William Forrester Volum

William Forrester, son of William and Jane (née Hutchison) Volum was born at Peterhead in Scotland on 18 April 1861. He was purser on the migrant ship Hesperus  when he arrived in Australia in 1884. He was an accountant in the Commercial Bank of Australia in Geelong and later became manager of the Mornington branch. 

He married Elizabeth Ann Logan in 1889. They had two children:
 William Ronaldson  — born 1890 in Geelong, married Fay Margaret Buckland in 1921, died 1976 at Frankston aged 85
John Hutchison Gordon — born 1894 in Geelong, married May Latham Kernot on 4 February 1936 at Christ Church in Geelong, died 1976 in Geelong aged 81

William owned Roxby Park at Gnarwarre for about 60 years from 1891 until 1951. He bred Lincoln Merino crossbred sheep. He was also interested in horse racing, and served on the committee of the Geelong Racing Club from 1913 until 1922.

​He was chairman of the school council of The Hermitage Church of England Girls Grammar School from 1906 until 1932 and continued as a member of the school council until his death in 1951. He was also a member of council of the Geelong Church of England Grammar School, serving from 1907 until 1946.

He served as a councillor of the Geelong and Western District Agricultural and Horticultural Society, and is known to have been president during the period 1904-1909. He was a Barrabool Shire councillor serving from 1898 until 1922 and was president seven times, including the four years during World War 1. When the Geelong wool broking company of Dennys Lascelles Ltd went public in 1912 he was one of the first directors. He remained a director until December 1949. He was chairman of the board from 1928 until 1931. He was also a director of Geelong Quarrying and Stone Crushing Ltd and W H Higgins Propty Ltd.

Elizabeth died in January 1925 aged 61 years and was buried in the Church of England section of the Highton Cemetery. William died on 17 January 1951 aged 89 years. His funeral at All Saints Church in Newtown left for the Fawkner Crematorium. This was before the opening of the crematorium at Altona (1961) and Geelong (1988). After his death Roxby Park sold at auction for £100,000 to an undisclosed buyer, believed to be a Melbourne business man. It was described as 3959 acres with a five mile frontage to the Barwon River. Improvements included a bluestone house of 10 main rooms, men's quarters, billiard room, dairy and shearing sheds.

William Forrester Volum (1861-1951) c 1889 contributed by Philip Leahy

Roxby Park homestead — J.T. Collins collection, State Library of Victoria