Bio

I am a South Australian by birth, but a Western Australian by choice. I was born at Naracoorte but then moved to Mt. Barker whilst still in Primary school. Completed education at Mt. Barker High in 1961. Spent one year working at home on the family farm and some months on the West Coast at Sheringa with my sister and her husband.
In January 1963 to ok up an electrical apprenticeship at Weapons Research Establishment at Salisbury, just north of Adelaide. When the family moved to Gunnedah in 1964 I chose to stay in Adelaide. On completion of my apprenticeship stayed on at WRE, with regular visits to Woomera. Worked mainly at the Lake Hart facility where the Europa series of rockets were prepared and launched. In 1968 accepted a fulltime position at Woomera at 'E' Range. Involved with support for weapons testing and research. In July 1969 married Mary Dunstan in Adelaide. With funding for Woomera running down, late 1970 accepted a position at Dampier W.A. with Hamersley Iron.
Drove accross from Adelaide to Perth and then up to Dampier. This was at the start of the W.A. mining boom. The Pilbara region was requiring workers to operate and maintain the mining industry. Conditions then were pretty basic. Shops, phones and roads were scarce. Red dust, work and beer were plentiful and the money was good. The average age of the entire community was in the high twenties. In late November 1976 I had a bad accident at work and was severely burnt. Recovery was good, but later required several skin grafts. I became interested in computers in the late 70's and purchased my first in 1979.
We left Karratha in July 1980 and moved to a house in Stoneville in the Perth hills. I had taken a position at the new vanadium plant at Wundowie. The plant unfortunately was not viable and closed in 1982. Then worked as a specialist control systems engineer for several years.
We established Electro 80 Pty.Ltd. in November 1987 as an independent control system provider. The company was successful, expanded and developed a good reputation in the mining and processing industry.
In July 1989 we purchased a 125 acre hobby farm at Gidgegannup. By this time the family had been involved with the Eastern Hills Pony Club for several years. We wanted some more space for ourselves and our girls and moved to Gidge' in September '89. I was a commitee member of EHH&PC for a number of years and served in a variety of roles. We were also associated with the Australian Stock Horse society. We imported several mares from Qld and competed with them for a few years.
I took up an interest in gardening and expanded our house yard several times to accommodate an increasing quantity of plants. Predominant large rose garden with about 500 plants and then a dedicated native garden. The garden took up about two thirds of an acre. In the late 90's I developed a taste for red wine and established a modest cellar.
We sold Electro 80 in 2001 and I almost retired. I still maintained contact and worked part time as a consultant. This provided me with an interest and the company with the benefit of my experience.
In 2005 I commenced work on assembling the Ferguson Family Tree. Mainly to establish some record for my own children, but then it became important to set down and publish the information and make it available for all of the entire family. My hope is that the record can be kept alive and added to as the family grows.
In 2017 we sold our farm and moved to a new home on the outskirts of Perth at Jane Brook. This was an excellent decision as we have a nice house with a view back to the hills and national park. A major consideration was the vastly reduced danger from bushfires, which after thirtyeight years was a great relief. I still currently work part time as a consultant.
In 2009 I became involved with website development in relation to the 'Family Tree'.
This has gradually expanded and I have developed a number of websites and enjoy the challenge of producing useful, functional interactive sites.
It is incredible how many hours can be consumed for so little gain, then the breakthrough and it's all worthwhile.