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

2. Brady was prepared to “allocate and alienate” nine hundred acres to the group
“for the purpose of a Co-operative holding, free of control or outside
interference and as their own collectivist possession in perpetuum.”
3. In addition, Brady was willing to make a loan to the groups of an area of
twenty-four acres (later increased to sixty) of ready-cleared land upon which
to grow vegetables and subsistence crops while the larger area was being
brought under control, together with the necessary tools and equipment, and to
grant access and cutting rights to any timber needed for buildings or fencing.
4. The group could, at all times, be assured of Brady’s support provided it
adhered to Collectivist principles in which it proposed “to base its activities
and efforts”. 1 Brady also pointed out to Tunnecliffe that the Government
could best help by giving its approval, by providing sustenance to the group’s
members until they became self-supporting and by lending plant and
equipment for clearing the land for building. He also arranged for Allan
Taylor and Co., owners of the coastal freighter “Glenreagh”, to ship out the
timber which the group would cut. He pledged himself also to rally what
support he could from other political friends and allies.
When the Government received an unfavourable report from a Lands Department
inspector whom it had sent to examine the area of the proposed settlement, and when
a few fringe followers of the scheme wanted to by-pass the Government altogether,
the acceptance of the proposal hung in the balance. The wily Burch however, bought
a copy of Tunnecliffe’s book, Successful Socialism, and quoted to its author certain
relevant passages, including one which said that “each new triumph of collectivism is
another nail I n the coffin of individualism”. However, the reigning party was soon
replaced and in a letter to the new Premier of Victoria, Sir Stanley Argyle, 2 and to the
new Minister for Lands and Forests, 3 Burch re-summarised the whole scheme,
pointing out that although initially only a few families would be involved, it was
hoped ultimately to settle thirty or forty families on the area.
Meanwhile Brady was still enlisting support. He gained encouragement from Earle
Page 4 and from E.G. Theodore, to whom Brady averred: “ I am very serious about
this community farming idea, and trust that you will take an interest in it and give it
whatever assistance you can”. 5 He also wrote letters to newspaper editors (many of
whom he knew personally) enlisting their editorial support, made radio broadcasts, 6
and to neutralise the unfavourable report of the Lands Department inspector, hired an
agronomist with certified qualifications to make an independent (and favourable)
report on the production capacity of the land. In addition he organised a petition of
the neighbouring farmers and townspeople at Mallacoota to state that they regarded
the project with approval, that they had proof of the productivity of the soil, and that
they would welcome the newcomers.
1 24.3.1932, in Mitchell Library
2 17.3.1932, in Mitchell Library
3 20.5.1932, in Mitchell Library
4 Page to Brady, 19.7.1932, in Mitchell Library
5 Brady to Theodore, 11.7.1932, in Mitchell Library
6 “This wonderful Age”, broadcast over 3KZ, 22.5.1932 and reported in The Labor Call, 16.6.1932.
Stressing the mateship in such a scheme, he invited the support of his listeners
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