Ross McMullin. In evaluating the impact of the Great War, Australians have tended to focus on the collective impact of all the casualties. there has been less focus on the individuals of exceptional talent and potential who did not return. Australians today don't know the stories of these special identities whose loss was a national deprivation. Historian, Ross McMullin, biographer of Pompey Elliott, has been researching Australia's lost generation for his latest book.