Ah Hah! Lightbulb Moment - Monash

Knowing very little about John Monash until recently, it was a revelation to read Grantlee Kieza’s biography of the man.

I can’t say we learned much (if anything) about Monash in my home state of NSW – but in more recent years as a resident of Victoria I’ve at least picked up on the Monash University and Shrine of Remembrance connections. Lately, research for my own book Brothers in Arms during 2015 startled me into awareness of some of Monash’s wartime achievements.

His story reminded me all over again of the Governor Arthur Phillip story – Phillip’s 'never' mentioned as the perfect role model for citizenship on Australia Day, as he should be, and Monash is 'never' mentioned as the archetypal good citizen on Anzac Day, as he should be. I love the fact that both men were such independent and clear thinkers with such a constructive approach. I’m very tired of the lauding of rebelliousness in our culture -  with Ned Kelly and Peter Lalor (Eureka Stockade) and sporting personalities and selected politicians usually presented as our archetypal national heroes.

As an Australian military history, the book had gigantic holes, because it focused only on Monash and the units in which he served while skimming over the military achievements of others, such as the 1st and 2nd Divisions of the AIF. However the book was an eye-opener to the appalling leadership of the Great War - all those wartime military leaders jockeying for position, so lacking in ideas and so careless of the men they sent to be slaughtered. And I marvelled at Monash’s ability to rise above his Germanic background, an obvious cause for suspicion of him as a loyal soldier during WW1.

It must have been wonderful for Kieza to have so  much original source material to work from, plus numerous comments from a diverse range of people who knew Monash well while he was alive, providing plenty of scope for fleshing out a personality. Although the dense layer of detail in the book was sometimes overwhelming and I found myself skimming much of it, unable to keep exact track of so many ‘players’, I found the book interesting from start to finish and couldn’t put it down.

The author’s use of present and future tense was annoying, especially references such as to Bradfield in 1926 as ‘the man who will build the Sydney Harbour Bridge’ (the construction project had been underway since around 1912). However I enjoyed his focus on the societal contribution of an engineer, which took me back decades to the time in my own youth when engineers were ‘king’ in Australia. I recalled my grandfather Engr Lieut Cleon Dennis (a founding officer in the RAN and personally involved in building naval cruisers and the Emden battle) and his engineer brother Spenser Dennis (involved in building the Sydney Harbour Bridge and about 700 other bridges in NSW). (See my book From Buryan to Bondi for their stories.) Then there was the impressive Snowy River Scheme, constructed during my childhood. My first husband was a telecommunications engineer. I guess I was more than ready to embrace Monash as an engineer.

Monash’s family background as a Prussian Jew, his socioeconomic status as a child in Australia, his Jerilderie and bushwalking life experiences, his wonderful obsession with education in its broadest sense, his own particular brand of womanising – all showed fascinating aspects of his character, providing great insights into why he was so creatively different as a general in WW1.

Although the author tried to make a case that Monash suffered significantly from discrimination against Jews, my 'take' on the book was that his real problem as a soldier and citizen was the prevailing and very patronising English attitude to ‘colonials’, no matter what their religion, combined with the good old Australian habit of cutting down tall poppies, especially egotistical tall poppies. WW1 turned society on its head and, with so many suffering victims afterwards, Australia's tall poppy syndrome flourished post-war, with Monash treated disgracefully by officialdom.

But before, during and after that appalling war he steadfastly continued to make an outstanding contribution as an engineer. I’m very glad I read this book and gained an understanding of a great man.