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

If his pen could, by ridicule and satire, aid this process of achievement and national
well-being, Brady was only too pleased to oblige. The range of subjects on which he
expressed himself was enormous. An item in the news mentioned the fact that the
Government was setting aside a special area for noxious trades, to assist the rest of the
community to remain free of pollution. “The Owl” helpfully suggested many noxious
trades for inclusion, at the same time providing a catalogue of some of the ills which
afflicted his society. He suggested that the banker who lived on the cash of others, the
insurance company dodging payment of legitimate claims, M.L.A’s, temperance
preachers, door-to-door book and sewing machine salesmen, grog-sellers, totes,
promoters, syndicates sharps and many others – most still sounding surprisingly
modern although this was written in 1892 – be declared noxious and separated from
“clean” society. The whole list reads like a Gilbert and Sullivan catalogue song, but
below the surface is a real concern, belying the levity and drawing attention to some
undesirable facets of society.
Much of this topical verse is mere doggerel or jingle, making now claims whatever to
being poetry, but it has, almost without exception, wit, bite, vigour and an obviously
facile quality, this last characteristic borne out by its very quantity. Several pieces
appeared in every issue of the Bird-O’-Freedom, The Arrow, The worker and The
Grip for many years. And always there is the blatant irreverence, humour and good
spirits. When Governor Duff was named as patron of the Zoo Brady sang, in part:
The tiger he wagged his tail for joy, the platypus dived with glee,
The peacock whistled a royal stave and the ostrich climbed a tree.
The elephant sang ‘God Save the Queen’ and “the British Grenadiers’,
To show his respect for royaltee, the crocodile flapped his ears. 1
No topical, especially political, event was free from this kind of attention, John
Norton’s court cases, General Booth’s financial problems, George Reid’s difficulties
(he was often depicted as a lizard which changed colour daily), parliamentary
practices and any public figure or occurrence was likely to be “sent up” – usually with
an underlying serious purpose which made it seem all worthwhile, as well as good
fun.
Although in favour of female franchise, Brady was strongly opposed to the movement
then known as the “new woman” movement – a primitive forerunner of the Women’s
Liberation movement of our times. Extremely interested in the stability of society
with a strong foundation on the basic family unit, he often wrote against the trend to
take woman out of the home and allow here to work. He was old-fashioned, even
then, in believing that her main contribution, in fact her sole contribution, was to be
made in the home. He deplored women’s smoking, wearing of unusual clothes (such
as bloomers), bicycle riding and riding horse-back any other way than side-saddle.
He looked ahead from the 1890’s to 1929 to perceive a woman-dominated society
with the ladies amusing themselves fighting and gossiping and unable to cope with a
leisure gained by freedom from the home. Perhaps this is another example where the
individual’s freedom is recognised in principle only; coloured people and women
were to be free only in theory!
1 “Duff at the Zoo”, Bird-O’-Freedom, 24.6.1893
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