Ferguson, David Bruce (Major General, b.1941)

Collection relating to the Malay Peninsula and Multinational Force and Observers service of 235232 Major General David Bruce Ferguson AM, CSC, 1964, 1994-1997.

Wallet 1 of 2

Folder 1 of the collection relates to Ferguson’s service on the Malay Peninsula as an exchange officer with the British Army’s 3 Company, Royal Army Service Corps. The collection includes a 5-page report written by Ferguson, then a lieutenant, of the operations carried out by 3 Company between 4 September and 6 October 1964. The report details the work of the company to transport and support one New Zealand and two Gurkha battalions used to confront Indonesian paratroopers dropped near Labis in the south of Malaysia. The report also includes information on the Indonesian paratroopers, such as observations on their training, equipment and leadership, and a series of lessons learned from the operation. The folder also includes a December 1964 letter from Ferguson to Brigadier Richard Durance, the Australian Army’s Director of Supplies and Transport, updating him on the operations of 3 Company over the previous four months.

Wallet 2 of 2

Folder 2 of the collection relates to Ferguson’s service as Force Commander of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) in the Sinai from 1994 to 1997. The folder includes a series of four documents and reports written by Ferguson in 2010 on the MFO and his period of command. It includes the 12-page overview ‘Peacekeeping in the Middle East 1994-97’, which details the operations of the MFO, issues of security, welfare and diplomacy, as well as the achievements and challenges associated with the force and Ferguson personally. Also included is a 9-page report on the challenges and threats to the operations of the MFO, a 3-page risk assessment of the threats encountered by the MFO between 1994 and 1997, and a 3-page overview of ‘The Fundamentals in Peacekeeping’; Ferguson’s assessment on the purpose and functions of a peacekeeping force.