Forbes gave up his handsome stipend (£200 from the government plus £150 from the congregation), the church, school and manse he had erected, and commenced afresh.
He issued his Protest on 29 October 1846 and submitted it to the Presbytery of Melbourne on 17 November, the date of the organising meeting of what the minutes call The Free Presbyterian Church of Australia Felix.
It was a small co-educational school but Forbes had a vision for a college for boys which would provide ‘teachers for our common schools’ and be ‘the first step towards the training of a Colonial ministry from among the Colonial youth.’ He personally sought and obtained the assistance of Miss Mure of Warriston in Edinburgh, to guarantee the salary of a rector and so make the project viable.
At that point the students were transferred to Knox and the Chalmers' premises stood empty waiting for the arrival of the rector from Scotland.
The Academy moved to the south-west corner of Spring and Little Collins Streets in 1852, and the Chalmers’ premises were let to an unrelated minister, Rev.
The three ministers and Henrie Bell, elder at John Knox, formed the Synod of the Free Presbyterian Church on 9 June 1847.
Forbes' death plus the revolution caused by the Gold Rush meant his careful positions were modified to facilitate union into the Presbyterian Church of Victoria in 1859.
The remaining Synod did not obtain recognition in Scotland and divided again in 1864, some joining the union in 1867 and the rest continuing the Free Presbyterian Church on the original footing.
Congregations of the Free Presbyterian Church of Victoria before 1859 included John Knox Melbourne, Chalmers' East Melbourne, South Yarra (Punt Road), Richmond (Bridge Road), St Kilda, Brighton, St Andrew's Carlton, Geelong (Little Malop Street), Geelong Gaelic, Myers Street/LaTrobe Terrace), Bellarine, Batesford, Ballarat (Sturt Street), Bendigo (St Andrew's), Hamilton, Burnbank, Beaufort, Gippsland (Sale).