Born in the Netherlands in 1935, as a sponsored immigrant he moved to Australia in the mid-1960s and was granted citizenship not long after.
He never married and lived in a small apartment in Camberwell, in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
On a visit to Strathbogie to stay with friends, John was introduced to the Benalla museum and was struck by the friendliness of some of the society members he met – to say nothing of the collections on display.
He particularly liked talking to Truus Gribben because they could converse in their native language. After a time, John referred to the museum as “his museum”.
It was after this first visit that John began sending some of his own small items to augment the Benalla collection.
Despite these items never conforming to the Society’s collection policy, in particular the requirement for items to be accepted only if having relevance to Benalla and District, they were always accepted.
They were always of good quality and, being from a particularly generous donor who was by now a financial member of the society, it was impossible to refuse them.
It is understood that some 54 items were donated by John over the next two or three decades, all reflecting his many and varied interests in history, the arts and music.
John died in April 2024 and four more items for the museum’s collection that had been earmarked by the owner were duly delivered with the promise of some money to follow.
Some 13 months later, following the finalising of John’s will, a sum of money was also received as a final generous donation to the society’s finances.
This money will be used to purchase new display cases in two of the museum’s galleries.
In commemoration of John’s generosity to the museum, a small display has been set up in gallery one at the Costume and Kelly Museum to show some of the objects that he donated over the years.
Vale John Backhuys-Toorenburg.
– Alan Monger, Benalla Historical Society.
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