Monash
Major General Sir John Monash GCM, KCB VD (1865-1931) is one of the most highly distinguished of Australians, commemorated in the naming of Monash University, Monash Medical Centre, the City of Monash, Monash Freeway, Canberra’s suburb of Monash, and the more recent appearance of his portrait on the Australian one hundred dollar note. Internationally honoured and renowned, Kfar Monash (Monash village) in Israel is also named after him. In August 1918 during the Great War, he was knighted on the battlefield by King George V, the first person in two hundred years to be so honoured. Such were the results of a career outstanding in both the military and civil spheres.
Born in West Melbourne, Monash studied arts, engineering and law at the University of Melbourne and was co-founder of the Melbourne University Union. As a civil engineer, his early work included Melbourne’s Outer Circle eastern suburban railway. Early military interests spanned the University Company of the 4th Battalion, Victorian Rifles, the Victorian section of the Australian Intelligence Corps. At Gallipoli, Monash commanded the 4th Infantry Brigade of the Australian Imperial Force. Promoted to Major General in command of the 3rd Division AIF in France, his Division took part in action at Messines, Broodseinde, the First Battle of Passchendaele, and the defence of Amiens. Monash saw the recapture of the French town of Villers-Bretonneux by Australian troops on 25 April 1918 as the war’s turning point. The same year he was made commander of the Australian Corps and promoted to Lieutenant General. In July he achieved new heights of success at the Battle of Hamel in the co-ordinated use of infantry, artillery, tanks and aircraft. Further victories culminating in the breaking of the Hindenburg Line.
Returning home in 1919 to a hero’s welcome, Monash continued to give outstanding service as Director-General of Repatriation and Demobilisation, followed by general manager and later chairman of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria. President of the Naval and Military Club, he was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne from 1923. A principal organiser of the annual ANZAC Day observance, he oversaw the planning of the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne. His State Funeral in 1931 was attended by the largest crowd to that time.
Painted with considerable vivacity, William Dargie’s portrait is based on the 1919 portrait by John Longstaff in the collection of the Australian War Memorial, Canberra. Both show Monash as Commander of the Australian Corps, bare headed, wearing the armband of the Corps Headquarters above his five years’ service stripes. A half-length portrait by Lambert, also in the War Memorial, shows Monash wearing his officer’s cap. A bronze equestrian statue of Monash by Leslie Bowles is in the King’s Domain, Melbourne.
David Thomas