Motto in English The New and the Old Phone +61 3 9344 1100 Undergraduates 360 | Established 1879 Website ormond.unimelb.edu.au Founded 1879 Postgraduates 50 | |
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Address 49 College Cres, Parkville VIC 3052, Australia Similar University of Melbourne, Trinity College, University College, Newman College, St Mary’s College | ||
Ormond college
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.
Contents
Ormond college
Beginnings
The University of Melbourne was established by an act of the Parliament of Victoria in 1853. Seventy-five (quickly reduced to sixty) of the one hundred acres (400,000 m²) of the university site were set aside for residential colleges, to be founded under the auspices of the churches. Ten acres (40,000 m²) 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.
On opening there were 20 students, soon growing to 24. Ormond College was unique amongst University of Melbourne colleges in welcoming students of all faiths and none, a philosophy built upon the Scottish Enlightenment tradition. Students of other Christian denominations, Jewish students and others were welcomed and this has become a cornerstone of the College's inclusive ethos.
In honour of the silver jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887, Francis Ormond funded the building of the Victoria Wing which came into use in 1889. In 1893 the dining hall, kitchens, staff quarters and the original lodge (Allen House) were opened. The magnificent neo-Gothic dining hall is reminiscent of an Oxbridge building and is often compared to Hogwarts, from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter.
Rapid growth
The rapid growth of the college soon outstripped the available accommodation and Francis Ormond provided funds for the southwest wing, together with a temporary building (which was, however, stone-walled and tin-roofed) where the cloisters now are, which served as kitchens and a dining hall. The next addition to the buildings of the college was the Wyselaskie building, which was completed in March 1887. John Dickson Wyselaskie was a Western District squatter, who also gave generously to the Presbyterian Ladies' College. The building contained a lecture hall and two residences for theological professors and was adapted and divided in 1968 so as to provide for four residences. On 6 July 1887, the portrait of Francis Ormond, which now hangs above Hall Door, was unveiled by Sir James McBain.
In honour of the silver jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887, Francis Ormond funded the building of the Victoria Wing which came into use in 1889. In 1893 the dining hall, kitchens, staff quarters and the original lodge (Allen House) were opened. On either side of the end window of the hall are effigies representing Francis and Mary Ormond.
Admission of women
From the beginning Ormond accepted women as non-residents, able to attend tutorials and participate in college life whilst living offsite with funding from the College. Female students were amongst its most illustrious early scholars. Later, from 1961-1974, female students were able to live in college in return for waitressing duties (they were known as student waitresses) and attend tutorials; they were admitted as members of the Ormond College Students' Club in 1969. In 1973 Ormond accepted women students as residents for the first time. Women quickly rose to leadership roles in both the staff and student bodies including being elected Chair of the Students' Club and appointed to the role of Vice-Master (deputy head of college). The college has a number of distinguished women alumni who have risen to prominence in their fields.
Post WWII expansion
The period after World War II saw great demands for accommodation; for the first time the college passed 150 students. Following an appeal for funds in 1949, a series of improvements were made to Main Building. The kitchens were extensively modernised and general maintenance was brought up to date after the lag resulting from the Depression of the 1930s and the shortages of men and material during and after the War. In 1955, the squash court was built to commemorate the Ormond men who died in the Second World War. A new Master's residents was designed by the prominent architects Grounds, Romberg and Boyd and was completed in 1958. At the same time, a permanent residence was provided for the vice-master by the conversion of a few rooms of the old lodge (Allen House) and the addition of a semi-circular cream brick building.
Innovation: the 1960s
During the 1960s the college continued to work with Grounds, Romberg and Boyd to create ground-breaking buildings. In the vacation of 1960-61 a new domestic wing was built to accommodate the extra staff and facilities required for the larger college planned for 1962. The three octagon-shaped buildings that constitute Picken Court were built during 1961 and were ready for occupation in 1962, providing accommodation for around 100 students and eight tutors. The chancellor of the university, Sir Arthur Dean, opened the building in March 1962.
1965 saw the erection of the new premises of the MacFarland Library, which were combined with a new theological hall common room. The former library became the chapel, the official opening of which took place on 19 March 1967. For the first time the college had its own place of worship, as befits a church foundation. In 1982 the library was reorganised, separating the Ormond College and Joint Theological College collections.
In 1968, a striking and bold building was opened in the south-east corner of the college grounds in the style later named brutalism. The chancellor of the university, Sir Robert Menzies, on a Sunday in April 1968 and in the company of a distinguished gathering, officially opened the southeast building and named it McCaughey Court after the Master, Davis McCaughey. This building, which caused much comment, won awards for the architects Romberg and Boyd.
Rejuvenation and change
In 1981, the College's centenary was recognised with much pomp and ceremony in the presence of the former master and then Governor of Victoria, Davis McCaughey, whose 20 years of responsibility developed the college in so many ways to its present strength and size. Subsequent building works in the 1980s and 1990s focussed on modernisation and renovation. In the 1980s, bathrooms, the tower, Junior Common Room, the quad and the plaza were all renovated. The current tennis courts were built in 1982 and four Parkville houses were acquired in 1985, housing students for the next twenty years. The 1990s saw the installation of both individual student telephones and network connections. The gym was opened in 1999.
Ormond College was embroiled in controversy in 1991 over allegations that the master of the college had sexually assaulted two female students at a party and that the college council had dismissed these complaints out of hand. The master was convicted of one charge of assault, however the conviction was later overturned on appeal, though he resigned his position. The events of this controversy were written into a book by Helen Garner, The First Stone, which itself was embroiled in controversy over bias, its criticism of third wave feminism and fictionalisation of various events and circumstances. Since this case, Ormond College has reformed its procedures in regards to sexual harassment and assault.
Innovation and development
In 2009, Rufus Black was appointed to the college. An ethicist and Rhodes scholar, Black ushered in a new era of change and development for the college. In 2016, Ormond opened the Wade Institute. Established with a gift from entrepreneur Peter Wade, the institute delivers a new Master of Entrepreneurship at the university. The degree is a collaboration between Ormond and the university's Faculty of Business and Economics and its School of Engineering. The college has also developed major new facilities. In 2010 the Junior Common Room was redeveloped into cafe style space and lounge. In May 2011 the college opened a $4m student academic centre. The building contains a wide range of formal and informal learning spaces along with the college library and information technology facilities. These facilities are complemented by refurbished tutorial rooms in McCaughey Court and library for the college historical collections in Main Building.
Since 2010 the college has expanded its undergraduate facilities by creating a series of loft rooms in its main building and McCaughey Court. The college has also developed a cohort of graduate students in its two dedicated graduate buildings opened in 2014 and 2015. Perhaps its most significant architectural addition for some decades has been the Wade Institute. The building is Australia's first Passivhaus building.