He must have had doubts about his fitness for the ministry for he accepted a teaching appointment at the Colchester Royal Grammar School in England between 1832 and 1835.

He found his future father-in-law, Rev James Clow, had arrived in Melbourne to settle the previous Christmas Day.

Clow was a Church of Scotland chaplain from Bombay retired due to health issues and of independent means.

Forbes thus became the first Christian minister settled as such in Melbourne, which was then a settlement of a few huts and two weatherboard houses that served as hotels.

The school relocated to new brick premises in September 1839 on the part of the 2-acre (8,100 m2) site on the corner of Collins and Russell Streets which adjoins the present Baptist Church and on which Georges department store was later erected.

The first purpose built Scots Church on the present site, corner of Collins and Russell Streets, was opened on 3 October 1841.

Forbes visited Geelong in November 1838 and obtained Rev Andrew Love from Scotland as minister for this place.

Forbes and one of his three elders adhered to the position also adopted by those who formed the Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia on 10 October 1846.

Reasons of distance and the general desire of those in Port Phillip to run their affairs without control from Sydney, meant Forbes organised a distinct body but on similar lines to the Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia, formed as a result of the Disruption.

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.

The three ministers and Henrie Bell, elder at John Knox, formed the Synod of the Free Presbyterian Church on 9 June 1847.

His own 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.

He personally sought and obtained the assistance of Miss Mure of Warriston, Edinburgh, to guarantee the salary of a rector and so make the project viable.

The Academy moved to the south-west corner of Spring and Little Collins Streets in 1852, and to East Melbourne in 1854 where it soon adopted the name Scotch College.

Scotch College, now located in Hawthorn, opened the first stage of the impressive buildings of the James Forbes Academy in 2002.

He was an early temperance advocate and, given the variety of religious bodies in the colony, was strongly opposed to churches receiving financial aid from the state.