20th Century Portraits Catalogue

Sir John Monash (1865-1931), General; Civil Engineer

Born in Victoria, Australia; educated at the University of Melbourne, studying engineering, arts and law; supervised construction of Melbourne’s outer circle eastern metropolitan railway from 1888, despite still not having his degree; private passion was citizen soldiering; joined the garrison artillery, responsible for the harbour defences, and rose to major and battery commander by 1897; made colonel and commander of the 13th infantry brigade in 1913; commanded the 4th brigade in Egypt in 1914; promoted to Major General, taking command of the 3rd Division on the Western Front in 1916; in 1918 Monash was appointed corps commander of the Australian forces and was knighted for his services; after the war he was head of the Victorian State Electricity Commission and worked in a number of other prominent civilian positions; died of coronary vascular disease in October 1931.