John Monash A Biography

by Serle, Geoffrey

• ISBN13: 9780522850161
• ISBN10: 0522850162
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-11-10
• Publisher: Melbourne University Press

Summary

"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." "Monash was one of Australia's greatest men, and probably the greatest of its soldiers. The son of Jewish immigrants from Prussia, he 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. His baptism of fire occurred at Gallipoli, and he was almost the only senior allied general to emerge from the agony of the Western Front with his reputation virtually unspotted." "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."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

Foreword by John Rickard	v
Preface	xi
Acknowledgements	xiv
A Note on the Name and its Pronunciation	xv
The Family Tree	xvi
1 The Focus of his Family 1865-1881	1	(24)
2 University Student 1882-1885	25	(26)
3 To what End? 1885-1890	51	(35)
4 The Course of True Love 1888-1891	86	(18)
5 A Rough Passage 1891-1896	104	(20)
6 Little Accomplished 1897-1906	124	(37)
7 Pillar of Society 1906-1914	161	(37)
8 Gallipoli 1914-1915	198	(54)
9 Egypt and Salisbury Plain 1916	252	(22)
10 3rd Division in Action 1917	274	(28)
11 Something to have lived for 1918	302	(24)
12 Feeding the Troops on Victory 1918	326	(45)
13 The Best Man in France?	371	(28)
14 The Blare and Blaze of Fame 1918-1920	399	(31)
15 The State Electricity Commission 1920-1931	430	(28)
16 A National Possession 1920-1929	458	(49)
17 A Very Tired Man 1929-1931	507	(18)
Appendixes I-III	525	(6)
Conversions	531	(1)
Notes	532	(51)
Select Bibliography	583	(7)
Index	590