William Murray Ross
William Murray Ross was an entrepreneur best remembered for his failed "Rosstown Railway" in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. The railway was part of a larger "Rosstown Project" which also included a sugar beet processing mill and residential estate. Parts of the rail line easement have been preserved as the Rosstown Railway Heritage Trail.
Ross was born in Liverpool, England, arriving in Melbourne in 1852.
In 1875, he launched his new suburb of Rosstown, running this advertisement in the Argus:
Ross died in 1904. His failed sugar beet mill, which had been known for many years as "Ross' Folly", was demolished in 1908.
