BORLAND, William, Rev, M.A. D.D., Dr (1867-1945)
Assembly memorial minute, 1946
William Borland was born at Thornhill, Dumfrieshire, Scotland, on August 3rd, 1867. His father was a farmer. His academic preparation for his life-work was very thorough. It began at the Ayr Academy. He then went to the University of Edinburgh, where he obtained the degrees of Master of Arts and Bachelor of Divinity He next went to Germany and attended the Universities of Jena and Berlin. He served the Presbyterian Church is Scotland for about twenty years. In 1893 and 1894 he was assistant at Glasgow Cathedral. In January, 1895, he was ordained and inducted into the Charge of Rosemount, Aberdeen, where he remained about seven years. His next charge was that of Dunbar, where he was inducted in 1902.
In 1912 he was called by Scots Church, Collins Street, to be colleague and successor to the Rev. Dr. Alexander Marshall, and his induction took place in March, 1913. He became sole minister in 1923, and resigned on July 13th, 1935. During his retirement he lived first at Canterbury, then at Hawthorn.
In Dr.Borland our Church had the services of a cultured preacher and a man of fine administrative capacity. Despite the exacting duties as minister of Scots Church, he gave a vast amount of his time and strength to the general work of the Church. It has been stated that he was on more Assembly Committees than any other minister. His most important contributions related to the Theological and higher educational interests of the Church.
In connection, first, with the General Assembly of Australia, he was Convener of the following Committees: College Committee (1920-1936), Canberra Building Committee (1926-1930), Immigration Committee (1926- 1936). and Book of Common Order Committee (1930 till his death).
Next, in connection with the Victorian Assembly, he was Convener of the following Committees: Chaplaincy (1915-1920), Assembly Arrangements (1915-1930), St. Andrew’s Hospital (1916-1923, prior to the actual erection), Board of Education (1925-1931), Ormond College Council (1926-1942), Theological Education (1928-1939), Candidates for Ministry (1931-1932), Immigration (1936-1937).
These lists, if considered carefully, reveal his chief preoccupation in Church affairs, and as he took his Committee duties very seriously, they entailed a vast amount of work, or over-work. In the Assembly debates he was always courteous and restrained, never descending to personalities, always cultured and dignified in speech. He was Moderator of our Assembly in 1930-1931, and these same characteristics prevailed throughout.
As a preacher he is thus described by Mr. D.K. Picken: “He was first and last, the deeply devoted minister of the Gospel: trained in the great tradition of the Church of Scotland, at its very greatest. Without the Celtic fire (he was essentially the Lowland type of Scot), and without the ‘popular’ touch (which he did not covet), he was master of the true art of Divine Worship... and extraordinarily thorough and accurate in the working out of his sermons—with unerring discrimination in his choice of subjects.”
Dr. Borland died at Euroa on 15th August, 1945. He is survived by his widow. and three sons and three daughters. The sons are Mr. J.R. Borland of Toorak, Group-Captain W.M. Borland, who is a doctor with the R.A.A.F., and the Rev. Frank Borland of Gardenvale. The daughters are Mrs. Cameron of Euroa, Mrs. D. I. Menzies of Balwyn, and Miss Sophie Borland, M.A. Dip.Ed., head-mistress of St. Catherine’s Girls’ School, Toorak. To them all the Assembly tenders its sincere sympathy.
Gender
- Male