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

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Another issue which was receiving much public attention at that time was Sunday
observance. Brady used both editorials and more lighthearted means to put his views
on this particular topic. He pointed out that for the workingman the Sabbath was the
only day in which he could expect any relief from his labours, as most worked a sixday
week, and if he wished to relax at home, to watch or to participate in sport, then
strict laws which were originally passed to ensure church attendance should not be
allowed to interfere with his freedom of choice. 1 Arguing that the liberties of
Australians should be extended, not restricted, he made out a strong case for greater
freedom, to which he referred at intervals over the years, sometimes humorously,
sometimes seriously. In lighter vein an article told of how shooting enthusiasts, who
were forbidden by law even to carry firearms on Sundays, used their ingenuity to
evade the law. Remarking on the general love of sport amongst Australians, he tells
how he was invited to go shooting (a favourite past-time of his) one sabbath with a
young friend. When he demurred, mentioning the possible penalty, his young tempter
remonstrated with him:
‘Damn Acts of Parliament,’ said the young man. ‘I’ll show you how to carry a
gun without being copped.’ He did. First he filled his pockets with
cartridges; then he unhitched the breechloader, put the barrels down the legs
of his trousers and the stock up his sleeve, and walked out of town past the
police station with a hymn book in his hand. Certainly his carriage was a
little stiff; but it was not stiffer than that of the ordinary pious young man on
his way to Sunday School. 2
Brady used ridicule as a weapon on many occasions, but there was always a good
humour about it which would prevent anyone taking offence.
Many of the issues on which Brady did take a stand however, are remarkably relevant
today. The problem of society’s attitude to unmarried mothers, of abortion,
censorship and obscenity, increase in savage crime and methods of coping with it,
drugs and alcohol, the problems associated with racism and immigration, capital
punishment, conservation of natural resources, the protection of Australian authors,
closer settlement and problems of decentralisation, tardy mail deliveries and
unreliable government transport look like a collection from today’s crucial issues. In
one sense, the efforts of Brady and other reformers have not borne much fruit, as real
solutions have not been found to any of these problems, but again, a newspaper’s task
is to draw public attention to issues, discuss the various sides of the question, perhaps
suggest solutions, but rarely is its tole more practical than this. At least Brady showed
his sense of responsibility by discussing these pertinent aspects of the turn-of-thecentury
society and it is of interest to see his position on each of them, as he expressed
it through the columns of his journals.
Brady has strong views in the general field of women’s rights. He had an abhorrence
of abortion as a principle, whether on religious grounds or secular, but at the same
time he expressed much sympathy for unmarried mothers. On one occasion a lady
wrote a moving plea against the caging of animals at the zoo. Commenting upon this
in an editorial, Brady suggested that the lady’s sympathy was misplaced. He
considered that society as a whole was less cruel to animals, which after all had ideal
living conditions, were well-fed and had greater safety in their cages than in their
natural habitat, than it was to unmarried mothers.
1 “Enforcing the Sabbath”, The Arrow, 4.7.1896.
2 “Our Love of Sport”, The Arrow, 5.3.1898. p.4.