Started by Robert Frederick Fergusson, whose career as an architect was interrupted by the Great Depression, the business was expanded by son Robert Guy Fergusson to supply the home building and renovation market across Tasmania.
Trustee and daughter of Robert Fergusson Senior, Margot Smart OAM said, “After we sold the enterprise in 2008 – all the stakeholders were family – we decided that the business had prospered because of the community and that we would like to give a share of those proceeds back into that community.”
So was born the Robert Fergusson Family Foundation Scholarship in Architecture and Design, which has now assisted a dozen students for over a decade.
The Fergusson family has a longstanding interest in architecture. Robert Fergusson Senior’s grandfather, Robert Huckson, was an architect surveyor, responsible for many public buildings and structures in Victoria and Tasmania in the 1800s. Following in his grandfather’s footsteps, Robert Fergusson Senior and his son took pleasure in designing and planning both commercial and domestic premises. For these reasons, Margot explains, a scholarship in the School of Architecture was fitting.
Available to Tasmanian students commencing a Bachelor of Architecture and Built Environments, the scholarship seeks an applicant with academic ability, an interest in design and an awareness of sustainability and heritage, who would benefit from the increased opportunity the financial assistance would offer. Margot says that the family feel very fortunate and privileged to be a part of the students’ journeys. “It’s wonderfully rewarding, it really is. It’s a joy,” she said.
“We keep in touch with the recipients. It’s a delight to go along to their graduations and cheer them on, wishing them well for the future. Some scholarship recipients have gone on to have careers interstate or overseas – it has been wonderful to see the way they grow in confidence.”
Margot says the scholarship is about the students and not the family, or the past. “It’s the present that’s important,” she said. “I think it’s important that everybody has this chance for further study.”
2022 scholarship recipient Marshall Clarkson is an example of someone whose life has been changed by the generosity of the Fergusson family. He says moving from Flinders Island to Launceston for his senior years of high school had its challenges, but that he recognised the move was necessary to pursue more opportunities and learning experiences.
“It was a big difference moving from a place where there isn’t a single roundabout or traffic light to what I think of as a big city,” Marshall said.
He said the scholarship has helped immensely: “It has allowed me to not work as much and to focus on my studies and developing skills and techniques in architecture.
“A lot of the course is computer based using 3D modelling software, and then there is theory and practical hand-made models – all have up-front costs associated with them, plus the time required to learn the necessary techniques.”
He said the scholarship helped him to purchase the required software and meet other course-related costs, as well as assisting with living expenses.
Marshall says he has always been interested in construction and building. He performed well in his ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank), scoring in the top four per cent of students nationwide, and was interested in pursuing a tertiary pathway.
“I like seeing things being built and am interested in the use of sustainable products, such as timber, as well as energy-efficient houses,” he said.
It’s clear this is just the beginning for Marshall, who is fascinated with architecture in North America and adds, “Flinders will always be my home, but the world is a big place.”
Image: Marshall Clarkson
Read more stories from Impact 2022.