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boy from Balmain: Laurie John Ferguson, the irreverent bricklayer and staunch republican, Patrick Darcy Hills, the Irish Catholic toolmaker; and Sydney David Einfeld, the Jewish shopkeeper.
They had been democratically elected to represent the people, and now they were given their commissions as ministers of the Crown: to form a government which could command a handsome majority in the forty-sixth Parliament of New South Wales.
Tom Webster and I were given an office to share next to the Public Works Room. It was at the top of a flight of creaking wooden stairs which were reached by walking along a series of corridors--past the Premier's suite: some smelly toilets; and the offices of three ministers, Jack Ferguson, Ken Booth and Rex Jackson.
We set about moving in. I claimed a desk at the end of the room beside a window with a view of the back of the State Library. Tom has his desk in front of an ornate marble fireplace, which had been blocked off long ago . Between us was a sofa which could be converted into a double bed. We argued good-naturedly about the rules for its use.
The members' offices in parliament house were meant for use during sittings which sometimes went late into the night. However, they could also be used at other times as a city base away from the electorate. Indeed a few members had not bothered to set up offices