Life So Full of Promise
further biographies of Australia’s lost generation
Ross McMullin
Brunswick, VIC: Scribe Publications, 2023
Paperback 640pp RRP: $44.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, September 2024
Ross McMullin wrote Farewell Dear People (Scribe Publications, 2012) – a multi-biography of ten young Australians lost in the First World War. They were stories of interwoven families that highlight the great prewar potential of the main character, the time spent in conflict, and finally, the loss to his nation and family. Life So Full of Promise is the same length as Farewell Dear People but looks at the lives of only three young men of the lost generation. It has been awarded the 2024 Age Book of the Year for non-fiction.
Brian Colden Antill Pockley was born in Sydney in 1890 of a well-to do family, attended a private school excelling academically (becoming Dux) and in athletics, cricket, rugby and tennis. He completed his medical studies and on 1 August 1914 in the Medical Corps and was part of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force dispatched to Kabakaul, New Britain in the Bismarck Archipelago to capture the German radio complex. On the first day of action, 11th September, Captain Brian Pockley became the first officer to die in an Australian unit in the First World War.
Born in Hay, NSW in April 1896, Norman Frank Callaway showed great cricketing potential and his family moved to Sydney in November 1912. At 17 he commenced playing Sydney Grade cricket with Paddington, and in February 1915, playing for New Soth Wales became the first man in first-class cricket to score a double century on debut. Enlisting in the 19th Battalion in May 1915 he arrived on the Western Front in late December. Reported missing during the Second Battle of Bullecourt on 3 May 1917, it was later confirmed that Private Calloway died on that day. His body was never recovered and he is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.
Murdoch Nish McKay, usually known as ‘Doch’, was born in Bendigo in 1891. His father was an excellent cricketer who was selected for an Australian tour of England. His family moved to Melbourne for his final secondary school years and at Scotch College he displayed well-above average ability in athletics, cricket and tennis. He entered Ormond College as a resident law student in 1907 having just turned 16. He remained in Ormond throughout his course aided by the scholarships arising from his superlative results, including the feat of double first-class honours in his third year. He finished top in final year with first-class honours, winning the prestigious Supreme Court Prize and qualifying for the Master of Laws degree — all shortly after he turned 20. The law professor concluded that in almost two decades at Melbourne University he had taught no abler student. Playing for Bendigo in 1911 against the touring English team between that summer’s first two Ashes Tests, Mackay top-scored with a fine innings. He completed his articles with a Bendigo firm of solicitors and embarked on a career as a barrister. His ability was soon evident. Having been at the Bar little more than two years, he was engaged to appear in a landmark constitutional case before the High Court, a remarkable achievement when he had just turned 24. McKay involved himself in the militia and served in Melbourne and Bendigo units. When European war suddenly erupted, Doch preferred to undertake advanced officer training with a view to serving in a later contingent. He married early in May 1915, only a week before he left Melbourne as a captain in the 22nd Battalion.
At Gallipoli he proved to be an outstanding officer — brave and decisive, inspiring and selfless, and was promoted to major. Perilous experiences followed In France in 1916, particularly after his unit participated in the Somme offensive. The 22nd was involved in two attempts to drive the enemy away from the Pozières heights. The first conspicuously failed, and the second seemed on the verge of becoming a similar fiasco when Major Murdoch Mackay made a crucial front-line intervention. He took charge, devised and directed alternative methods, and enabled the attackers to attain their objective. While displaying this superb leadership, Major Mackay, MID (Mentioned in Dispatches) was killed on 23 August 1916. The tributes were glowing. Some who knew him well felt that he had appropriate attributes for the very highest positions in the nation.
Ross McMullin, himself a Melbourne District cricketer in the 1970s, has provided highly-researched accounts of the three families and considerable detail of the cricketing exploits of all three young men. His approach to each family begins at least two generations before the birth of the young men and continues well beyond them paying the supreme sacrifice. Two very generous inserts of high-quality black and white photographs complement the easy-to-read text.
This is a landmark work in documenting the fabric of Australian society in the decades straddling the First World War. A commendable achievement.
The RUSI – Vic Library is most grateful to the author for making this work available for review.