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John Monash ran a successful engineering business chiefly in Victoria (Australia) but also in South Australia and to some extent Tasmania from 1894 to 1914. He pursued a parallel career in the Citizen Military Forces. Late in 1914, at the age of 49, he left for WW1 and gained fame as a commander of ANZAC and allied forces on the Western Front. On his return he played a leading role in the establishment of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria.
[JM's Career] [JM's Contribution to Australian Engineering] [Overview of JM's projects]
This website presents stories of engineering design and construction from the period prior to WW1, with photographs and drawings. No technical knowledge is required to follow the stories which contain much human interest. From 2005 onwards the site is being expanded to cover more projects and to provide information on Monash's business per se and on the people with whom he worked. The site should be of interest to teachers and students of technology as well as historians, and as current work progresses, to students of business. The emphasis is on content rather than style.
It has been suggested, by military men as well as civil engineers, that Monash's experience in the industry made a positive contribution to his success as a military commander. Other claims are that he was a significant pioneer of reinforced concrete - some say on the world stage, others merely in Victoria. The first step in assessing these claims is to know just what he did do as an engineer prior to WW1.
Monash left monuments to his work all around Victoria and in South Australia and Tasmania. Many of these are worth preserving. Thanks to hiss meticulous record-keeping there is a wealth of material available to build up a picture of the history and workings of a medium-sized civil engineering business. True, it all happened 100 years ago; but human nature is a constant; and the relative simplicity of the technology involved means that the decision-making and administrative aspects of engineering are more evident.
The scope of our enquiry encompasses Sir John's engineering activities in the fullest sense: his commercial enterprise and business acumen; his style of organisation and management; the application of his legal studies in his role as expert witness and arbitrator; his promotion of the newly-developing technology of reinforced concrete; his grasp of engineering theory; and finally the application of his knowledge and understanding to his work as a patent attorney, and in the practice and supervision of engineering design and construction.
Particularly in the later years of our period, Sir John's work was concentrated in the field of civil engineering structures: bridges, bunkers, silos, water tanks, 'inverted syphons', wharves, lighthouses, etc and the design and construction of multi-storey buildings in reinforced concrete. However, the earlier portion involved also mining and mechanical engineering and legal cases involving flood damage and riparian rights which required a sound knowledge of water resources engineering. The manufacture of reinforced concrete pipes provided security for the Company in its early years and the design and construction of pipelines, dams and reservoirs form a constant theme.
This site was originally built on extracts from our paper publications - but as only a handful of the project 'dossiers' were distributed (the last in 2000) the present aim is to include latest knowledge, and make the website self-contained. At the same time, a large amount of information that has been sitting for years awaiting publication in book form will be included. The material we have accumulated is largely of a factual nature, so it seems appropriate to make it available now, despite its being incomplete and by no means properly analysed. Of course, some upgrading will occur as material is prepared for inclusion in web pages. The 'John Monash' part of this website is hosted by Vicnet whose support has made the re-structure and expansion possible.
The Main Index is the intended starting point. If you are unfamiliar with Monash's story, you could start with the overview of his engineering career or the lengthier coverage of his contribution to engineering in Australia. Another useful starting point is the overview of JM's projects. If you are interested in a particular town or region, try the Localities Index. Please allow for the fact that the entire JM website is continually being revised and developed.
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