STEPHENS, Edward Ted
ISBN 978-1-923386-92-1
PAPERBACK
The Ormonds of Borriyalloak
The Story of the Great Philanthropist Hon Francis Ormond and His Family
Francis Ormond, a great Victorian philanthropist was fired by his passion to bring education to the masses. Not having children he contributed millions of pounds to educational buildings and institutions.
Francis Ormond travelled from Scotland to Shelford near Geelong in 1843 with his father Captain Francis Ormond, Mother Isabella and her tiny baby Alfred. There they built a hotel on the road to the Western District. They were the only people making money during a rural depression and they took over several large grazing runs including thousands of sheep.
Later Francis married his childhood sweetheart Mary Greeves and they moved to Borriyalloak near Skipton. Appalled at their workers lack of education, they taught them themselves in the evenings. In 1853 when Gold was discovered, thousands of immigrants needed food so Francis’ future was assured.
Francis built Ormond College, a residence for country students to gain an education. Then to enable them to obtain a technical education, he built RMIT. He established the Conservatorium of Music. From this beginning we now have the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
In Geelong Francis contributed the first money towards the Gordon Institute and he was Chieftain of the Commun Na Fienne Society until his death. He contributed to the establishment of many rural secondary schools. He gave a great amount of money to finish building St Pauls Cathedral in Melbourne as a memorial to his first wife who was an Anglican.
He died in France in 1888 and his second wife Mary Oliphant brought him back to probably the largest funeral ever to pass along Ormond road to the cemetery in Geelong.
ISBN 978-1-923386-05-1
PAPERBACK
The Langlands
The History of the Langlands Family in Melbourne and Horsham
IN 1840 ROBERT LANGLANDS, A YOUNG SCOTTISH MAN, TOOK A HUGE STEP FOR LOVE AND LEFT HIS FAMILY TO EMBARK ON A ROMANTIC ESCAPADE ACROSS THE OCEAN…
He shocked his family by deciding to pursue his lady friend who had been deported to Australia for a minor misdemeanour.
After arriving in Melbourne, Robert immediately set off to Sydney to ask his girlfriend, Agnes, to marry him.
Robert’s brother, George, and his wife, Betsy, during his leave, and having fallen on hard times, had become interested in an offer to start a Post Office in Western Victoria.
So, they loaded their five children (including Ted’s future grandmother Margaret, at age six) on board three bullock drays and set off to find a survey peg 300 miles away on the Wimmera River marked as “A place to be called Horsham”.
Robert set up a foundry in Flinders Street in 1841 which thrived and Horsham grew around the Langlands store.
The rest, as you will discover in this book, is wonderful history…
“An authentic telling of real life in a part of our history not to be forgotten… A wonderfully written and engaging book…”
Dillon, Readalot Magazine reviewer
About the Author
A retired farmer, Ted Stephens comes from a literary family. His grandfather Edward James Stephens founded the “Horsham Times” in 1873. Ted’s father Harold was brought up in his father’s many Wimmera newspapers and wrote prolifically for “The Leader”, “Weekly Times”, the “Gadfly” and others. They wrote their history as it happened, enabling Ted to publish their story, “The Langlands”, in 2024. This gave him the will to research and write about the forgotten Ormond family. After 60 years with the CFA, church and local committees, writing local histories, and 53 years developing a world-class collection of historic machinery at the Geelong Showgrounds and now a museum, he has been honoured as a Knight of the Order of St John of Jerusalem Hospitaller for his contribution to society.
