GOLLAN, ROSS FRANCIS (1902-1961), journalist, was born on 2 October 1902 at Bowral, New South Wales, eldest child of native-born parents Colin Gollan, schoolteacher, and his wife Nellie (Ellen), née Sullivan. Ross attended Sydney Boys' High School, edited the school magazine, was a prefect and played Rugby in the first XV. At the University of Sydney (B.A., 1923; M.A., 1925) he edited Hermes and won the 1923 Wentworth medal for the best undergraduate essay.

Joining the Sydney Morning Herald as a cadet on probation in 1923, Gollan made a strong impression as a persistent news gatherer and as an accurate, clear and concise writer with 'the faculty of drawing a man'. On 11 November 1926 at the district registrar's office, North Sydney, he married a fellow journalist Sylvia Stewart Russell, daughter of A. G. Stephens. She died in childbirth on 4 January 1930. Left with an infant ...

Read more at the source website

Source:

Australian Dictionary of Biography