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Sir John Monash:
A General, a Rotarian and a Gentleman.
There is much to remind us of Sir John Monash, throughout Melbourne, and indeed in the Latrobe Valley.
Monash’s contribution to Australia’s history is paramount. In World War 1 he served in Gallipoli, the western front in France; the Somme, Hamel and Amiens. It was late in the war that he achieved great fame because of his strategy concept of coordinating the infantry, tanks and the relatively new airforce. This was a critical framing of tactics and a winning way for attacking the enemy.
The care and compassion he gave to his fellow soldiers, both during the war and for many years after, helped lead to his knighthood by King George V.
Sir John was born in West Melbourne in 1865, and was educated at Scotch College where he was dux. After attending Melbourne University he went into business as a structural engineer. One of his first projects was the construction of Princes Bridge with a new material – reinforced concrete.
Meanwhile, Sir John’s creation of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria did much to lift the industrial status of our state.
Sir John joined the Rotary Club of Melbourne in 1921, when two commissioners, both of whom had served under Monash in France, were sent to Australia to bring Rotary to our country. There is no doubt that those interested in forming a Rotary Club at that time would have wanted an important figure such as Monash to be a member. Subsequently, Monash became a Charter member and, later, the second President of the Rotary Club of Melbourne.
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