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Wednesday <strong>September</strong> <strong>27</strong> <strong>2017</strong><br />
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi<br />
BAY HARBOUR<br />
PAGE 13<br />
News<br />
Port ‘seagull’ leaves union legacy<br />
• By Sarla Donovan<br />
ONE OF the last remaining<br />
men involved in the 1951<br />
waterfront dispute, Ray Fergus,<br />
died on <strong>September</strong> 12, aged 90.<br />
Mr Fergus worked as a casual<br />
labourer or ‘seagull’ on the Lyttelton<br />
docks, and later became<br />
a ‘walking delegate’ who liaised<br />
with the port company on<br />
health and safety matters.<br />
Fellow wharfie Baden Norris,<br />
also 90, and now living in<br />
Sumner, remembers him as a<br />
straight-up man and a hard<br />
worker.<br />
Both men were interviewed<br />
for a 2002 television documentary<br />
on the lockout called 1951.<br />
They were 24 when, on February<br />
15, 1951, the unionised<br />
wharfies were locked out after<br />
resolving to work only their<br />
contracted hours.<br />
The lockout continued for 151<br />
days.<br />
Arguing that New Zealand’s<br />
export trade was under threat,<br />
the National Government declared<br />
a state of emergency.<br />
Troops were sent onto the<br />
Auckland and Wellington<br />
wharves to load and unload<br />
ships and draconian emergency<br />
regulations imposed rigid censorship,<br />
gave police sweeping<br />
powers of search and arrest and<br />
made it an offence for citizens to<br />
assist strikers – even giving food<br />
to their children was outlawed.<br />
Mr Norris said he and Mr<br />
Fergus were both rank and file<br />
members during the dispute.<br />
“We all had various roles<br />
(such as) going and digging potatoes<br />
and onions from farmers<br />
that were friendly to us. He was<br />
a good guy, a worker. He could<br />
have moved up the ladder but he<br />
chose to stay within the union<br />
movement. He was a good<br />
workmate, and that’s the best<br />
accolade you could have.”<br />
PURPOSE:<br />
Ray Fergus<br />
was one<br />
of the men<br />
who ‘stood<br />
strong’ in<br />
the 1951<br />
Waterfront<br />
Dispute.<br />
Mr Fergus went on to become<br />
national president of the Waterfront<br />
Workers Union from<br />
1969-79 as well as a Lyttelton<br />
branch secretary and president.<br />
He was president of the<br />
Lyttelton Waterfront Workers<br />
Union during 1979 and 1980,<br />
and served on the executive for<br />
many years.<br />
Maritime Union Lyttelton<br />
branch secretary Gary Horan<br />
said he was a workmate to hundreds<br />
of watersiders during his<br />
career on the wharf.<br />
“A lot of the conditions that<br />
present members enjoy are<br />
because of the hard work and<br />
battles Ray and members like<br />
him fought for over the years,”<br />
said Mr Horan.<br />
“He was an eloquent speaker<br />
and had a vast knowledge of the<br />
politics and legislation ruling<br />
our industrial relations at the<br />
time.”<br />
Mr Fergus was married for<br />
more than 60 years to June.<br />
The pair tied the knot at St<br />
Saviour’s Church, Sydenham, in<br />
1953 and went on to have two<br />
children, Robyn and Mark and<br />
two grandchildren, Francis and<br />
Heather.<br />
Said Heather in the eulogy<br />
at her grandfather’s funeral on<br />
<strong>September</strong> 18: “Granddad tread<br />
with purpose the path that<br />
unfurled itself for him. He was<br />
whole of heart; wholehearted in<br />
his work, his life and his love.”<br />
In Brief<br />
MUSEUM LAND SWAP<br />
The Lyttelton Historical Museum<br />
Society is a step closer to a new site<br />
after a city council hearing panel<br />
recommended land at 33-35 London<br />
St be gifted to the organisation.<br />
It aims to build a new museum<br />
on the former Lyttelton Service<br />
Centre site and has received strong<br />
support from the community. Panel<br />
member Alexandra Davis said it<br />
was a commonsense move which<br />
would help further Lyttelton’s<br />
development. The city council will<br />
decide whether to accept the panel’s<br />
recommendation early next month.<br />
SAILING CLASSES<br />
Last week we reported that learn<br />
to sail classes at the Christchurch<br />
Yacht Club started this week<br />
and were full. In fact, the club<br />
has scheduled two junior learn<br />
to sail (level one) three-day<br />
courses. The first will take place<br />
on October 13-15 and the second<br />
is scheduled for October 21-23. To<br />
register for a class, visit the club’s<br />
website at www.cyc.net.nz for more<br />
information.<br />
COMMUNITY FUNDRAISER<br />
Sumner Residents Association will<br />
hold a sausage sizzle in the pocket<br />
park at the Sumner Centre: Matuku<br />
Takotako on Saturday, 11.30am-<br />
1pm. All proceeds will go towards<br />
maintaining the association’s<br />
community van.<br />
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$1,599pp*<br />
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03 384 <strong>27</strong>00<br />
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960 Ferry Road melissa@youferrymead.co.nz
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