Commemorative Services
Collaborative Success and Lasting Impact
Holding the service within prominent educational settings or in a State Parliament highlights the success of the Foundation's collaborative, school-led programs. These initiatives are essential for endowing a lasting impact on students by connecting them directly with significant figures in Australia's history, such as General Sir John Monash.
The participation of a John Monash Scholar underscores the commitment to inspiring the next generation toward academic excellence and leadership, directly embodying the spirit and achievements of the General. The event served as a powerful reminder of our heritage and the vital role schools play in preserving and promoting it.
General Sir John Monash GCMG KCB VD (1865 – 1931)
The son of Prussian Jewish immigrants, John Monash was born in West Melbourne in 1865. After his middle years of schooling at Jerilderie in New South Wales, Monash attended Scotch College in Melbourne and at the age of 16 was co-dux of the school.
John Monash had an exceptional mind and outstanding leadership qualities. He obtained the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Engineering and Law at Melbourne University. While there he enlisted in the Melbourne University Rifles. His other pursuits were the piano, reading, painting, carpentry, listening to legal arguments in the Supreme Court and attending the theatre.
Monash became a successful engineer and lawyer. He pioneered the use of reinforced concrete in bridge construction and became famous for his technical legal appearances in courts around Australia. At the outbreak of the Great War, as a citizen soldier he volunteered to serve his country despite detesting war as a waste of human endeavour.
Sir John had a magnetic and commanding personality. In France Monash distinguished himself as a great leader. His leadership at le Hamel and then in the highly successful, 8 August 1918, Amiens campaign, following Villers-Bretonneux, turned the tide of battle and had a major impact on the outcome of the war. Fifty years on in 1968, Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein wrote: “I would name Monash as the best General on the Western Front in Europe; he possessed real creative originality, and the war might well have been over sooner, and certainly with fewer casualties, had Haig been relieved of his command and Monash appointed to command the British armies in his place”.
Monash was a compassionate leader and cared very much about his men, who came from every state and territory of Australia, and their welfare. Monash organised and supervised the repatriation of over 200,000 Australian troops, including 15,000 dependent wives and children. Whilst carrying out this year long task, Sir John established classes to retrain his men for civilian life including those who did not have a trade or profession, an opportunity to learn one. He only returned to Australia when the repatriation was completed.
Monash’s meticulous planning drawn in part from his engineering and legal background, was a measure of his overall successes, not only as a military leader, but throughout his life.
Returning to Australia, Monash received a hero’s welcome. Back in civilian life he was given the task of establishing the State Electricity Commission of Victoria and was its chairman for a decade, during which time he oversaw the development of Victoria’s Latrobe Valley brown coal deposits for the generation of electricity. He became Vice Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. Many tried to persuade him to enter politics which he resisted and made famous the cry that democracy can only come through the ballot box and education!
Monash in Egypt, in 1916, initiated the first commemoration of ANZAC Day and was the driving force behind the building of the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne.
Throughout his life, Monash took the view that no learning was wasted and always sought extra knowledge. His recommendation was always to “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”.
