Engineering career
|
(Photo courtesy of Monash University Archives) |
Sir John Monash's aptitude for engineering gained him employment with the company responsible for the construction of Melbourne's Princes Bridge. He worked on this and other projects and was put in charge of the Outer Circle railway.
During the worst of the depression, Monash started with the Harbor Trust and studied part time while working. He completed the municipal surveyors course, and enrolled as a student of the Supreme Court. He began studying the water supply engineers course and also completed his BA. He took out his master's degree in engineering early in 1893, and formally graduated in Arts and Law in 1895.
In 1894 he set up in private practice as a civil engineer. He became known as one of Australia's foremost experts in reinforced concrete for bridges, railways and other large construction projects. Some of these projects included the Anderson Street (Morell) bridge over the Yarra, the Town Hall, the Melbourne Hospital, the State Savings Bank head office, the Centre Way Arcade and various government buildings, as well as bridge and road works.
He became Chairman of the new State Electricity Commission (SEC) early in 1921. The commission was established to develop open cut mining of the huge deposits of brown coal in the La Trobe Valley and to build the installations, which would transmit power statewide.
In his last years, he supervised construction of Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance and the public appeal for funds, and in 1930 rewrote the inscription planned for the west wall himself.
In 1929 the Institute of Engineers, Australia awarded Monash its highest honour, the Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal, and in June 1931 he was awarded the University of Melbourne's Kernot Memorial Medal for distinguished achievement in Australian engineering.
See also:
|
