FERGUSON David Bruce
army officer and voluntary worker 1941-

David Ferguson, descendant of First Fleet convict Anne Forbes, was born and educated in Sydney. After graduating from the Royal Military College Duntroon in 1962 and regimental postings, he served as an exchange officer with 3 Coy RASC in 28 Cwlth Bde Malaysia 1963-65, seeing active service on the Malayan Peninsula and Borneo.  On return to Australia he was Operations Officer of 1 Coy RAASC which was deployed to South Vietnam in 1966 supporting 1 ATF and 1 ALSG.

In 1967 he he was an infantry instructor, then adjutant of the Officer Cadet School, Portsea,  followed by a course at the British Army School of Transport and a tour of duty in UK and Germany.  After serving as a Senior Instructor at the Army School of Transport, then OC 26 Sqn RACT, he attended Staff College in 1974.  Subsequently he served as SO2 Pers/Log of the Operational Deployment Force 3 Bde in Townsville.

Attendance at the US Army Logistic Management Center in 1977 was followed by an appointment in the Directorate of Logistic Development in which he was instrumental in liberating the funds which enabled the replacement of the over-age army road transport fleet.  After attending the Joint Services Staff College he joined the staff of HQ ADF, then in 1981 as colonel commanded the transport and movement assets of the field army throughout Australia.

After postgraduate studies at the National Defence College of Canada came promotion to brigadier as Deputy Chief of Logistics.  In 1987 he was appointed Director General of Coordination and Organisation-Army, then Director General of Operational Logistics ADF. This was followed by a review of the administrative systems of the Department of Defence and ADF for CDF and Secretary Defence,  then implementation of the findings of the review. In 1991 he was appointed the Director General of Plans and Programs for the ADF.

In 1994 he was appointed commander of the eleven-nation peacekeeping force the Multinational Force and Observers in Sinai comprising 3,000 uniformed and civilian personnel monitoring the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. On return to Australia in 1997 Major General Ferguson retired from the Regular Army and settled in Queensland.

Since retirement he has remained active in the military community including Patron of the Air Dispatch Association of Australia and Patron of the National Serviceman’s Association  (Caboolture Region). He has also been active in his local community association and a range of other activities while his wife Sara mounted a successful ten-year battle for the restoration of DFRDB Widows pensions for pre-1975 widows who had lost their superannuation pensions on remarriage. They and their family have always had a love of water sports including swimming, surfing, sailboarding, sailing and water skiing, and have travelled widely within Australia. 

He and Sara married in 1966; they have two sons, a daughter and six grandchildren.