John Mann arrived from Forfar, Scotland, on the clipper packet "Ellen Stuart" in 1857 and rented a farm "Overton" at Janefield. Soon after he met Melbourne-born Violet McKimmie, whose parents had a property near Darebin Creek. They married on 25 September 1862, John 26 and Violet 19. In 1874 John selected a block on Arthurs Creek and built a slab and bark hut (still standing in 1984) and called their farm "Carseburn" after John's parish in Scotland. They had seven children: John, Jane, Christine, David, Walter, James and Violet. John was drowned in the Yarra in May 1875 and Violet struggled to meet the lease commitment. She wrote to her brother-in-law David Mann in New Zealand who came to her aid, and on 10 September 1876, they married at the Victorian Free church, Smith Street, Collingwood. They improved the farm and built a three-room house. in July 1883 they bought neighbouring land from Ann Welsh. With David, Violet had four more children: Robert, William and twins Thomas and Henry. In 1883, David died and was buried in the same grave as his brother in Preston Cemetery. The twins also died, Thomas just before and Henry just after their father. the children assisted with the farm and orchard, the business including crops, a dairy herd, Carseburne sheep, and breeding horses. Violet died at Yan Yean in 1925, aged 83. A grandson of John Mann, James Mann, lived in Henry Street, Greensborough and had given a talk at the Whittlesea Historical Society in 1983 on his family. Descendant Lindsay Mann was part of a creative writing group that published a book including a short story "The Mountain Tramway" is loosely based on his childhood and stories he was told then but was planning to write his family story. Contents Newspaper article: "Tragedy couldn't stop this pioneer", Diamond Valley News, 31 January 1984, story of Mann family. Newspaper article: "Tracing the history of ordinary. people," Diamond Valley News, 29 July 1986, story of Mann family, researched by descendant Lindsay Mann who grew up at the Mann property She-Oak at Yan Yean and has numerous family records. Newspaper article: "A realist who captures light," Diamond Valley News, 29 July 1986, David Moore, a realist painter had been working from a studio at Montsalvat and his exhibition of work from that period was to open 1 August 1986 at the Victorian Artists Society Galleries.Newspaper clippings, A4 photocopies, etcjohn manan, violet mann nee mckimmie, clipper packet "ellen stuart", forfar scotland, darebin creek victoria, arthurs creek victoria, "overton" at janefield, "carseburn" at arthurs creek, jane mann, christine mann, david mann, walter mann, james mann, violet mann, victorian free church smith street collingwood, ann welsh, robert mann, william mann, thomas mann, henry mann, preston cemetery, carseburne sheep, yan yean cemetery, lindsay mann, david moore, montsalvat

1. Notes by Ronald Millar from Australian Art Library – John Brack re ‘Surrey Gardens’ watercolour, 1961 (3 pages). 2. Extract from ‘Herald’, 5.2.1974; 3. Extract from ‘The Age, 26.7.1986 (both on 1 page). 4. ‘Art market back from the dead’, ‘The Weekend Australian’, 1.5.1999 (1 page). 5. ‘Older and wiser’, ‘The Weekend Australian’, 1.5.1999 (1 page). 6. ‘Brack and forth’, ‘The Weekend Australian’, 1.5.1999 (1 page). 7. ‘John Brack inside and outside, ‘Artlines’, Winter 2001, by Joanna Bosse (1 page); AND funeral notice 1999 with note re burial at Maldon cemetery. 8. ‘Money on the Bar as the six o’clock swill makes a comeback’, ‘The Age, 18.1.2006 (1 page). 9. ‘Raising the bar’, ‘The Age’, 20.3.2009 (1 page). 10. ‘An artist at peak hour’, ‘Good Weekend, The Age’, pre-1999 (5 pages). 11. ‘The lost course of John Brack’, ‘The Age’, 4.6.1983 (1 page on board). 12. ‘Truth found in the past’, Sun Artscene with Rod Carmichael, 1983 (1 page). 13. Extracts from National Gallery of Victoria ‘What’s on’ brochure, July-August, 2018 (2 pages). 14. ‘Brack portrait celebrates family and chaos’, Meaghan Wilson-Anastasios, Age, 13.6.2020, (3 pages). 15. ‘”Useless”: John Brack’s widow, Helen Maudsley, on art in the age of the selfie’, Lindy Percival, Sydney Morning Herald, 5.12.2017 (3 pages). 16. ‘Brack sums up his complex train of thought’, Christopher Heathcote, Age ?, 2009 ? undated (1 page). 17. ‘Brack’s back’, April 2000, unknown paper; AND ‘Brack, bucks, suburbia and beyond’, Ashley Crawford, source and date unknown (2 pages). 18. Copy of painting of Surrey Hills Gardens, 1961 (1 page). 19. Notes on Surrey Gardens painting by Ronald Millar (1 page).

Super 8 film copied onto a Film, DVD of John Venn's tour of duty with 2SQN in South Vietnam at Phan Rang in 1969. John served as a Cpl. radio technician.royal australian air force - 2nd squadron