helped to establish the Presbyterian Church at Toorak. In 1877 when the question of starting a college at the university was brought forward, he attended the first meeting and subscribed £300 to the fund which was opened. Gradually he increased his promised donation, until it reached £10,000 with the proviso that a similar sum should be raised from other sources. During his lifetime he gave over £40,000 to the college, which was named after him, and the benefactions after his death raised this to £111,970. On 6 July 1881 his wife died. She had been a member of the Church of England, and remembering this Ormond anonymously gave £5000 towards the building fund of St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne. In the same year he was a member of the royal commission to inquire into the working of the education act
One result of this was his conviction that a working men's college would serve a very useful purpose, and he intimated that if the government would provide a site he would give £5000 towards the building. He met with no encouragement, and the scheme was temporarily dropped. In January 1882 he was elected a member of the Legislative Council for the South Western Province. He never took a great part in politics but his occasional speeches were always thoughtful. In May the question of a working men's college was revived. He again offered £5000 and, after some preliminary difficulties had been disposed of, the college was at last opened in June 1887. There were 320 students on the opening night, within 12 months the number had risen to over 1000. The number of students reached nearly 10,000 in 1938. Later known as the Melbourne Technical School, it is now known as the RMIT University.
He also gave the lion's share of the funding for Ormond College at the University of Melbourne. Ormond also greatly enjoyed music, and amongst his other benefactions, the Ormond Professorship of Music at the University of Melbourne is one of the most significant. Ormond took great interest, during his lengthy sojourns in Europe, in visiting educational institutions there and examining their methods, in order to see if they provided a model for his institutions back home.
Ormond married twice, had no children, but adopted two girls and a boy. He died in Pau, France, in 1889, at the age of 59. Today, Ormond Road in Geelong is named in his honour.
[edit] References
- Serle, Percival. (1949). "Ormond, Francis". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.
- Bio at Australian Dictionary of Biography online
- Prentis, Malcolm. Great Australian Presbyterians: The Game. Uniting Church in Australia. Retrieved on March 7, 2007.
- This article incorporates text from the public domain 1949 edition of Dictionary of Australian Biography from
Project Gutenberg of Australia, which is in the public domain in Australia and the United States of America.
