Ormond College (University of Melbourne)

Ormond College
Ormond College from College Crescent
University	University of Melbourne
Location	49 College Crescent, Parkville, Victoria
Coordinates	37°47′37″S 144°57′49″E / 37.7935°S 144.9635°E / -37.7935; 144.9635Coordinates: 37°47′37″S 144°57′49″E / 37.7935°S 144.9635°E / -37.7935; 144.9635
Motto	Et Nova et Vetera (Latin)
Motto in English	The New and the Old
Established	1879
Master	Rufus Black
Undergraduates	360
Postgraduates	50
Website	ormond.unimelb.edu.au

Ormond College is the largest of the residential colleges of the University of Melbourne located in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is home to 358 undergraduates, 48 graduates and 27 professorial and academic residents.

The University of Melbourne was established by an act of the Parliament of Victoria in 1853. 30 hectares (75 acres), quickly reduced to 24 hectares (60 acres) of the 40 hectares (100 acres) of the university site were set aside for residential colleges, to be founded under the auspices of the churches. 4 hectares (10 acres) each were allotted to the Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist and Roman Catholic churches, the remaining area being reserved for sporting facilities. The Anglican Church was the first to accept the offer and Trinity College opened in 1872.

At the end of August 1877, Alexander Morrison, Headmaster of Scotch College and convenor of the Presbyterian Church Assembly's Committee to "watch over the land", received a letter from the Director of the Victorian Education Department, proposing that if the church did not mean to take the land for a college, that it be sold and the proceeds divided, half to the church, and half to the state for university purposes. This spurred Morrison into action. A subscription list was opened, with a target of £10,000; on this list Francis Ormond's name appears against a donation of £3,000.

The General Assembly meeting in November 1877 resolved that the church should immediately proceed with the building of a college and that £10,000 be raised for the purpose, that the buildings be used as a college of residence for university students and as a theological school. Immediate steps were taken to raise the money. In the course of three years, some £38,000 were raised, of which Francis Ormond contributed £22,571. The foundation stone of the college (now lost) was laid by the Governor of Victoria, George Phipps, 2nd Marquess of Normanby, on 15 November 1879. The formal opening of the college took place on 18 March 1881. At this ceremony it was announced that Francis Ormond had offered to bear the whole cost of building.