John Woods (5 November 1822 – 2 April 1892) was a politician in colonial Victoria (Australia), Minister of Railways. Woods was the second son of Richard Woods, a Liverpool railwayman, and his wife Mary, née Cave. After being trained as an engineer, he was employed in Canada and England; and landed in Melbourne in 1852, after a chequered experience at the Ovens, M'Ivor, Goulburn, Ararat and Fiery Creek diggings, during which he was a prominent exponent of miners' rights. Woods died in Brighton, Melbourne, Victoria on 2 April 1892 and was buried in Boroondara General Cemetery.