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

His first article to this periodical 1 was the forerunner of a great many contributions
including leaders, principal articles, letters and verses, some particularly militant,
which extended well into 1936. This activity necessitated residence in Melbourne, so
leaving his family in Mallacoota he lived in Carlton, Heyington and Parkdale for the
next few years.
As well as his weekly contribution to The Labor Call, Brady wrote for many Labor
and Socialist publications such as The Labor Daily, The Socialisation Call, The Union
Voice, for many of the daily newspapers at odd intervals – The Argus, Age, Herald,
Midday Times, The World’s News, Sydney Morning Herald and for weeklies such as
The Weekly Times and The Bulletin.
In 1933, when his financial affairs were at extremely low ebb, he began an association
with a Polish Jew, Lazar Rubenstein, who commonly used the name of Leslie Rubins.
Brady “ghosted” a book on economics for Rubins – Depression and Its Cure – and
wrote an Introduction to it. 2 This association was in many ways a life-saver for
Brady, as for a time he was on a regular weekly retainer from Rubins. He wrote to
Norma back at Mallacoota:
The Rubins association is a great relief from other associations, such as
Burch, and may lead to stability in time. He has put me on to a possibility –
buying waste wool for some of his Pollack friends. I don’t know how to go
about it yet but am willing to learn. General biz is dead, but these Jew chaps
are making money. I am useful to them and may cash in. Anyhow I work 16
hours a day and hoe for the best, while prepared for the worst. 3
While “prepared for the worst” Brady continually explored other avenues of making
money. On Rubins’ recommendation he bought three hundred shares in a West
Australian gold mine and sold them at a slight profit. He entered into an agreement to
establish a periodical to be called Money Talks, and although the agreement remains
among his papers, the project, like so many others, was still-born.
Biography had not come, to this point, squarely within focus of Brady’s attention, but
in 1933 and 1934 he worked with a young female assistant to complete a biography of
Dr. Mannix, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne. The result, which was
published in 1934, was both unspectacular and uninspiring in short a mere pot boiler
which was bough by some of the faithful because of its subject, but which had little
literary merit.
The Labor Call articles continued weekly throughout the early 1930’s and in language
often extravagant but always witty, vivid and pungent, urged readers towards
solidarity, collectivism, altruism and the socialist version of the Labor platform.
In 1935, remembering his modest success with fold mining shares, Brady once more
became interested in gold as a raw product. He entered into partnership with two
men, McMillan and Brown, in “The Rose of the East” mine at Wingan, near the
Thurra River.
1
“Better to Bury Caesar Than to Praise Him”’ 11.12.1930; The first verse was “Unfurl the Flag”,
5.2.1931
2
Leslie Rubins, Depression and Its Cure – The Gold Measure Theory, published by the author and
undated. Brady’s Introduction is dated only March 1933.
3
Undated letter to Norma in National Library. Burch was associated with the Mallacoota Cooperative
Farm (See Chapter Four).
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