E. J. Brady

From Irish parents, Brady was born at Carcoar, New South Wales, and was educated both in the United States and Sydney, Australia. He worked as a wharf clerk, a farmer, and journalist, and edited both rural and city newspapers. His political leanings were as a confirmed socialist, and secretary of the first Socialist League of Australia, in Sydney, 1890. It was suggested that Brady and fellow poet Henry Lawson contemplated with becoming 'New Australians' at the 1893 New Australia settlement in Paraguay, away from the influences of capitalism. ==Career==

Brady was a friend with poets Will H. Ogilvie (1869–1963), Roderic Quinn (1867–1949)), Banjo Paterson (1864–1941) and Henry Lawson (1867–1922). In 1910, Brady took Lawson on a poets' retreat, restoring Lawson's health. He was the editor of the Australian Workman, Sydney's first trade union newspaper, in 1891-92. The Bulletin and the Sunday Times were the repositories for many of his poems and prose. In 1899, equipped with a notebook, gun, and camera, Brady drove a wagon from Sydney to Townsville (although intending to reach the Gulf of Carpentaria) and back, recording the lives of the settlers. Working at Grafton's Daily Examiner in New South Wales, Brady wrote under the pen-name Nedi Woolli. The first name was an extension of Quinn's name for Brady, and the last name being an indigenous name relating to the Yamba area; with Quinn normally calling him Ned. and he continued to live there until his death. He chronicled an eventful journey down the Murray River in a small motor boat from Albury to the coast in 1911 in River Rovers. A passionate nationalist, he achieved his greatest fame with his book Australia Unlimited, a bestseller from its appearance in 1918, which urged dramatic increases in the national population. In 1926, a book entitled Industrial Australia was being written about the history and growth of industry within the country. His last work Two Frontiers was published in 1945. Publishers refused to print the biography. :I'll call you to the beaches, ::And you shall bide with me :Along the river reaches ::And by the open sea. == Later life ==

Brady, given as tall and debonair, married Annie Creo Dooley née Stanley, in June 1895. Aged 72, he married Florence Jane Bourke in 1942 in Victoria, and had a daughter. After retiring, he continued living in a tent home in Mallacoota. He was survived by his third wife, and six children from his first marriage. ==Bibliography==

• Guide to the Papers of E. J. Brady at National Library of Australia • Edwin James Brady papers, 1892-1951, State Library of New South Wales A 3173 'Australia unlimited, why and how I wrote it. A 3174 'Murray River Irrigation. Clippings, articles, notes, correspondence' and maps, 1908-1950. A 3175 'Personalia': letters, notes, portraits and printed material about and by Brady's ancestors and relations, with personal notes and photographs, 1892-1951. A 3176/1-A 3176/2 'Utopias Ltd: William Lane's settlement in Paraguay, New Italy Mission and Madagascar, Ralahine, Civat-Hein and the Mallacoota Community farm. • Edwin James Brady papers, 1899-1922 at State Library of New South Wales. A 1586 Australian artists' biographies, 1911, A 1726 Letters from Australian writers and others, 1899-1922, B 762 King's caravan : diary, 1899-1900, C 318 Verses, 1909-1911. ==Further reading==