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

He did well in the journalistic field but preferred actual writing to the added
administrative tasks which editorship imposed upon him. No doubt there was an
element of restlessness behind this decision, too. The grass was always greener in
Melbourne when he was in Sydney and vice versa. His daughter claimed that he made
more from publicity than from all his literary works, and this was probably true. She
had been trained in advertising but when she questioned him to find out on what
principles he ran his agency, he made only the “vaguest” reply. “He said his method
(which he had evolved himself) was based on Homer’s Odyssey, the differential
calculus, the Book of Job and the history of Henry Ford.” 1
The Commonwealth Press Agency in Melbourne 2 had not been function very long
when Brady extended his operations to assume the editorship of yet another periodical
– this time The Native Companion, a monthly literary journal which ahd previously
been under the firm hand of Bertram Stevens. In this new position, Brady’s chief
claim to fame was his discovery of Katherine Mansfield, whose contributions he at
first suspected, thinking them far too mature for the young person whose work they
purported to be. However a letter from H.D. Beauchamp, Katherine’s father, 3 assured
Brady they were genuine. He printed her “Vignettes”, “Silhouettes” and “In a Café”
before the magazine’s demise. It grieved him to have to return an unpublished
Mansfield manuscript when the magazine ceased publication after December 1907.
Brady obtained quite a few contributions from well-know writers for this journal,
including some good humorous verse from Thomas E. Spencer, author of How
McDougall Topped the Score, from Quinn, Bedford, Esson, Frank Morton, “Kodak”,
“Furnley Murice”, Edward Dyson, Helen Jerome and Marie Forrest, but a reply he
received in answer to his request to Ethel Turner is rather amusing, That wellestablished
author wrote:
But am I not a little expensive for the Native Companion – even if suitable.
Frankly I never write a story under six guineas in Australia and twelve in
England. Thank you for the pleasant finish to your letter. On my part I can
say that I have long known and enjoyed your work. 4
In his capacity as editor of The Native Companion Brady also came in contact for the
first time with the remarkable Katharine Susannah Prichard, beginning another long
friendship. Let Miss Prichard tell of the encounter:
It was a glorious moment when I received a not from the editor of The Native
Companion to say he liked the short story written by me, and could I call and
see him about it. I did call. The magazine had just been published. Brady
was the most dazzling editor I’d ever imagined. Lank gingery gold hair falling
over his forehead, and a golden beard cut to a point. His eyes flashed green
and blue lightnings as he talked, and his long legs sprawled under the office
table. I must have looked very demure and governessy in my early twenties,
wearing a full-skirted dress, all black, in mourning for my father 5 . But
Brady’s charm and his compliments about the story made me feel a genius of
the first water.
1
Moya Brady, “E.J. Brady as an Advertising Man”, Steve Ford’s Scrapbook Vol. 3, p.101, In Mithcell
Library.
2
It was in Elizabeth Street, next to Lothian’s, a happy fact for Brady that helped him gain a foothold
in The Native Companion
3
H.D. Beauchamp to Brady, 10.10.1907, in Mitchell Library. She was sixteen at the time.
4
Ether Turner to Brady, 7.6.1907, in Mitchell Library
5
“Brady”, an unpublished article by Miss Prichard kindly lent to me by the author shortly before her
death.
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