John Ferguson was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

-born Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n politician. Born in Banffshire

Banffshire

The County of Banff is a registration county for property, and Banffshire is a Lieutenancy area of Scotland.The County of Banff, also known as Banffshire, was a local government county of Scotland with its own county council between 1890 and 1975. The county town was Banff although the largest...

, 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

Rockhampton, Queensland

Rockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....

 in Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

. He was also a company director. He served on Rockhampton Council

Rockhampton Regional Council

The Rockhampton Region is a Local Government Area located in Central Queensland, Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, it was preceded by four previous local government areas extending to almost the beginning of local government in Queensland....

, including a period as mayor in 1880. In 1881 he was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly

Queensland Legislative Assembly

The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...

 for Rockhampton

Electoral district of Rockhampton

The district of Rockhampton is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.Wedged between the electoral districts of Keppel to the east and Mirani to the west, Rockhampton encompasses the bulk of the regional city of Rockhampton and many of its outlying...

, holding the seat until 1888. In 1894 he was appointed to the Queensland Legislative Council

Queensland Legislative Council

The Queensland Legislative Council was the upper house of the parliament in the Australian state of Queensland. It was a fully nominated body which first took office on 1 May 1860. It was abolished by the Constitution Amendment Act 1921, which took effect on 23 March 1922.Consequently, the...

. He successfully contested the Australian Senate

Australian Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...

 in the 1901 federal election for the Free Trade Party

Free Trade Party

The Free Trade Party which was officially known as the Australian Free Trade and Liberal Association, also referred to as the Revenue Tariff Party in some states and renamed the Anti-Socialist Party in 1906, was an Australian political party, formally organised between 1889 and 1909...

, 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 Australian Constitution.) Ferguson's interest remained in state politics and he seldom attended the Senate, leading to his seat being declared vacant on 6 October 1903, shortly before the 1903 federal election, which Ferguson did not contest. He continued in the Legislative Council until his death in 1906.