After working for about 18 months on a farm, Withers removed to Melbourne and obtained a position as draughtsman in a firm of printers.

[1] In his spare time Withers sought to cultivate his art, and eventually had work accepted for exhibition in the Old Academy, Melbourne.

[2] He returned to Australia with his wife in June 1888 having been commissioned to do black and white work for Messrs Fergusson and Mitchell of Melbourne.

He became friendly with Arthur Streeton, Charles Conder, Tom Roberts, Frederick McCubbin and other leading artists of the period.

In 1897, he was awarded the first Wynne Prize at Sydney for his picture, The Storm, which was in the same year purchased for the National Gallery of New South Wales.

[4] He died in Eltham, Victoria, on 13 October 1914 and was outlived by his wife and four children, including Margery Withers, who was also a painter.