John Monash - Early Life

Early Life

Monash was born in Dudley Street, West Melbourne, Victoria, on 27 June 1865, the son of Louis Monash and his wife Bertha, née Manasse. Both parents were Jews from Germany (the family name was originally spelt Monasch and pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable), living in Krotoschin in the Kingdom of Prussia, now Krotoszyn in the Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland. However, the family were German speakers, and some sources describe them as being of German origin. From 1914 until his death, Sir John Monash had no good reason to attract attention to his German background. His parent's original home was close to where the German general Erich Ludendorff was born. As might have been expected from a man brought up by cultivated German-Jewish parents who had arrived in Australia barely two years before John's birth, Monash spoke, read and wrote splendid German.

In 1874, the family moved to the small town of Jerilderie in the Riverina region of New South Wales, where his father ran a store. Monash later claimed to have met the bushranger Ned Kelly during his raid there in 1879. Monash attended the public school and his intelligence was recognised. The family was advised to move back to Melbourne to let John reach his full potential, and they moved back in 1877 (Sam Aull). He was educated under Alexander Morrison at Scotch College, Melbourne, where he passed the matriculation examination when only 14 years of age. At 16 he was dux of the school. He graduated from the University of Melbourne: B.A. in 1887, Master of Science in civil engineering in 1893, law in 1895 and Doctor of Engineering in 1921.

On 8 April 1891, Monash married Hannah Victoria Moss (1871-1920), and their only child, Bertha, was born in 1893. He worked as a civil engineer, and played a major role in introducing reinforced concrete to Australian engineering practice. He initially worked for private contractors on bridge and railway construction, and as their advocate in contract arbitrations. Following a period with the Melbourne Harbour Trust, in 1894 he entered into partnership with J. T. N. Anderson as consultants and contractors. When the partnership was dissolved in 1905 he joined with the builder David Mitchell and industrial chemist John Gibson to form the Reinforced Concrete & Monier Pipe Construction Co, and in 1906 with them and businessmen from South Australia, to form the S. A. Reinforced Concrete Co. He took a leading part in his profession and became president of the Victorian Institute of Engineers and a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, London.

Monash joined the university company of the militia in 1884 and became a lieutenant in the North Melbourne battery militia unit in 1887. He was made captain in 1895, major in 1897 and in 1906 became a lieutenant-colonel in the intelligence corps. He was colonel commanding the 13th Infantry Brigade in 1912; on the outbreak of First World War he was appointed chief censor in Australia.