John Monash: A Biography

(Paperback)

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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.

Reviews

"The man who emerges in these pages is a great man with many faults... engrossing reading. Stuart Macintyre

Author Bio

Geoffrey Serle was one of Australia's most distinguished historians. He won a Rhodes Scholarship in 1947 and completed his doctorate at Oxford University. He became Reader in History at Monash University, and was later a Professorial Fellow at the Australian National University. His influential books include The Golden Age, The Rush to be Rich and Robin Boyd: A Life. Dr Serle died in 1998.