Ferguson, Robert

FERGUSON, Robert (1839–1906) was born in Limavady, Londonderry, Ireland, second son of William Leckey Ferguson, a bricklayer and building contractor, and Mary Jane Given. Mary Given was the daughter of Robert Given (1789-1833) and sister of George Given (1815-1883), builders and architects of Limavady, Co. Derry. Robert was the younger brother of John FERGUSON and brother-in-law of John PETRIE. Robert entered the building industry in c1855 and in 1860, two years after his elder brother John FERGUSON, had emigrated, he too arrived in Queensland. He was followed by the rest of the family in December 1863. His father began business as Ferguson & McLaughlin, building contractors of Ipswich, the firm’s work included the Ipswich Grammar and National Schools. On 6 March 1862 Robert married Isabella Cuthbertson Petrie, the only daughter of the pioneer Brisbane contractor Andrew PETRIE. Their second daughter, Annie Tiffin Ferguson, was named after Colonial Architect Charles TIFFIN. Robert Ferguson was employed by Tiffin as a temporary foreman of works from 1864 to 1870, first in Brisbane where he supervised erection of the new hospital at Bowen Bridge, and in 1867 wrote specifications for and oversaw erection of iron lighthouses at Bustard Head and Sandy Cape. In 1870 Ferguson was appointed Foreman of Works for the Wide Bay and Burnett Districts. He was transferred to Brisbane in 1872 and later claimed to have administered the Colonial Architect’s Office after Tiffin’s suspension until FDG STANLEY’s appointment. Under Stanley, Ferguson was promoted to clerk of works in 1876 and generally controlled construction works. He wrote the specifications and supervised erection of the Supreme Court, Telegraph Office and Public Museum in Brisbane; and the Court House, Post and Telegraph Offices and Hospital in Toowoomba. Ferguson also devised the composite iron plate and timber framed construction which became a model for lighthouses erected in Queensland from 1873.

When the Department of Public Instruction assumed responsibility for the colony’s school buildings in March 1879, he was appointed Superintendent of Buildings while GC WALKER also transferred from the Works Department as his draftsman. By the end of that year Ferguson introduced a “superior class of wooden building” which was used for government schools until the turn-of-the-century. Better materials, improved construction and ventilation, with special precautions against termites justified their higher initial cost. Ferguson adopted the single-skin construction introduced earlier by RG Suter but avoided the technical disadvantages of exposed studding by reverting to external sheeting, with studs exposed internally. Retaining Suter’s colour scheme, the stop-chamfered hardwood studs were varnished, and the lining finished with an oil stain, lightly tinted with yellow ochre. Although less eye-catching than Suter’s influential outside-studded buildings, Ferguson’s schools were much admired and described at the time as “semi-Gothic” with their steeply pitched roofs with ventilating fleche and bracketed gables. The schools were later elevated on massive brick piers to provide playing space below – early instances of what soon became common practice for Queensland houses. School furniture, previously a frequent source of complaint, was also redesigned by Ferguson. When shown at the Brisbane exhibition of 1880, the new designs were declared “first-class” and remained in use for the next 75 years. Stylistically like the schools were the houses that Ferguson designed – Ivanhoe for a colleague at the Department of Public Instruction and Mooloomburrum for his nephew AL Petrie. As the Department’s Superintendent of Buildings, Ferguson was also responsible for orphanages (a government responsibility after legislation of 1879), buildings for the education of blind, deaf and dumb children; and for advising on the construction of grammar schools. In 1886, at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, London, an album of 73 lithographed plans (some coloured) and photographs of the Department’s work was exhibited. A copy is held by the Cambridge University Library.

Ferguson resigned in April 1885 to become junior partner in his brother-in-law’s building contracting firm, John PETRIE & Son, then tendering for the foundations of the new Public Offices (Treasury Building) in Brisbane. Later that year, the firm was sole tenderer for the main contract. During the ensuing negotiations, Ferguson may have suggested the alterations which were implemented before tenders were recalled after the Colonial Architect JJ CLARK’s dismissal in December. Unsuccessful with its revised tender for the Public Offices, the firm was kept busy with the contracts for the new AMP offices and the Customs House in Brisbane – both of which Ferguson supervised. In 1890 he experimented with manufacturing Portland cement in Brisbane, applying for a patent for his improvements to the manufacturing process. When economic conditions deteriorated by 1891, he regularly advertised his services as building surveyor and arbitrator. Following John Petrie’s death in 1892, the Petrie firm failed in the ensuing economic crisis and Ferguson rejoined the Public Service in 1894 as Surveyor to the Meat and Dairy Board. In that post he travelled throughout Queensland super- intending erection of government-subsidised abattoirs and butter factories, including several designed by his nephew JS FERGUSON for the refrigerating engineers, WILDRIDGE & SINCLAIR.

When Robert Ferguson applied unsuccessfully for the post of Colonial Architect in 1882 and 1883, he frankly suggested that the title of Superintendent of Public Buildings would be more appropriate for him than Colonial Architect. Although he claimed a fair knowledge of architecture from ancient to modern, he was self-conscious of his lack of formal architectural training. However, there is no disputing the extensive technical knowledge and practical experience which enabled him to direct workmen in every branch of the building trade. He died from hydatid disease in Brisbane on 13 August 1906, predeceased by his two daughters. Younger brothers included George Given Ferguson, who was a long- term employee of the Railways Department and died in 1940 aged 91; and Thomas Given Ferguson (1853–1896), a bricklayer who later lived in Sydney.