When two worlds collide

For civil engineer James Daniell, 2009 will go down as the year that scholastic achievement and family history converged.

Anzac Day had special significance this year for alumnus James Daniell, who visited the battlefields of Villers-Bretonneux in France, where his great-grandfather fought on the Western Front.

Edward Mattner MC DCM MM served under General John Monash in 1918, after going to war in 1915. He had studied at the University of Adelaide in 1913 and 1914.

Edward was awarded the Military Cross, Distinguished Conduct Medal and Military Medal and Bar for his personal bravery under heavy shellfire.

Ninety years later his great-grandson James stood on the same soil to honour his ancestor and the general who holds great significance for both.

James, 25, is among eight Australians this year who have won Australia's most prestigious postgraduate scholarship -- the General Sir John Monash Award, honouring this nation's greatest wartime commander.

This scholarship, funded by the Federal Government and private donors, is Australia's equivalent of Britain's Rhodes and the U.S. Fulbright scholarships. The General Sir John Monash Award provides $150,000 to each recipient over a three-year period to undertake postgraduate study at any outstanding university in the world.

James has a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil and Structural) with 1st Class Honours and a Bachelor of Science (Geology and Geophysics) from the University of Adelaide. He was also awarded the Honours Alumni University Medal for 2007, the University Medal for 2006, and the George Murray and John Crampton scholarships.

He has just completed his Masters of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology from the Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France, and the Università degli Studi di Pavia, Italy.

James will use his John Monash Award to start his PhD this July at the University of Karlsruhe in Germany, which is linked with the GeoForschungsZentrum (the National German Research Centre for Earth Sciences) near Berlin. He will also be associated with the United Nations University in Bonn and the ROSE School in Pavia.

It will be the first time that a John Monash Award scholar has studied in Germany. James will specialise in vulnerability and risk management of cities worldwide, acquiring knowledge that will have international application, leading to better policies, early warning systems and relief efforts.

It is also the first time that siblings have won the scholarship.

In 2005, James' sister Dr Katherine Daniell, also a University of Adelaide Medallist, won the General Sir John Monash Award. Katherine has a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) (Civil) and a Bachelor of Arts. She has a Doctorat en Sciences de l'Eau from France and a PhD from the Australian National University.

Their great-grandfather, who studied at the University of Adelaide, was a former league footballer for Sturt and also played in the Australian 18th Battery Football Team in France.

When James visited the Somme battlefield site in April he attended the inaugural Anzac Cup at Villers-Bretonneux, commemorating the Australian soldiers who played in military teams during the war. He carried a photograph from 90 years ago of his great-grandfather, Edward.

James and Katherine are the fourth generation of their family to have studied at the University of Adelaide. Their parents, Trevor and Anne (née Crisp) Daniell, and grandparents, Charles and Margaret (née Mattner) Crisp also have degrees from the University of Adelaide. ■