William John Ferguson (14 November 1891 – 29 January 1961) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...

for 16 days in 1953 and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1953 until his death. He was a member of the Labor Party (ALP). Ferguson was born in Redfern and was the son of a clothes presser. He was educated to elementary level in Campsie and trained as a letter-setter and printer. He was a member of the

Printing Industries Employees Union of Australia The Printing Industry Employees' Union of Australia (PIEUA) was an Australian trade union which existed between 1915 and 1966. It represented a range of production and trades workers in the printing industry. History The PIEUA was formed on 6 Dece ...

from 1913 and joined the ALP in 1926. He became active in community organizations in the Waverley area including

Legacy In law, a legacy is something held and transferred to someone as their inheritance, as by will and testament. Personal effects, family property, marriage property or collective property gained by will of real property. Legacy or legacies may refer ...

and the Australian Red Cross. Ferguson was elected as an alderman on Waverley Municipal Council in 1941 and retained this position until 1955. On 3 September 1953, he was indirectly elected to the Legislative Council for the remainder of the term of Charles Anderson who had resigned. However, Clarrie Martin, the member for Waverley died 2 days later and Ferguson resigned his seat in the Legislative Council, after serving only 16 days, to contest the resultant by-election. Ferguson was duly elected and retained the seat at the next election in

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

. The seat and the neighbouring seat of Paddington were abolished and combined into the seat of Paddington-Waverley at a redistribution before the

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

election. The Labor member for Paddington,

Maurice O'Sullivan Muiris Ó Súilleabháin (; 19 February 1904 – 25 June 1950), anglicised as Maurice O'Sullivan, was an Irish author famous for his Irish-language memoir of growing up on the Great Blasket Island and in Dingle, County Kerry, off the western ...

retired and Ferguson won the new seat. He died as the sitting member in 1961. He did not hold party, parliamentary or ministerial office.

References

1891 births 1961 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians Waverley Council {{Australia-Labor-NewSouthWales-MP-stub