Peter spoke about "The relationship between John Monash and David Mitchell was mainly through the supply of cement manufactured by Mitchell under the Emu brand which Monash used in bridge construction. The first reference I have at hand is use of Mitchell's cement in the Bendigo bridges - eight Monier bridges over a concrete channel built to avoid flooding of the Bendigo creek in 1900.
We visited these bridges during the Bendigo District 9800 conference in 2016. By 1901 a new company had been formed by Monash, Anderson, and Mitchell: The Monier Pipe Company. (p172).
Monash was at Spencer St station on 20 September 1902 to welcome home Nellie Melba from Europe when she arrived in her own special railway carriage. Monash said he will forever be in the debt of David Mitchell " who befriended
me when I needed help so badly" (p189).
The following month, October 1902, Monash took Madame Melba around the pipe factory he has built with her father's money (p180). Monash's scheme to Manufacture Monier pipes made headway after Mitchell through John Gibson offered Monash land next to his works in Burnley St, Richmond, provided that Monash used his Emu brand cement. (p172).
In 1895 Monash was in partnership with Anderson - building bridges. That yearthey arrange to sell clay from Moorooduc on the Morning Peninsula. Through this venture they met John Gibson - an industrial chemist - who manages the cement works owned by David Mitchell, father of Nellie Melba. (P152)."
References are from "Monash", Grantlee Kieza, HarperCollins, 2015.
