25/11/1926 – 07/08/2025
Peter was the first child and only son of Clarence (OW1912) and Mona Webster. His sister, Anne (Bachelard), was born in May 1930. After attending Mont Albert Central School, Peter attended Wesley during WWII, from 1941 to 1944.
For two of those years, while the US Army occupied Wesley’s St Kilda Road property, Scotch College and Wesley shared Scotch’s premises in Hawthorn, with the Wesley students attending from 1:00 pm to 7:00 pm. During those years, Peter recalled walking home from school in virtual darkness when a ‘brownout’ was in force. Streetlights were permitted to shine only a small shaft of light to avoid detection from enemy bombers.
Peter represented Wesley in both First XI Cricket and First XVIII Football with some success. He recalled one occasion during a nets training session, when he was called over by the legendary coach PL Williams to consult about team selection for the forthcoming match. While standing together behind the cricket nets, a ball was skied into the air. After telling the coach to stand aside while he prepared to catch it, he misjudged the ball’s flight, and the ensuing broken nose resulted in his omission from the following match.
Immediately following his matriculation, Peter enlisted in the RAAF and was posted first to Shepparton, later to Toowoomba, and finally returned home during 1946. He commenced a Bachelor of Laws at Melbourne University in 1947, graduating in 1950.
In 1952, Peter married his dear wife Barbara (nee Haines), and three children followed: Andrew (OW1971), Christine, and Elizabeth, who passed away in November 2016. Elizabeth’s husband, Andrew Wildsmith, was a teacher at Wesley from 1991 to 2018.
Peter will be remembered by his family as a funny, intelligent, loving and caring husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather who was devoted to his family. His family are immensely proud of his enduring legacy.
Contributed by Andrew Webster (OW1971)
