John Monash

A major Australian university and a great Victorian freeway are named after Sir John Monash, but many people - especially younger generations - know little about him. The son of Jewish immigrants from Prussia, Monash graduated from the University of Melbourne in three faculties - Arts, Law and Engineering. He was a man of wide-ranging intellect, and especially devoted to literature, music, theatre, languages and Jewish scholarship. He achieved fame as a soldier - a citizen-soldier - in World War I. Before the war, Monash pioneered the Australian use of reinforced concrete, then a revolutionary construction material. On his return, he became the first chairman of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria, putting his gift for leadership to harnessing Gippsland's huge brown coal deposits. Monash spent his energies lavishly on the public affairs of his native Australia and placed his immense prestige at the service of many great causes.