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

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Amusingly, he regarded the black shirt often worn by Cecil Mann to its office as “the
outward and visible sign of inward Fascist convictions” 1 and generalised from this to
the paper as a whole. This attitude was not ameliorated when Douglas Stewart
reduced the payment for his verse by relegating it to the “Aboriginalities” page or
rejected it altogether. But Brady swallowed his pride, perhaps muted his conscience,
and continued to contribute. “Damn their politics and gor’bless their cash say I!” he
wrote to his wife. 2
Brady had long been friendly with Oscar Mendelsohn, Melbourne property owner,
bon-vivant and litterateur, and in 1946 he asked Brady to contribute to a literary
magazine he was editing. Focus had originally been called View and Brady
contributed to it regularly until it ceased publication after the issue of May 1948
under threat of a libel action. 3 Brady’s contributions were mainly prose for which
Mendelsohn, somewhat of a patron of the arts, paid handsomely, even making
creditors happy by advancing money to the impecunious Brady when bills became
more than usually pressing. After June 1947 Brady was listed as Contributing Editor
but the editorial work was always done solely by Mendelsohn. 4 Brady was still
writing occasional verse as well as the prose articles, for he told Holburn that when he
was stirred up, as he had been by the birth of his young daughter, he went about
“thinking in rhyme”, an event which frightened him in case it became “chronic”.
During this year and the next Holburn and Mendelsohn were a great comfort to him,
both psychologically and materially. Not only did they encourage him to work but
both attempted to interest publishers I n his writings. He threatened to leave Australia
for the United States where he could have had dual citizenship but this was merely an
escape valve fore the depression caused by his failing health and chronic financial
situation. 5
Holburn negotiated, unsuccessfully as it turned out, with Angus and Robertson over
The Cat and the Fiddle (light verse), The Gippslanders (short stories), Life’s Highway
(early reminiscences) and The Message Stick (essays and humorous stories). 6 Any
chance of acceptance there happened to be was destroyed by the shortage of paper and
printing supplies which then existed – a time when the whole publishing trade and
market was depressed. But Mendelsohn had more fortune, securing a Commonwealth
Literary Fund pension of 150 pounds annually for Brady. These two men (and a
third, Eustace Tracey, who not only took many Brady articles for his magazine, Life
Digest, but also supplied him with paper, ink and money0 did much to alleviated the
growing incapacity of a bitter and testy old man. A glimmer of amusement was
brought to all when a contributor to the Midday Times deplored the choice of William
McKell as Governor General designate and instead proposed Brady for the position in
recognition of his long and selfless service to Australian letters. 7
1 Brady to Muir Holburn, 12.6.1945, in Mitchell Library.
2 Brady to Florrie, 1.6.1946, in National Library
3 A threat of a Supreme Court action with a Writ of 10,000 pounds for libel was issued by Carol
Brown over some material written by Allan Ashbolt. Mendelsohn to Brady, 6.5.1947, in National
Library.
4 Mendelsohn to Brady, 6.5.1947, in National Library.
5 Brady to J.K. Moir, 2.2.1947, in La Trobe Library.
6 Holburn to Angus and Robertson, 13.4.1947, in Mitchell Library
7 26.3.1947. The letter was signed “Scott Vandeleur, Melbourne”. It is not impossible that this was
written by Brady himself. It is not altogether out of character and it seems a remarkable coincidence
that “Scott Vandeleur” was the mane ot a distant relative of his who was interested in co-operative
settlements. He is mentioned in Chapter Four.