Hi Glen,

I last met John Withers at the Bendigo tram depot some time ago when VR 41 was under restoration there for MTPA Haddon. His grandfather (or father?) Walter Withers was one of the Heidelberg School group of artists (Streeton was also amongst this group). There is a street in Eltham named after Walter Withers. John lived in Eaglemont, up the hill from the railway station, on the up side. He was a keen rail and tram enthusiast and was involved with many preservation groups over the years, including the AETA, BTPS/BTM, HTW/MTPA, etc. From memory, I don't think I ever heard a bad word about anyone from John, and his mother always went with him in his land rover as he worked with the various groups. I am not sure if he is still with us, but if so, he would be in his late eighties by now.

Cheers,
Andrew Cook (who worked with John at Ballarat and Haddon).

________________________________
From:tramsdownunder@... tramsdownunder@...> on behalf of Vera Mills gleng20.mills@...>
Sent: Thursday, 8 April 2021 12:05 PM
To:tramsdownunder@... tramsdownunder@...>
Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Ballarat tram transfer.

Hello Paul,
Is that why John lived in Heidelberg?
For those who do not know, this means they were part of the Heidelberg school.
Regards,
Glen Mills
P.S. We have one of the famous scenes hanging in our lounge room painted by Malcolm Hone and probably why No.1 daughter has the artistic bent.

On Thu, 1 Apr 2021 at 06:20, pn1 pn1@...mailto:pn1@bigpond.com> wrote:

The land rover belonged to John Withers. John was an early supporter of the BTPS but he moved to Haddon where, I understand, is still involved. He would be in his mid to late 80s.

John is a descendant of the Withers family; famous in Melbourne art circles many years ago.

Paul in Melbourne