History of Houghton, A (Swan Location 11)

pp. 34 with fold-out map, illusts #0619.

Dr. Ferguson kept the post of Colonial Surgeon for the twenty-five years between 1847 and 1872. He retired in 1872 on an annual pension of £216/13/4. He was the first the President of the Medical Board of Western Australia after it was created in 1870, and also claimed to be the first person to use chloroform in the colony when he amputated an aborigine’s leg in 1848.

John’s two sons, Charles William and John Maxwell, were sent to Scotland for three years for part of their education, and on their return, they attended Bishop Hale’s school in Perth.

Dr. Ferguson continued to prosper and bought several properties in and around Perth. In 1859 he bought ‘Houghton’ in the upper Swan Valley, and after he bought the neighbouring ‘Strelley’ in 1863, he sent his sixteen-year-old son Charles to live as manager on the new property.

At first, wheat was grown at ‘Houghton,’ then fruit, and finally, it was established as the vineyard for which it is renowned today.