Pompey at Half Mast. "Pompey Elliott", by Ross McMullin. [review]

Abstract

Ross McMullin argues rightly that an Australian who achieved so much ‘deserves to be better remembered’. His vivid, thorough biography is the first full account of Elliott’s life — surprising, given Pompey’s eminence, popularity and personality. McMullin takes the opportunity to reappraise events and people, to weigh Elliott’s career and to seek an answer to the question that consumed him: given his achievements, was he treated unjustly? McMullin thinks so, and blames Birdwood and his right-hand man, Brudenell White. Not all readers will be convinced, however much they admire the heroic figure McMullin creates.