William FERGUSON

FERGUSON, WILLIAM (b. Darlington Point, NSW 24 July 1882; d. Dubbo, NSW, 4 Jan 1950). Aboriginal activist.

The second of seven children of William Ferguson, a Scottish shearer, and his wife Emily (née Ford), an Aboriginal domestic of Toganmain Station, William Ferguson Jr grew up in the vicinity of Warangesda Mission, originally founded by John Gribble (q.v.) who had married his parents. He was briefly educated at Warangesda, 1895-96, by 'Mr Shropshire ... the only good teacher I ever had'. Ferguson became a Christian as a young man, and maintained an active faith for the whole of his life. Leaving school at fourteen, he joined his father as a shearer. His father was a famed boxer, and 'Young Bill' experienced very little discrimination in the shearing sheds.

In 1911, at Narrandera Presbyterian Church, he married Margaret Gowans, a woman of similar background to himself with a Scottish father and Aboriginal mother. The Ferguson family lived in various towns in western NSW but from 1924 began spending longer periods in Dubbo. With 12 children, the family settled permanently there in 1933. Dubbo was one of those towns where discrimination was less evident, and the Fergusons became accepted members of the community. True son of a true Scotsman, Ferguson was a staunch Presbyterian. He was also a sincere and involved Christian, an elder of the Dubbo Presbyterian Church, and 'highly respected' according to the Rev E H Vines. A later Dubbo minister, the Rev Gordon Graham, described Ferguson as 'one of those intelligent but uneducated people with a real thirst for knowledge'.

From the beginning of his working life, Ferguson was a loyal and active member of the Australian Workers Union. Through his friendship with Patrick McGarry, the colourful NSW member for Murrumbidgee, he joined the Labor Party in 1915, serving as branch secretary at Gulargambone. For many years, Ferguson worked hard for improved conditions for workers, both white and black, involving himself with various unions, and the Trades and Labor Council. Working in western NSW, Ferguson soon became aware of the poor treatment of Aboriginal people. He saw unfair and arbitrary control, poverty, sickness and despair. He was particularly angered in 1923 when the Aborigines' Protection Board began to remove children of a lighter skin colour from their Aboriginal parents, knowing that he was one himself He determined then to force an enquiry into the Board's activities, and devoted all the time, resources and energy he could to working for justice for the oppressed Aboriginal people.

When the NSW parliament increased the Board's powers in 1936, Ferguson realised that Aboriginal people's only hope was to organise themselves politically. He launched the Aborigines' Progress Association at Dubbo on 27 June 1937. He was elected organising secretary and later opened branches throughout the state. With another NSW Aboriginal leader, John Patten, and with William Cooper (q.v.), Ferguson organised a 'Day of Mourning' conference for Aboriginal people on Australia Day 1938, the 150th anniversary of white settlement. Shortly afterwards, Ferguson and Patten wrote a pamphlet, Aborigines Claim Citizen Rights!, and petitioned Prime Minister J A Lyons tor a national Aboriginal policy.

When the NSW government replaced the old Protection Board with a new Aborigines Welfare Board in 1940, Ferguson's APA demanded rights of participation. The government finally agreed and Ferguson took his seat on the board in 1944. Some small reforms were made in Aboriginal affairs, but the Board's assimilationist policies were, to Ferguson, but a small improvement on the old Board's protectionist policies. He felt unable to achieve much, and was well aware that the minor reforms which were achieved took far too long to produce any visible improvement in the quality of Aboriginal people's lives.

In 1949, Ferguson became vice-president of a national group, the Australian Aborigines' League. In June the League sent a deputation to Canberra to seek reforms largely drafted by Ferguson, but H V Johnson, Minister for the Interior in the Chifley Labor government, was unimpressed. Angered, Ferguson resigned from the Labor Party, feeling that neither political party was really interested in the rightful demands of Aboriginal people.

In the December elections, Ferguson stood as an Independent for Lawson, the Dubbo seat on a platform of civil rights for all people, based upon the UN Declaration of Human Rights. He collapsed during his final speech, and died in the Dubbo Base Hospital on 4 Jan 1950. He had received only 388 votes.

ADB 8; John Harris, One Blood (Sutherland, 1990); Jack Horner, Vote Ferguson for Freedom(Sydney, 1974)

JOHN HARRIS