W. G. Ferris

William Godfrey Ferris was station master of Gerongra Station and a member of Joe Beckett’s syndicate to finance opal prospector Charles Nettleton at Lightning Ridge in 1902.

Ferris was born on 16 July 1853 at Corscombe, Dorset, England, son of Thomas and Hannah Ferris. He emigrated to Australia and by the late 19th century had settled in the Walgett district. In 1889 he married Emily Eleanor Chilton at Walgett, and together they raised six children. He became manager of Gerongera Station — now Bairnkine — on the Walgett Road, where he ran sheep for more than two decades.

In 1902, Ferris joined with fellow station masters Armitage, and Parker, innkeeper Beckett and bookkeeper Doucutt to form a syndicate that grubstaked Charles Nettleton to sink a mineshaft in search of opal.

Ferris’s career was marked by legal entanglements. In 1904–05 he was sued by a former governess, Emily Annette Rose Martin, for wrongful dismissal and slander, resulting in a costly damages award and bankruptcy proceedings that drew attention in the national press.

In later life he moved to Sydney, residing at Eastwood. He died there on 6 February 1940, aged 86, and was cremated at Northern Suburbs after a service at St Philip’s Church.

Article: Research by Leisa Carney, edited by Russell Gawthorpe. LRHS research compiled by Len Cram and Barbara Moritz. Sources: ‘Martin v. Ferris - A Governess Sues for Slander - What the Defendant Says’, Evening News, 10 September 1904, p. 4; ‘Law - Action for Slander - A Governess Sues a Squatter - Verdict for £530 - Wilson’s Alleged Confession’, The Daily Telegraph, 13 September 1904, p. 8; Walgett Spectator, 4 April 1908; The Lightning Ridge Book, Stuart Lloyd, 1967, pp. 86-87, 138, 203; Lightning Flash Newspaper, 10 May 1979; A Journey With Colour: A History of Lightning Ridge Opal 1873-2003, Len Cram, 2003, pp. 15-16, 18.