Date of Birth: 31/05/1903
Place of Birth: near Glen Innes, New South Wales, Australia
Date of Death: 02/08/1969
Place of Death: Lane Cove, New South Wales, Australia
Political Party Activity
Australian Labor Party (ALP). Joined in 1926, member of Militant Minority Movement; New South Wales vice president from 1943 until 1947, president from 1947 until 1952, federal president from 1950 until 1952
Qualifications, occupations and interests
Railway worker and union organiser. Educated at Howell and St Brendans' convent in Annandale; was aged six years when father died; moved to Howell to live with grandparents; spent early childhood on King's Gate, Glen Innes, and Tingha, Inverell, mining fields, then a period on a farm near Sapphire; moved to Annandale in 1916, worked in brass foundry; apprenticed to jewellery trade, then as a casual farm labourer; joined railways as a porter from 1926 until 1937; appointed as a temporary organiser for Australian Railways Union in 1934, permanent in 1935, Northern District organiser at Tamworth in 1941, state secretary from 1943 until 1952, member of state council, federal vice president from 1944 until 1946; member of State Transport Post War Reconstruction committee; member of Railways Superannuation Board; chairman of New South Wales Milk Board from 1952 until 1968; fellow of Senate of University of Sydney from 1944 until 1969; trustee of Royal National Park, president from 1959; and Garrawarra Park, chairman from 1959; director of Royal North Shore Hospital from 1958; member of New South Wales Paraplegics Association from 1961; editor; honorary governor of Dairy Husbandry Research Foundation.
Personal
Son of Alexander Ferguson, miner. Married Beatrice Jago on 25 July 1925 and had issue, 5 daughters and 3 sons. Burial at Northern Suburbs crematorium from St Thomas' Church of England, North Sydney.
