Melbourne University

The University of Melbourne was established in July 1854, just three years after the creation of the Colony of Victoria (by separation from New South Wales) and three years after the discovery of the large alluvial gold deposits at Ballarat that soon propelled the Colony to one of the wealthiest outposts of the British Empire. Its first Chancellor was Redmond Barry, a classics scholar and senior judge of the Colony who composed a text in Latin for the foundation stone describing the goals of the University:

"...ad adolescentes philosophia, literis pietate formandos, juventutis ingenium excoledum, artes fovedas, scientiae fines ampliandos..." (for establishing young men in philosophy, literature and piety, cultivating the talent of youth, fostering the arts, and extending the bounds of knowledge)