Sir Raymond Alfred Ferrall, CBE (27 May 1906 – 1 June 2000) was an Australian businessman, journalist, author and cricketer.

Early life

Ferrall was born in

Launceston, Tasmania Launceston () or () is a city in the north of Tasmania, Australia, at the confluence of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River (kanamaluka). As of 2021, Launceston has a population of 87,645. Material was copied ...

, raised in the suburb of

Invermay Invermay () is a diffuse settlement in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is situated approximately 2 km southeast of Forteviot on the Water of May, some 8 km southwest of Perth. Before the mid 15th century, it was known as ''Innermeath ...

, and educated at

Launceston Church Grammar School (Unless the Lord is with us, our labour is in vain) , established = , type = Independent, co-educational, day & boarding , denomination = Anglican , slogan = Nurture, Challenge, I ...

.Alexander, Alison
Raymond Ferrall
''Companion to Tasmanian History'', University of Tasmania, 2006. Ferrall played first-class cricket for Tasmania from 1933 to 1935, and was the team's captain in 1935. In 1950, he stood as a candidate for the Tasmanian Legislative Council.

Business career

After a stint as a journalist (which he would later chronicle in his memoir ''Partly Personal''), Ferrall took a position as a commercial traveller to promote his father's grocery business nationally and overseas—a business he would later develop into the successful wholesaler Four Roses Foods. He served on the boards or held directorships of several Launceston businesses including the Launceston Bank for Savings (LBS), '' The Examiner'' newspaper,

Boag's Brewery Boag's Brewery (J. Boag & Son) is an Australian brewery company founded in 1883 by James Boag and his son, also named James, in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. It is now owned by Lion, a Trans-Tasman subsidiary company of Japanese beverage co ...

, and forestry company

Gunns Gunns Limited was a major forestry enterprise located in Tasmania, Australia. It had operations in forest management, woodchipping, sawmilling and veneer production. The company was placed into liquidation in March 2013. History Founded in 187 ...

; and utilities such as the Launceston Gas Company and the

Hydro-Electric Commission Hydro Tasmania, known for most of its history as the Hydro-Electric Commission (HEC) or The Hydro, is the trading name of the Hydro-Electric Corporation, a Tasmanian Government business enterprise which is the predominant electricity generator i ...

. He also served as President of the Launceston Chamber of Commerce from 1961 to 1962. Ferrall was chairman of the board of

Qintex Qintex Limited was an Australian financial services company founded in 1975 as Takeovers, Equities & Management Securities (TEAM). It was renamed Qintex Limited and came to prominence in 1986, collapsing five years later in 1991. Its main share ...

when

Christopher Skase Christopher Charles Skase (18 September 19485 August 2001) was an Australian businessman who later became one of his country's most wanted fugitives, after his business empire crashed spectacularly and he fled to Majorca, Spain. Early life Sk ...

made a successful takeover bid for the company. The company expanded to a huge conglomerate of entertainment and other companies, but famously collapsed in 1991 after Farrell had retired. He was also a foundation director of ENT Ltd., a Tasmanian entertainment and media company which expanded into other countries and interests. ENT was broken up and sold off after the company's founder

Edmund Rouse Edmund Alexander Rouse (2 February 1926 – 28 July 2002)
Don Woolford, ''AAP Gene ...

was jailed for attempting to bribe a Tasmanian state MP.Ninety Years on – a Tasmanian Story : The Autobiography of Sir Raymond Ferrall
Abe Books UK.

Writing career

Ferrall wrote under the pen name R. A. Ferrall, with his first book being a memoir of his time as a journalist: ''Partly Personal: Recollections of a One-Time Tasmanian Journalist'' was published in 1974 by Cat and Fiddle Press. His next book was a fiction novel entitled ''Idylls of the Mayor'', published by Mary Fisher Bookshop in Launceston. In the early 1980s, he wrote two biographical compendiums of notable Tasmanians: ''Notable Tasmanians'' (1980) and ''Tasmanians All'' (1982), and another novel, ''The Age of Chiselry: In Eleven Slightly Irregular Escapades'' (1981). His last book, published in 1995 at the age of 90, was an autobiography titled ''90 Years On: A Tasmanian Story''.R. A. Ferrall
''AustLit''.

Personal life

Ferrall married Lorna Lyttleton Findlay on 10 June 1931, at St John's Church, Launceston. He later married Sallie Sinclair Barnett (née Thyne) in 1985.

Honours

Ferrall was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1969 Queen's Birthday Honours, for his role as warden of the Port of Launceston Authority.FERRALL, Raymond Alfred
''It's an Honour'', 14 June 1969. He was knighted in the 1982 New Year's Honours in recognition of service to industry, commerce and to the community.FERRALL, Raymond Alfred
''It's an Honour'', 31 December 1981. Buildings on the University of Tasmania's Newnham campus and at the

are named the Sir Raymond Ferrall Centre and the Sir Raymond Ferrall Building, respectively, in his honour.

References