About General Sir John Monash

General Sir John Monash personifies the values the Foundation is seeking to promote, and the leadership and excellence in education it is seeking to reward.

General Monash was an outstanding leader, whose ideas on leadership are still relevant today, particularly the need for hard work and unswerving application. He strove for excellence in everything he tackled, and was equal dux of his school and had a breadth and excellence in his tertiary education with a Bachelor of Arts (Melb), Doctor of Laws (Melb), Doctor of Engineering (Melb), Doctor of Civil Law ( Oxford ), Doctor of Laws ( Cambridge ). He was Vice-Chancellor of Melbourne University and encouraged a lifetime pursuit of knowledge.

General Monash was the Australian born son of Prussian-Jewish immigrant parents of very modest means.

He was a gifted linguist, talented musician, appreciated the theatre and the arts and was involved in many community activities.

As a citizen soldier, he was a Gallipoli veteran and later achieved international fame and recognition through his brilliant command of the Australian Army Corps in France during the last six months of World War I. In the eyes of his troops he was regarded as “the best” and a “dinkum Aussie”. Some acclaimed him as one of the best of the Allied generals in that War.

He also contributed much to Australia 's heritage in his leadership roles in civilian life, including as Chairman of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria where he was engaged in infrastructure development and exploitation of the brown coal deposits in the Latrobe Valley .

(See - biography by Geoffrey Serle entitled “John Monash”)

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