A CRITICAL BIOGRAPHY OF EDWIN JAMES BRADY - Mallacoota ...

140
Whether it is the picture given of the photographer whose boat capsizes in “Hell’s
Gate”, the cut-throat smuggler of illegally imported Chinese, of Murray Tommy who
eats nothing but onions or of the cripple who lives in the hollow tree stump, there is
always a vividness, a directness and a sympathy in Brady’s treatment expressing his
love for man and for the countryside. Only by contact with nature and through the
trials and adversities of bush life is real manhood developed. Although there is no
evidence that he read Rousseau, Brady shares his attitudes to nature. Rousseau
believed that believed that Emil should be educated in just such circumstances, away
from the artificialities of human society and in direct contact with the moods of
nature, so that the senses might be rendered more receptive, more refined, and the
intellect and the emotions rendered strong enough to cope with the world as man has
made it. Resourcefulness, fortitude and inner happiness result from these contacts
thought Rousseau, and it is just these virtues that Brady sees developed in the people
of the Australian bush, these desirable qualities further enriched by a strong sense of
humour.
Wry humour, sardonic and witty humour effervesce throughout these as the other
writings. One can agree with Norman Lindsay when he states: “I am sometimes
given to wonder whether humour will ever be given its status as a great art, for it is a
supreme expression of the indomitable human spirit.” 1 Brady’s whole point of
observation and comment is conditioned by his sense of humour. The account of
goats which ingest certain towns, the practical jokes (as when he pretends to talk to
members of the three sexes, “Men, women and bank clerks”, when his mate is clad
only in a pipe and a grin), the tall tales of so many kinds all bear evidence.
These three books employ a charry, discursive style characteristic of Brady and
wholly suited to their subject matter. It can be rendered more taut if need be, as the
tale of Nelly Mathieson shows. 2 But usually it fits the free and easy pace of travel by
wagon and the easy-going nature of the people he meets. There is generally an
openness and sincerity in keeping with the mood of the cush, but occasional overtones
of artificiality are discernible, as when the Wollondilly River is heard “faintly purring,
like a tigress to her cubs.” There are many Biblical references and figures of speech,
usually apt and expressing well the emotions aroused but occasionally showing a
streak of Lindsayesque anti-orthodoxy, as when Palestine is referred to as “the centre
point of that potent and might influence which has overshadowed the ages, radiated
through time, and given to humanity sublime thoughts, high ideals, and debasing
hypocricies.” 3
Although not particularly apt instruments for displaying literary familiarities, these
books contain many literary references. Heine, Hariet Beecher Stowe, Whitman,
Omar Khayam, Defoe, Marryat, Shelley, Daley, J.H.M. Abbott and many other
writers, both European and Australian appear. The Land of the Sun begins each
chapter with a few lines of verse from Homer, Keats, Byron or traditional sources.
An avid reader from his boyhood, Brady has set ideas about desirable literary
companions. On one occasion, dreaming of an extended tour around the Pacific, he
mentally lists the books he would wish to accompany him.
1 In his Introduction to his collection of Edward Dyson’s short stories, The Golden Shanty (Sydney,
1963), p.x.
2 King’s Caravan, p.19.
3 King’s Caravan, p.28.