No Place Quite Like It: The Family History of Walter Withers and Fanny Flinn
David Rathgen – Eltham District Historical Society.
Until now there has been no family history of Walter Withers (1854-1914), a notable but underestimated Australian landscape artist of the Heidelberg school. For nearly 200 years his Birmingham ancestors had worked as tailors, sometimes also butchers. During the Georgian period and then into Victorian England, Birmingham changed and the Withers family with it. Tobacco and twine took over from butchery and tailoring which made it possible for Walter’s father, Edwin Withers to become a wealthy businessman and gentleman.
How Edwin Withers acquired his wealth, why he changed his family’s business, and what caused his dislike of his son’s choice of career are questions asked in this book. How Walter acquired his aptitude for painting, why he chose to become an artist and what made him decide upon Australia for his career are answered in this volume.
The importance of Walter Withers lies in the fact that he was the first to paint Australia in Australia’s own colours. He explored Victoria from the Bellarine to Creswick and from Ballarat to Cowes.
Don’t miss David Rathgen and his Twilight Talk, Special Event where he will be talking about Walter and his family history. 30 April at 5.30pm, we would love to see you there (for more information see below).
Don’t miss David at our final Twilight Talk in Season 2 on 30 April at 5.30pm
Our library stands on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work, learn and create. Always Was, Always Will Be, Aboriginal Land.
