He was himself an old Ormond College man, and he deliberately modeled Knox College on the pattern of Ormond. So far as I know, the residential college, open to students of all faculties, with a theological seminary as an adjunct, is peculiar to Australasia the good the colleges do can not be overstated. At that very point the vision of the founders has collapsed. A divinity student living in the college now, is a total rarity, and those who have not lived in, do not know that their experience of life, and their usefulness as ministers is markedly diminished in consequence. On a different note, Dr Ryburn observed from his time there one singular difference between here and Oxford.
Tradition holds sway in Oxford.
I feel deeply grateful as I mark how steadily the College has moved towards the ideal of which Mr. Cameron and I so often talked, long before a brick was laid or a trench dug. Very much of the success I attribute to the student body as a whole, and to the Committee of the Club in particular. No man in College had had experience of college life and we had no traditions. To make mistakes under such circumstances would have been easy. If we have been saved from serious blunders, it has been due mainly to the sound community of spirit that has prevailed and the loyalty of men to the Executive.