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Hannah Ferguson is a writer best known for being the co-founder of Cheek Media. Here, the 26-year-old shares her admiration for her father, what her first job taught her about men and her feelings around marriage.
The women who have been around me for at least five years hold so much knowledge about me, as I do about them.Credit: Franz Bato
My paternal grandfather, Robert, was a petty officer radar plotter in the navy. He also did two tours of Vietnam. He is someone who struggles socially and has low emotional intelligence.
Masculinity has always been a very strict archetype in Australia, and my grandfather grew up in a period where to be emotional was taboo for men. He used alcohol and gambling as a coping mechanism and has had poor relationships as a result.
My dad, Michael, followed in his footsteps into the navy, as both an able seaman and a marine technical propulsion submariner, but he was determined to be a different man and father.
My dad is the life of the party. He has a warm energy that attracts people. He is a hard-working, middle-class man who currently drives trucks from NSW to far north Queensland.
When I was growing up, my parents worked for an international company that leased airfreight containers to ship pharmaceutical drugs. They travelled a lot for work, but when my dad didn’t get a promotion, which would have meant us living in Singapore, they moved to Orange, NSW, where his cousins were from.
My parents struggled to find work, so our family struggled financially. They split up when I was 16. My household for my Higher School Certificate year was very messy and mentally unwell. I worked as hard as I could to be impressive academically, as I equated applause and high marks with self-worth.
My first celebrity crush was Michael Bublé. I was 11 and on a flight with my mum, Philippa, to Melbourne. She asked me to show her the audio system. I was listening to Michael Bublé and was like, “Who is this person?”
I got a scholarship to study law at Queensland University, so I moved to Brisbane. During that time I had a three-year relationship with David, a lovely man who lived on the Gold Coast. It was a really wonderful relationship to be in as a 20-year-old. It was very safe and challenged me emotionally, but by the time we were a few years older, it really wasn’t going anywhere.