John Ferguson (Australian politician)

{{Short description|Scottish-born Australian politician}}

{{About||the state politician in New South Wales|John Ferguson (New South Wales politician)|the state politician in Western Australia|John Maxwell Ferguson}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}

{{Use Australian English|date=December 2015}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = The Honourable

| name = John Ferguson

| honorific-suffix =

| image = John Ferguson - Swiss Studios (cropped).jpg

| title = Senator for Queensland

| term_start = 30 March 1901

| term_end = 6 October 1903

| constituency_AM3 = Rockhampton

| assembly3 = Queensland Legislative

| term_start3 = 8 October 1881

| term_end3 = 5 May 1888

| predecessor3 = William Rea

| successor3 = Archibald Archer

| alongside3 = Thomas Macdonald-Paterson, William Higson

| office2 = Member of the Queensland Legislative Council

| term_start2 = 23 August 1894

| term_end2 = 30 March 1906

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1830|3|15}}

| birth_place = Kenmore, Perthshire, Scotland

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1906|3|30|1830|3|15}}

| death_place = Sydney, Australia

| birthname = John Ferguson

| restingplace = Waverley Cemetery

| nationality = Australian

| spouse = Eliza Frances Wiley (m.1862 d.1923)

| party = Free Trade Party

| relations =

| children =

| residence =

| alma_mater =

| occupation = Carpenter, Builder

| profession =

| signature =

| website =

| footnotes =

}}

John Ferguson (15 March 1830 – 30 March 1906) was a Scottish-born Australian politician.{{cite web|title=Former Members|publisher=Parliament of Queensland|year=2015| url=http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/members/former/bio?id=1982584365|access-date= 13 February 2015}} Born in Kenmore, Perthshire, he received a primary education before becoming a carpenter. He migrated to Australia in 1855, becoming a goldminer and carpenter, and then a builder and contractor at Rockhampton in Queensland.{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |id2=ferguson-john-6158 |title=Ferguson, John (1830–1906)] |access-date=2022-08-14}}

He served on Rockhampton Council, including a period as mayor in 1880–1881. In 1881 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for Rockhampton, holding the seat until 1888. In 1894 he was appointed to the Queensland Legislative Council. He successfully contested the Australian Senate in the 1901 federal election for the Free Trade Party, but did not resign his seat in the Legislative Council. (Holding seats in both state and federal legislatures simultaneously was not yet forbidden by the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1902.)

Ferguson's interest remained in state politics and he seldom attended the Senate due to old age and illness, leading to his seat being declared vacant on 6 October 1903, shortly before the 1903 federal election,{{cite Au Senate |last=Waterson |first=D B |title=FERGUSON, John (1830–1906) Senator for Queensland, 1901–03 |sen id=john-ferguson |access-date=2022-08-14}} which Ferguson did not contest. He continued in the Legislative Council until his death in 1906.{{cite web|last=Carr |first=Adam |title=Australian Election Archive |work=Psephos, Adam Carr's Election Archive |url=http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia |year=2008 |access-date=16 November 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070717093439/http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia |archivedate=17 July 2007 }} Ferguson was buried in the Waverley Cemetery.{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14762515 |title=Family Notices. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=31 March 1906 |access-date=13 February 2015 |page=24 |via=Trove}}