Watson, Ferguson and Company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Industry | Printing |
|---|---|
| Founders | John Watson, James Ferguson |
| Headquarters | , |
Watson, Ferguson and Company is the longest running printing company in Queensland, Australia. It was established by John Watson and James Ferguson in the mid nineteenth century as a firm specialising in book selling, stationery manufacturing, lithography and printing. In 1890 it was the manufacturer of one of the world's smallest dictionaries. The company's second premises in Queen Street, Brisbane, was part of a row of buildings designed by Richard Gailey which include the Queensland Heritage Register listed Palings Building. Throughout the first part of the twentieth century, the company was the oldest operating business in Queen Street.[1][2][3]
John Watson was born near Glasgow, Scotland around 1830 and, at the age of sixteen, left for Indiana in the United States of America, prior to arriving in New South Wales, Australia, in pursuit of gold. He eventually settled in Brisbane around 1859 where he operated a successful photographic studio until 1873. John Watson and his wife, Elizabeth Selim, died when the RMS Quetta was wrecked on the Far North Queensland coast in 1890.[4]
The Watsons had no children and certain conditions were in place in James Watson's will dependent on who survived the other. As the Watsons were seen falling into the water within sixty seconds of one another, it was difficult to determine who had predeceased each other in the wreck, and the courts became involved in establishing survivorship and determining who were the beneficiaries of estate. The estate included the partnership property of Watson, Ferguson and Co.[5]