Annual William Montgomery Lecture 2026

Ferguson & Urie, Victoria’s First Stained Glass Company 1853-1899

Ferguson & Urie was started by three enterprising Scotsmen, brothers David and James Ferguson and James Urie, who arrived in Australia as plumbers, glaziers and slaters in 1853. Their business in North Melbourne offed these trades to Melbourne’s growing building industry but by 1861 had pivoted towards the production of stained-glass windows.

Over the next decades they built a formidable reputation, designing and making windows for homes, hospitals, civic buildings, theatres as well as hundreds of churches along the east coat of Australia and New Zealand.

This year’s beautifully illustrated lecture will be presented by Ray Brown, who take us on a journey of discovery through the world of Ferguson & Urie.

Bio

Ray Brown is a retired Australian army soldier whose military career began at the age of 17. He served with 1 Field Regiment at Enoggera, Brisbane and overseas as a section commander, RAAF Base, Butterworth, Malaysia. In 1990 he changed to Army Logistics and in 1995 served as a Sergeant in the United Nations AUSMED Support Force in Rwanda, Africa during the Hutu and Tutsi genocide.

In 2003, after 20 years’ service, he retired as Warrant Officer Class 1, and joined the Department of Defence Joint Logistics Systems Agency at Laverton (Vic).  He fully retired in 2019, aiming to devote more time to family history research, which includes the remarkable story of Ferguson & Urie.

Ray Brown on Instagram

WEBINAR

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Photo: Ferguson & Urie, All the World’s A Stage, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne.