John Radcliffe
Dr John Radcliffe, AM, was born in 1938 and grew up in Fullarton, South Australia, initially attending Highgate Public School, clutching two pennies for his tram fare there and back and a book to record the numbers of the trams in which he travelled. A 'Bib and Bub' tram set often came at a propitious time and John caught it whenever he could. Later, he transferred to St Peters College, Hackney, where he initially arrived by tram, then later by bicycle past Hackney Depot, followed by two years at the North Terrace campus of the University of Adelaide, providing a fine view of the change-over period from trams to buses at the depot.
Stepping out from a second-year botany class, he formed half of a two person delegation to the General Manager of the Municipal Tramways Trust to ask for some trams for a museum (now the Australian Electric Transport Museum (SA) Incorporated - AETM), and to their pleasant surprise, the answer was yes. Subsequent years were spent completing a Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree with Honours. After helping secure the site for the Tramway Museum at St Kilda and moving the first trams there, John received a Fellowship at Oregon State University to complete a PhD.
From 1967 to 1982, John was President of the AETM, then becoming a founding Trustee of the History Trust of South Australia and its Chairman from 1987 to 1990. In more recent years he has been a State Government appointed representative on the Board of the National Rail Museum.
John has maintained a commitment to the St Kilda Tramway Museum and his life-long interest in Adelaide's tramways.