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

But writing for money, in a systematic way, is a trade rather than an art.
Literature, as literature, seldom makes much money for the writer. The best
writers usually have the hardest struggle. They are simply not catering to the
fickle taste of an immediate public. There is no mystery about it. It is very
simple. Still, the conditions in Australia are disgraceful. Nothing is done for
the unattached writer, the freelance, the only writer who is free, and therefore
the only one who ever makes any contribution to Australian literature. The
pressmen are as stupid as the professors. What can be done for the only
writers who matter, Lawson, Quinn, Palmer McCrae etc? We need at least
one good magazine and one good review. Our newspapers are the crudest on
earth, cheap news-sheets whose only policy is propaganda of ignorance.
These conditions make Australia difficult, far more difficult than it need be. 1
So difficult, in fact, was Brady finding conditions that he looked about for further
ways of supplementing his income. He began to write again for The Bulletin in 1922
after a long break. The first poem of his return was “The Swede” and brought a
congratulatory telegram form Henry Lawson 2 and other heartening responses. Quinn
wrote that he was delighted to see Brady writing verse again – “Fine stuff, as good as
you ever did. You did a great wrong in ever muting your song. David McKee Wright
also welcomes your re-appearance”. 3
But verse alone would not support him, so Brady signed an agreement with three
friends, Stubbs, Sweetland and Roberts, forming a company to make films- The
Australian Film Publicity Proprietary. 4 The head office of this company was in
Melbourne from where it planned to make publicity films for industry, for state
governments and tourist bureaus. It was not a success. Brady used his talents to write
a scenario for “Antonelli”, a film to help Italian migration to Australia, which he
hoped would be financed partly by the Italian residents of the Queensland canefields
and the Italian consulate, but usual difficulties ensued in regard to finance and the
project was abandoned.
The interest in films, unsuccessful as it was, did bring Brady some publicity. Oscar
Mendelsohn wrote, wanting to get into one of Brady’s films as an actor. A local
journal noted that “Edwin J. Brady intends following up film production in Sydney.
We wish him success and hope ere long to see a future whose story will have as the
setting the beautiful Mallacoota that he knows so well.” 5
Brady also investigated the possibility of making money from the sale of salt, 6 from
seeds of medicinal plants which he and Mendelsohn were to grow in small
experimental plots and experiment with export markets to France and the United
States. 7 He nominated himself for the position of Superintendent of Immigration
which became vacant in 1922. 8 None of these enterprises bore fruit or passed beyond
the pipe-dream stage.
1
Louis Esson to Brady, 19.1.1921, in Mitchell Library.
2
This telegram is amongst Brady’s letters in Mitchell Library.
3
Quinn to Brady, 12.9.1922, in Mitchell Library.
4
11.2.1921. The agreement is among Brady’s papers in National Library.
5
Corroboree, January, 1922, p.1.
6
Mendelsohn to Brady, 19.4.1921, in National Library.
7
Mendelsohn to Brady, 6.8.1921, in National Library.
8
Prime Minister’s Dept. to Brady, 8.3.1922, in National Library, stated Brady’s application would be
considered.
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