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

One more attempt was made by Brady to have published a special Victory edition of
Australia Unlimited. He enlisted the aid of his friends in seeking government
sponsorship but they were not able to carry the day. Even though Arthur Calwell was
in favour of the scheme, “Dedman and Chifley would not see the light”. 1 The last
hope of further fame and money from his work was gone. But he was stilla ctive in
his contributions, Twentieth Century publishing his fairly long review of Chisholm’s
fook on C.J. Dennis. 2 He gave freely of his knowledge and experience to young
writers and poets who sought him out, contributing a Foreword to a book of verse by
Harry Pearce. 3 He also tried to interest Mendelsohn in starting a new magazine using
the Catholic Quarterly or the Communist Review as a model but catering for a much
wider readership, perhaps calling it The Nationalist Australian Quarterly. 4 He also
urged him to start an Atomic Age Monthly to keep people abreast of current
developments in scientific fields. 5 Neither of these suggestions tempted Mendelsohn
beyond his level of refusal.
The Archibald manuscript, which Brady had wrested from Johnson to submit to
Melbourne University Press came back with the suggestion that “considerable
amendment may be necessary to those pages which purport to sketch the general
politics and social background of the period” and again from another publisher who
stated that Archibald’s time had “neither the humour nor the importance with which
Mr. Brady seeks to invest it”. So another battle was lost, a fact not surprising when
one reads the manuscript and sets achievement against its intention. Brady had
neither the strength nor the inclination to begin rewriting the biography as his age was
telling on him in increasing measure. He was not eighty and a life of mental and
physical toil was taking its toll. He was suffering from an inoperable hernia, chronic
bronchitis and a weakened heart. His dwelling was ineffective in keeping out the chill
southern winds which blew straight up from the Antarctic. He had no life insurance,
having usrrendered his only policy in the stringencies of the depression and was
constantly haunted by the fear of dying without making adequate provisions for his
wife and young daughter. This spectre, he claimed, prevented any “final expressions
of creative art” of which he might have been a little longer capable, but he was not
completely forgotten in his mental and material distress. Two separate committees,
mindful of his eightieth year, began subscription lists for him; one organised by
Eustace Tracey and the other by Mendelsohn (“There must be a God – otherwise how
can one account for Oscar Mendelsohn”). Together these lists brought in three
hundred pounds, a circumstance that almost certainly prolonged Brady’s life as well
as raising his spirits considerably. The money was used to renovate his home and pay
some outstanding accounts.
All of Brady’s books were out of print except Two Frontiers so he had no income
from them, and the small Literary Fund pension was inadequate. Even this was
reduced when at Mendelsohn’s insistence he obtained the Old Age pension. The
Literary Fund Committee had rejected a suggestion that an autographed edition of
Brady’s collected works be prepared and suggested instead an anthology of selected
verse, asking Mendelsohn to make the selection, but the practical situation made this
impossible. 6 It was too late.
1 Brady to Muir Holburn, 22.4.1947, in Mitchell Library.
2 “’The Bloke” and Some Other Bards”. No. 1 1947, pp 26-31.
3 Songs of Nature and Other Poems (Melbourne, 1948)
4 Brady to Mendelsohn, 10.10.1948, owned by Mendelsohn.
5 Brady to Mendelsohn, 30.6.1949. owned by Mendelsohn.
6 H.S. Temby, Sec. C.L.F., to Mendelsohn, 7.10.1949, in Mendelsohn collection.
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