{{Short description|Australian politician (1875–1932)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}} {{Use Australian English|date=January 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Myles Ferricks | honorific_suffix = | image = Myles Ferricks - Swiss Studios (cropped).jpg | title = Senator for Queensland | term_start = 1 July 1913 | term_end = 30 June 1920 | constituency_AM1 = Bowen | assembly1 = Queensland Legislative | term_start1 = 2 October 1909 | term_end1 = 27 April 1912 | predecessor1 = Francis Kenna | successor1 = Edwin Caine | constituency_AM2 = South Brisbane | assembly2 = Queensland Legislative | term_start2 = 9 October 1920 | term_end2 = 11 May 1929 | predecessor2 = Edgar Free | successor2 = Neil MacGroarty | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1875|11|12}} | birth_place = Maryborough, Queensland, Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1932|8|21|1875|11|12}} | death_place = Eagle Junction, Queensland, Australia | resting_place = Nudgee Cemetery | birth_name = Myles Aloysius Ferricks | spouse = {{marriage|Beatrice Waugh|1909}} | party = Australian Labor Party | relations = | children = | alma_mater = | occupation = Schoolteacher<br/>Manual worker<br/>Journalist | profession = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Myles Aloysius Ferricks''' (12 November 1875 &ndash; 21 August 1932) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and served as a Senator for Queensland from 1913 to 1920. He was also a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1909 to 1912 and from 1920 to 1929. He was associated with the militant wing of the ALP and was known for his opposition to World War I conscription in Australia and support for the White Australia policy. Prior to entering politics he worked as a schoolteacher and journalist and was active in the labour movement on the Central Queensland goldfields.

==Early life== Ferricks was born on 12 November 1875 in Maryborough, Queensland. He was the son of Mary (née Sheridan) and Austin Ferricks. He was raised in a working-class Irish Catholic family.<ref name=bio>{{Cite Au Senate|Sen id=myles-aloysius-ferricks|name=FERRICKS, Myles Aloysius (1875–1932)|first=Rodney|last=Sullivan|access-date=28 December 2022|year=2000}}</ref>

Ferricks was educated at the Albert State School and the Christian Brothers' College, Maryborough, where he passed his junior certificate.<ref name=bio/> After leaving school he worked as a schoolteacher for a period before joining Queensland Railways as an engine-driver based in Rockhampton. He later moved to the goldfields around Charters Towers and Ravenswood, working as a miner and cyanide plant operator and winding engine driver. He was secretary of the Ravenswood branches of the Australian Workers' Union and Miners' Accident Association and edited the ''Ravenswood Mining Journal''.<ref name=standard>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/186793256|title=Myles A. Ferricks|newspaper=The Daily Standard|location=Brisbane|date=10 October 1929}}</ref>

Following a downturn in the mining industry, Ferricks moved to Proserpine and became a sugar-grower. He was also editor of the ''Bowen Independent'', a local newspaper.<ref name=standard/> He played high-level rugby union, representing Rockhampton in matches against New South Wales and visiting Sydney with a Central Queensland representative team in 1895.<ref name=bio/>

==State politics, 1909–1912== Ferricks was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly at the 1909 state election, winning back the seat of Bowen for the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from Francis Kenna, a former Labor member who had defected to the Kidstonites following the earlier party split.<ref name=qp>{{cite web|title=Former Members|publisher=Parliament of Queensland|year=2015| url=http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/members/former/bio?id=3720027357|accessdate= 1 February 2015}}</ref> He supported the 1911 Queensland sugar strike and the 1912 Brisbane general strike. He lost his seat at the 1912 state election, possibly due to anti-union sentiment in his rural constituency.<ref name=bio/>

In 1913, Ferricks was sued for defamation by Queensland premier Digby Denham over remarks alleging Denham's family firms of produce merchants was "fleecing" Queensland farmers.<ref name=bio/> He was represented by future Labor leader T. J. Ryan and eventually reached a settlement with Denham.<ref>{{cite book|first=D. J.|last=Murphy|author-link=Denis Murphy (Australian politician)|year=1975|title=T. J. Ryan: A Political Biography|publisher=University of Queensland Press|isbn=0702209929|url=https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:186109}}</ref>

==Federal politics, 1913–1920== [[File:The Labour Three for the Senate.jpg|thumb|right|Campaign material for Ferricks and his Queensland ALP colleagues William Maughan and Henry Turley at the 1919 federal election]] At the 1913 federal election, Ferricks was elected to a six-year term commencing on 1 July 1913. His term was cut short by a double dissolution but he was re-elected to a further six-year term at the 1914 election. He was defeated for re-election at the 1919 election with his term ending on 30 June 1920.<ref name=aph>{{cite news|url=https://handbook.aph.gov.au/parliamentarians/JYT|title=FERRICKS, Myles Aloysius|work=Parliamentary Handbook|publisher=Parliament of Australia|access-date=14 May 2026}}</ref>

Ferricks was known for his fervent support of the White Australia policy and particular opposition to Chinese migration, which he viewed as an "invasion". He made anti-Chinese remarks in the Senate on a number of occasions and criticised the Chinatowns in North Queensland and the Northern Territory. He believed the federal administration of the Northern Territory "was lax on White Australia and overprotective of corporate interests including those of the Vestey Brothers".<ref name=bio/>

Ferricks was a critic of Australian participation in World War I and became a leading opponent of wartime conscription. He viewed the war as a manifestation of class conflict, describing it as "a fight for the wealth producers and wealth owners" and calling for a "conscription of wealth".<ref name=bio/> Ferricks campaigned for the "No" vote during the 1916 referendum on overseas service for conscripted soldiers. Following the resulting party split, he regarded pro-conscriptionist ALP prime minister Billy Hughes as having betrayed the labour movement.<ref name=bio/>

==Return to state politics and final years== Ferricks returned to the Queensland Legislative Assembly at the 1920 state election, following the retirement of the incumbent Labor member Edgar Free in the seat of South Brisbane. He was re-elected in 1923 and 1926, but lost his seat in the ALP's landslide defeat in 1929.<ref name=qp/> He was defeated by CPNP candidate Neil MacGroarty, with the contest attracting attention as both Ferricks and MacGroarty were Irish Catholics. MacGroarty was the president of the Queensland Irish Association at a time when sectarianism was rife in Australian politics and Irish Catholics were primarily associated with the ALP.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Hundred Thousand Welcomes: The History of the Queensland Irish Association|first1=Rodney|last1=Sullivan|first2=Robin|last2=Sullivan|isbn=9781922643520|year=2023|publisher=Boolarong Press|pages=69-70}}</ref>

Ferricks was a prominent internal critic of ALP premier Ted Theodore, representing the party's radical wing which viewed Theodore's approach as too cautious.<ref name=bio/> In July 1924 he successfully moved a caucus motion calling for a 44-hour working week, against Theodore's wishes; Theodore and his cabinet offered their resignations but eventually continued in office after further negotiations. When Theodore sought to transfer to federal parliament later in the year, Ferricks unsuccessfully contested the preselection ballot against Theodore for the seat of Herbert, losing by a substantial number of votes.<ref>{{cite book|first=Ross|last=Fitzgerald|author-link=Ross Fitzgerald|title="Red Ted": The Life of E. G. Theodore|year=1994|publisher=University of Queensland Press|isbn=0702226491|pages=175-177}}</ref>

Ferricks stood unsuccessfully at the 1931 federal election as the ALP candidate in Maranoa.<ref name=bio/> ''The Worker'' described his candidacy as "one of the glorious failures of the campaign", as he recorded a swing to Labor despite entering the contest at short notice, with little existing organisation and campaigning inhibited by severe flooding.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/71034829|title=The Fight in Maranoa: Ferricks's Big Bid for Victory|newspaper=The Worker|location=Brisbane|date=27 January 1932}}</ref>

==Personal life== In 1909, Ferricks married Beatrice Waugh, with whom he had two daughters. Following his parliamentary defeat in 1929 he worked as a travelling salesman for a wine and spirit merchant, but lost his job as a result of the Great Depression.<ref name=bio/>

Ferricks died at his home in Clayfield on 20 August 1932, aged 56, three weeks after suffering a major stroke.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/182814824|title=Myles Ferricks Dead|newspaper=Daily Standard|location=Brisbane|date=20 August 1932}}</ref> His funeral was held at St Stephen's Cathedral which proceeded to Nudgee Cemetery.<ref name="courier1">{{cite news |date=22 August 1932 |title=Family Notices. |page=8 |newspaper=The Brisbane Courier |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article21980506 |accessdate=1 February 2015 |via=Trove}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-par|au-qld}} {{s-bef|before=Francis Kenna}} {{s-ttl|title=Member for Bowen|years=1909&ndash;1912}} {{s-aft|after=Edwin Caine}} {{s-bef|before=Edgar Free}} {{s-ttl|title=Member for South Brisbane|years=1920&ndash;1929}} {{s-aft|after=Neil MacGroarty}} {{s-end}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferricks, Myles}} Category:1875 births Category:1932 deaths Category:People from Maryborough, Queensland Category:Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Category:Members of the Australian Senate for Queensland Category:Members of the Australian Senate Category:20th-century Australian politicians Category:Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Category:Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland

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