Sir John Monash

GENERAL SIR JOHN MONASH

A Brief Biography

"Adopt as your fundamental creed that you will equip yourself for life, not solely for your own benefit but for the benefit of the whole community."
General Sir John Monash (1865-1931)

The John Monash Science School is named to commemorate the legacy of a famous and distinguished Australian, General Sir John Monash. Sir John Monash is perhaps best known for his outstanding military service during World War One, but his impact on Victoria was profound in both the civic and military spheres.

Sir John Monash's contribution to the State of Victoria via his service as an engineer, soldier, administrator and businessman clearly stands in evidence of the General's strong ethic of community service that he believed to be the responsibility of all able citizens.

John Monash was born on the 27th June 1865, at West Melbourne, the son of recent migrants from Prussia. He grew up in both Melbourne and various rural and regional locations in Victoria and New South Wales. Speaking both German and English at home and later learning Hebrew at school, Monash showed himself to be academically gifted from an early age and was later sent to boarding school in Melbourne to further his education.

Prior to the war, Sir John Monash's engineering skills saw the construction of the Princes Bridge over the Yarra using a highly innovative application, for the time, of reinforced concrete. Among other pursuits, Monash applied his remarkable planning abilities to the construction of Melbourne's Outer Circle eastern suburban railway-line.

Monash volunteered as soldier in 1884, in response to the Victorian government's vigorous defence policy and by 1907 was offered command of the Victorian section of the Australian Intelligence Corps, promoted to a Lieutenant-Colonel in 1908. Monash remained in this role until mid 1913. This volunteer service equipped Monash as an all-round soldier with particular knowledge of staff work, transport, supply, engineering and intelligence.

By 1914, at the outbreak of the war, Monash was a pillar of Victorian society, as the virtual head of four large industrial companies, operating in Victoria and South Australia; also a member of the University (of Melbourne) Council, and many of its committees, also Chairman and member of a number of scientific bodies; Monash was appointed as a Colonel of the 4th Infantry Brigade of the Australian Imperial Forces (A.I.F.) on the 15th September, 1914. The 4th Brigade was a part of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought at Gallipoli. While at Gallipoli Monash was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General and after serving in Egypt and France in June 1918 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General and given command of all five divisions of the Australian Army Corps.

In August 1918, General Monash received a knighthood from King George V, reputedly the first time a British sovereign had conferred a knighthood on the field of battle since 1743. On the signing of the Armistice, General Sir John Monash undertook the task of repatriation and demobilisation of the Australian forces in Europe. He arrived back in Australia on Boxing Day of 1919 as a highly decorated commander who had been mentioned in dispatches eight times and received numerous military awards. 

Sir John Monash's ongoing passion for the welfare and recognition of returned soldiers never ceased, he worked tirelessly in his efforts to see Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance built to honour the men and women that had served and died in World War 1.