On August 8th, the Shrine of Remembrance of Melbourne held an event to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of Amiens, as well as a tribute to Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash.

After the ceremony, a special concert, the Peace Cantata, was organised by the Rotary Club of Melbourne under the lead of Dr. David Kram. Ms Danièle Ney-Kemp, Consular Advisor,  was the guest speaker in front of an audience that included the Hon Ted Baillieu, Ms Myriam Boisbouvier-Wylie, Honorary Consul General of France in Melbourne, the Hon Tim Fischer, former Deputy Prime Minister and Mr Robert Fisher, President of the Rotary Club of Melbourne.

Robert Fisher, Daniele Kemp, Ted Baillieu, Myriam Boisbouvier-Wylie, David Kram

The Battle of Amiens, led by Australian troops under General Monash’s command, was a decisive victory of the First World War for the Imperial troups of the British Army. Sir John Monash was the “outsider who won the war” (Roland Perry). Upon his return to Australia, he was duly recognised with many roads bearing his name, as well as Monash University, first time ever that a university was named after a person.