[from EDHS Newsletter No. 75, November 1990:] WALTER WITHERS PLAQUE At long last we have unveiled our plaque in the Walter Withers Reserve. The function was attended by a number of members and friends of the Society and descendants of the Withers family. Following the unveiling, the group proceeded to the Eltham Shire Office for afternoon tea and a small exhibition of Withers' paintings arranged by Andrew Mackenzie. The unveiling was performed by Mary Owen, a grand-daughter of Walter Withers. Her speech provided an interesting personal perspective on Withers and is repeated in full here: I feel somewhat overwhelmed by the responsibility of paying tribute to the man you have all come to honour today. I have the feeling that most of you probably know more about him and his work than I do. Walter Withers died nearly seven years before I was born and so I never knew him. Sadly, although other members of his family inherited some of his talent, I was not among them and I know very little about art. This is doubly hard to bear because my husband had some ability to draw and my second daughter also has some talent in this direction. My children are all artistic - mostly in the field of music inherited partly from their father - a Welshman who sang like a Welshman - and partly from my grandmother, Fanny Withers who, I believe was no mean pianist. However all this talent gave me a miss and for many years I felt a complete ignoramus in the fields of the arts. It was not until I was nearly fifty years old that I walked into a gallery in Brisbane and, as I wandered around the room, suddenly one picture leapt at me and I knew instantly that it had been painted by my grandfather. I had never seen the picture before and it gave me quite a shock to find that I had recognized the style of painting. I realized then that I had absorbed more than I realized simply by living with pictures and with people who painted them and talked about their painting and the painting of others. When I was a child I sometimes spent school holidays with my Aunt Margery Withers and her husband, Richard McCann. Aunt Marge painted me several times but I'm afraid I was a restless subject and used to sit reading a book and look up grudgingly when she wanted to paint my eyes. During the September holidays my aunt and uncle were busy preparing paintings far the annual exhibition of the Melbourne Twenty Painters, to which they both belonged. I remember how important I used to feel when they took me along to the Athenaeum Gallery on the Friday night before the opening to help hang their pictures. There were many artists there but the two I remember are perhaps surprisingly both women: Miss Bale and Miss Tweddle. I remember how cold it used to be up in that gallery at night. They used to heat water on a gas ring to make tea and Aunt Marge used to bring sandwiches and fruit for our evening meal. Everyone seemed to be poor in those days and no-one dreamed of going out for a meal. It was a case of make-do - even to cutting down frames to fit pictures or cutting pictures to fit the frames. They had to use the same frames from year to year if the pictures didn't sell. The opening was an exciting event for me. I felt I was privileged to meet important people - people who knew a lot more than I - and Uncle Dick would get quite merry after a couple of the tiny sweet sherries which were always distributed. I realise now that quite a lot of "art talk" rubbed off on me during my visits to the Athenaeum and during my stays with my aunt and uncle. I suspect that much of our most useful learning comes this way and those of us who have had the privilege of associating with artists, writers, philosophers and other thinkers have a richness in our lives of which we may be unaware. Walter Withers was a prolific painter and, although he painted for love of it, I suspect that the need to provide for his family drove him, like Mozart, to greater efforts than he might otherwise have achieved. Reading old letters and articles about the Heidelberg artists, I have come to realize something of the constant strain placed on many of them - particularly Withers and McCubbin - by poverty and the need to make ends meet. Withers was ever conscious of the need to provide for his wife and his five children and there are touching letters to his wife, regretting that he was not able to earn more for them. In addition to his painting, he worked hard at teaching and illustrating and, as he grew older, the strain began to tell and his health deteriorated. He seems never to have had a very strong constitution and suffered from rheumatism, which must have made painting quite painful at times. His eldest daughter, Gladys, was eventually confined to a wheelchair with rheumatoid arthritis and I have a tendency to arthritis myself, so I am particularly aware of what this could have meant to him. Recently I found a short letter written by my mother to her mother, Fanny Withers on the anniversary of her father's birthday in 1919, in which she said: "Poor old Dad, I often think now what a lot he must have suffered. His life was too hard and too strenuous for him. He had too many chick-a-biddies, I think. He wasn't equal to so much town life and train journeys with so many delicacies as he had. Since I have been ill, I have realised what he must have felt like.” He certainly drove himself to produce. He travelled all over Victoria by train, buggy, bicycle and on foot and for a time he travelled from Eltham to Melbourne every day by train, although later he lived in Melbourne during the week and only returned to Eltham for the weekends. My mother died seven years after her father's death, when my twin sisters were 10 days old and I was 16 months. So I never knew my mother or my grandfather. But my two aunts, Gladys and Margery, sometimes took me to stay with Gan Withers at Southernwood in Bolton Street . No cars in those days and it seemed a very long hot and dusty walk from the Station. Three memories remain with me of Southernwood. One is the well at the back which I found quite terrifying; the second is Gan killing a snake - even more terrifying. She was a formidable woman, my grandmother and a great ally and support to her husband. I think she was the business end of the partnership. The third memory of Southernwood is my grandfather's studio – down what seemed like a toy staircase inside the room. This and the big walk-in fireplace stayed in my mind from the age of about six until I saw them again about forty years later when the house was being used as a Sunday School. I just wish that money could be found to purchase this old house for the City of Eltham so that a permanent museum could be established in memory of a man who did so much to put Eltham on the map of art history. Recently I have become interested in family history and spent some time in England, Ireland and Wales looking for traces of my ancestors. I realized then how important it is to have records of people who have contributed to our society. We forget so soon and it is amazing how often, within two generations, names, dates and many details are forgotten. We are fortunate that so many of Walter Withers' works have been bought by galleries and that people like Andrew Mackenzie have taken the trouble to search out people who knew him and to write about him and his work. And I am very grateful to the Historical Society of Eltham for recognizing the importance of having a permanent tribute in Eltham to the contribution made by Walter Withers, who loved Eltham so much and who has assured this lovely district a place in the annals of history. I am indebted to Kathleen Mangan; the daughter of another famous Australian painter , Fred McCubbin, - featured in The Age this morning (thanks again to Andrew Mackenzie) for the most apt tribute to Walter Withers. Kathleen is not well and she rang me a couple of days ago, regretting that she could not be present today “to pay tribute” as she said, “to Walter Withers for I always think Walter Withers is the spirit of Eltham.” Thank you, Kathleen. And now I have much pleasure in unveiling the plaque commissioned by the Eltham Historical Society from Bob McLellan of Charmac Industries to commemorate the life and work of Walter Withers, the spirit of Eltham. Mary Owen, 13 October 1990.Two colour photographswalter withers rock, walter withers reserve, mary owen

This photo is part of a collection of World War II and returned soldiers held in the George Evans Museum and collected by Jeff Cossum, previous curator (1989-1995)A black and white photograph of Owen Edwards wearing a RAAF uniform. (Bust only)on back: Owen Edwards / 119995 LAC RATworld war 2, raaf, uniforms, portraits, royal australian air force, clothing and dress, exservicemen, cossum, jeff, george evans collection

A community group project steered by Bambi McLean led to the construction of the Eltham North Adventure Playground which opened off Wattletree Road in 1995. The structure was mainly wooden and included an undercover element with slides and areas to climb. It was destroyed by fire in the early hours of 16 December 2017. These phtoos were taken at approx. 2am on the morning of 16 December 2017 by 2nd Lieutenant Anthony Owen of Eltham Fire Station. A new adventure playground was built in 2018.Digital fileeltham north, north eltham adventure playground, arson, wattletree road, fire engine, eltham fire brigade, eltham fire station, eltham cfa

The first prototype of the Owen Gun was first developed by Evelyn Owen in 1931 and finalised the design in 1938. The Owen was the only entirely Australian - designed and constructed service sub-machine gun of World War11 and was used by Australian Army from 1942 until 1971. It was manufactured at Lysaght's works who built 45,000 units. The cartridge was the 9x19 Parabellum - fired 700 rounds per minute and had an effective range of 125 yards.The Owen was of significant advantage to the Australian Army in the jungles of Vietnam.Owen Gun - sub-machine gun also known as the (Owen machine carbine). Steel body and timber grip and butt.WFM 0067 on top of barrel.

Wal Jack had an extensive number of correspondents in Australia and around the World. This set of letters are from Owen in Hillside South Australia. 1 - Letter or 22-12-1954 covers topics such as new SAR railcars, breakdown of a railcar, construction of a miniature live steam locomotive and ARHS SA activities. 2 - Letter of 6-1-1955 covers his construction of a miniature live steamer, SAR Railcars and personal matters.Yields information about Wal Jack's correspondence.Set of two letters from Owen to Wal Jack ruled sheets, handwritten in ink. Letters dated 22/12/1954 (three quarto sheets) and 6/1/1955 (two foolscap sheets)letters, wal jack, owen, sar

WW2War Medal and Australian Service Medal 1939-1945 awarded to Mavis Owen-Holmes 110411 WRAAF.110411 Owen-Holmes M on both medals

Equipment used by the RegimentBayonet for Owen Machine Carbine, 25 cm blade, w/scabbardSLAZ, SLAZ44, Government arrow, A C V bayonet, owen

Equipment used by the RegimentBayonet and scabbard MK1 for Owen Machine Carbine. 25 cm bladeX6A, 4, 45bayonet, owen

Red cloth hard covered book of 112 plates bookplatenon-fictionBook featuring coloured plates of examples of historic ornamentornament, grammar, plates

Roll of 35mm colour negative film, 1 stripFuji 100 Nwalter withers rock, walter withers reserve, bible street, arthur street, eltham, plaques

Roll of 35mm colour negative film, 1 stripFuji 100 Nwalter withers rock, walter withers reserve, bible street, arthur street, eltham, plaques

Index. bibliography, ill (b/w) p.193.non-fictionThe Owen gun had a great influence on Australia's role on world war two. This book explains its evolution and the role of Evelyn Owen, its inventor.submachine guns, owen submachine gun

whittlesea councillors, whittlesea council

Hardcover w/ Dust Jacketbiography, substance use, walsh st library

HardcoverHandwritten notes throughoutwalsh st library

Framed reproduction of the print held at the Australian War Memorial of the same name. stretcher bearers, owen stanley, papua new guinea

Geoffrey (Geoff) Brooke was newspaper columnist, radio commentator, magazine writer and television broadcaster. He wrote a regular column for The Argus titled 'Your night out'. He opened his own restaurant, Geoff Brookes Steak Cave, in 1965. Later in his life he was a resident of Wellington Street, Kew. He died in 2003, aged 86.The Vandersluys-Kelly Collection of photographs, costumes and musical performance memorabilia was donated to the Kew Historical Society by Robin Denise Kelly in 2018. The collection is an important record of stage and recorded performances in Australia in the second half of the 20th century. This new nationally-focused and artistically significant collection augments and contextualises the local performing arts materials in our collection. Sheet music for the song A Dear John Letter, featuring a cover photograph of the Australian 'radio star' Geoff Brooke. Brooke, a resident of Wellington Street (Kew), was a close friend of the singer Robin Vanser (aka Robin Kelly The item forms part of the Vandersluys-Kelly Collection of performance memorabilia donated by her to the Kew Historical Society in 2018.geoffrey (geoff) brooke, performing arts - 20th century

Soft cover book, white & grey cover with photos of ironbark flowers & forest 137 pages

Black and white photograph (2 copies- 1 original on cardboard backing, 1 retouched copy)Written on back of original image: "W MacKinlay, c1924". Photographer listed as "Eden Photo Studios, Melbourne". Written on back of copy: "Sandy Ross- Photographer. Chirnside Park".

772 page 1869 bible with a brown cardboard cover embossed with a cover embossed with a geometric design. The spine has Holy Bible imprinted in gold upper case lettering and is well worn with some damage exposing the stitched binding of the pages. non-fiction1869 American Bible Society Bible presented to Eliza Curtis in 1870.19th century bible, eliza curtis, david owen, e isabel owen, l florence owen, lorraine owen, sulhamstead, coulstock street, warrnambool, riverside, allansford, b aymar

Letters from Bendigo compiled by Charles Paterson, an account of the time his Great Grandfather John Owens spent in the goldfields of Victoria during the years 1853 - 1863 based on the letters he wrote to his family in Wales. One of two books donated by Charles Paterson. Both books spiral bound and contain coloured prints & maps. Books enclosed in plastic sleeve.John Owensperson, family, john owens, history-bendigo-goldfields-family-owens