Australian $100 note

The $100 note features two Australians who followed totally different paths to success. Both are credited with doing great things towards giving our nation the necessary credentials to take its place amongst the best in the world.

Helen Porter Mitchell was born at Richmond, Melbourne on the 19th. May 1861, and went on to become the world's finest operatic soprano of her time- with a vocal range spanning nearly three octaves.

Her musical talent was recognised early in her life, in fact she was only six when she made her first public singing appearance, and at age eight, she accompanied herself on the piano at a concert at the Richmond Town Hall on 11th. December 1869. The local newspaper, the Richmond 'Advertiser', reported that the 'precocious little Miss Mitchell caught the audience by surprise...... and rightly deserved the spontaneous encore she received....'

Helen married Charles Armstrong- the son of an Irish baronet, in 1882, but the marriage was not successful and they divorced in 1900, after she had a public affair with the Duke of Orleans, the Bourbon pretender to the French throne. (Reports of the day say that Mr. Armstrong and Queen Victoria were not amused!)

Helen had been tutored by several excellent teachers in Australia, but she realised that she would need to go to Europe to complete her training. In 1886, her teacher, Mathilde Marchesi of Paris had introduced her to several famous French and Italian composers, including Puccini, to give a boost to her operatic career and had then persuaded the young singer to take a stage name that would easily remembered by the international audiences.

Helen (nicknamed 'Nellie') chose a name that would always remind her of her home city of Melbourne in Australia- that name was Melba.

She eventually made her professional debut in Brussels in 1887, as Gilda in Verdi's 'Rigoletto', and then Gounod chose her for Juliette in his 'Romeo et Juliette', and she was Puccini's ideal Mimi for his 'La Boheme'. During the next 15 years Madame 'Nellie' Melba became the prima donna at London's Covent Garden and on her first return to Australia in 1902, she was given the superstar treatment that she expected, with a triumphant, but strenuous, tour of the major cities throughout the country.

Melba frequently came back from her European commitments to do tours to anywhere that wanted to hear her sing, and that even included enduring the rigours of the outback regions of Australia. During World War I, Melba sang at concerts both here and in North America to raise funds for the wartime charities and, for her tireless efforts, she was awarded the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1918. (It was said she raised over 100,000 Pounds.)

At the opening of the 'temporary' Federal Parliament House in Canberra in 1927, Dame Nellie Melba was invited to sing the National Anthem, and another honour was bestowed on her when she was elevated to Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire.

Melba made many 'final' appearances during her career, the 'last' at Covent Garden, England in 1926, and the 'last' at Geelong, Australia in November 1928, and a 'last' charity concert at the Brighton Hippodrome in England on 5th. October 1929. In fact, her final 'last' appearance was in November 1930, when she had returned from England so seriously ill that she had to be taken from the ship by ambulance.

She died in Sydney at the age of 69, on 23rd. February 1931, and was buried at Lilydale in Victoria; still loved by her devoted public!

The 'New York Times' wrote in their epitaph to this great Australian soprano:
'Fortunate the generation that heard her, for we shall never hear her like again.'

In 1864, a young Jewish-Prussian, Louis Monash, who had emigrated to Australia in 1853, returned to Prussia for a visit and came back with a new bride, Bertha.

On 7th. June 1865 their son, John Monash, was born in West Melbourne, just five and a half years before Prussia expanded to form the German Empire, the Second Reich, which was proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles in January 1871.

It is ironic that this child, born of Prussian parents, should grow up to be one of Australia's greatest generals in the First World War and be responsible, in part, for the smashing of the Hindenberg Line and the ultimate defeat of the German Empire.

John Monash was educated at Scotch College, where he was considered to be an excellent academic student, before attending the University of Melbourne to follow his career choices of the Arts, Law and Engineering.

It was there that he became a leader in student politics and was instrumental in the formation of the first Student's Union as well as joining the University Company of the 4th. Battalion, Victoria Rifles. However in 1885, owing to family circumstances that included his mother's terminal illness, he felt compelled to get a full-time job, which he achieved with a civil engineering firm and, fortunately, this proved to be the right move for him.

Like everything else Monash did, he devoted himself to the job, and excelled in its practicalities - while he also continued to study part time at the University where in 1892 he eventually gained his degrees in the Arts, Engineering and Law.

Monash had met and married Hannah Victoria Moss in 1891 and by 1893 he had the added responsibility of a daughter, Bertha, his only child.

During the great economic depression of 1894, as he had been retrenched from his job with the Melbourne Harbour Trust, he went into a partnership specialising in bridge building and, by 1905, with other business associates. he had formed the successful firm -Reinforced Concrete and Monier Pipe Construction Co. Pty. Ltd.

All the while Monash maintained his involvement with military training, and became a member of the North Melbourne Battery of the Garrison Artillery where his organising ability was soon recognised and his promotion to Major, and commanding-officer, was ratified in 1897, a position he then held for over a decade.

By 1908, Monash was heavily involved with the Australian Army Intelligence Corps and his further promotion, in 1913, to Colonel commanding the 13th. Infantry Brigade was a logical one, considering his expertise.

Meanwhile, in central Europe and the Balkans, a timetable of madness had started to unfold as nation after nation, armed itself to the teeth as a deterrent against each other, and on August 4th. 1914, with the exception of Italy, they were all at war: 'defending themselves'

Because of the emotional and traditional ties with England, Australia was also caught up in the conflict and threw its full weight of available manpower and resources into the allied camp. Monash was soon in command of the 4th. Infantry Brigade of the Australian Imperial Forces and off to Egypt for training prior to their first major engagement on the Gallipoli Peninsular, in the Dardenelles, on the 25th. April 1915.

Every Australian knows the tragic story that unfolded at the narrow beach at what became known as Anzac Cove at Gallipoli, and the incompetent British High Command of the time who made blunder after blunder, and paid for it with the blood of the bravest young men from Australia, New Zealand and Britain.

The first day's casualties amounted to 6,000 dead and 14,000 wounded, out of the 70,000 troops that took part in the initial landings. A total of 200,000 allied casualties were recorded, from all causes, by the time the campaign was declared lost in December and the orders were given for a complete withdrawal.

Eventually on the nights of the 19-20th. December 1915, under the command of one of the most competent of the English soldiers, Lieutenant-General Birdwood, in a remarkable series of subterfuges, the evacuation of Anzac Cove was completed without the loss of a single life.

From virtual defeat came this small victory, but the landing and the holding of that 1000 yards of cliff-face for 8 months by Monash and the Anzac troops under increasing counter-attacks from the Turks and their brilliant leader Colonel Mustapha Kemal Ataturk, was the baptism of fire that is seen to have welded both the young Australia and the emerging Turkey into nations with a tremendous respect for each others bravery which still holds true today.

After the Dardenelles campaign, Monash was promoted once again, to Major-General commanding the 3rd. Australian Division, and was sent to England to train his troops before they faced the horrors of the European conflict.

The Australians, all volunteers, were noted as fierce fighters and were involved in many of the most bloody battles during the War, such as Messines, Passchendaele and Amiens. Monash was made a Knight Commander of the Bath in early 1918, and appointed Commander of the Australian Corps at the rank of Lieutenant-General before he directed a huge and extremely successful collaboration of Australian and American infantry, artillery and tanks, plus aircraft at the Battle of Hamel on the 4th. July.

The battles that followed on from this resounding victory, heralded the beginning of the end for Germany's General Erich Ludendorff's armies, and when the German commander realised that the War was lost by late September 1918, he advised the Hindenburg Government to sue for the peace that would stop the slaughter of thousands more.

At 11.00 a.m. on the 11th. November 1918, the Great War was over and all was finally quiet on the Western Front

General Sir John Monash returned to Australia as a hero, and was appointed the Director-General of Repatriation and Immobilisation, until civilian life claimed his talents again and saw him head the Victorian State Electrical Commission (S.E.C.) for many years.

When his wife, Hannah, died in 1920 after a long illness, Monash devoted himself, over the final ten years or so of his life, to organising the building of the Shrine of Remembrance and to his position as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne as well as his duties as Chairman of the S.E.C.

He died on 8th. October 1931 and it is estimated that 250,000 people attended his state funeral.

Out of respect for his services to education, Monash University in Melbourne was named after him in 1958. A fitting tribute for the soldier who preferred to be remembered as a scholar and a builder.

Page maintained by Grant Schmarr,
Copyright © 1997-99 Grant Schmarr.
Created: 25th October 1997. Updated: 24th November 1999