Veronica Brady

IBVM The Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose members are commonly known as the Loreto Sisters, is a Roman Catholic religious congregation of women dedicated to education founded in Saint-Omer by an Englishwoman, Mary Ward, in 1609. The cong ...

(born Patricia Mary Brady; 5 January 1929 – 20 August 2015) was an Australian

religious sister A religious sister (abbreviated ''Sr.'' or Sist.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to pr ...

who was a noted writer and academic. She was one of the first Australian religious sisters to broadcast on radio and to teach at a secular university. She was a member of the inaugural board of the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

in the 1980s. Brady was an authority on

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

-winning Australian author

Patrick White Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was a British-born Australian writer who published 12 novels, three short-story collections, and eight plays, from 1935 to 1987. White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, ...

and wrote ''South of My Days'', a biography of Australian poet Judith Wright.

Early life and education

Patricia Mary Brady was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in 1929 (she took the name of "Veronica" upon joining her religious order). She matriculated from Loreto Mandeville at the age of 15 before attending Melbourne University. She went on to complete one of the first PhD degrees on Australian literature, graduating from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

in 1969 after completing a thesis on the writing of

(as "Patricia Mary Brady").

Career

Brady returned to teach at Loreto Mandeville as well as

Loreto Kirribilli Loreto Kirribilli is an independent Roman Catholic comprehensive single-sex primary and secondary day school for girls, located in Kirribilli, a Lower North Shore suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established at Milsons Point i ...

, where she first met White. She went to the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

in 1972 and retired as a reader in 1994. She joined the Sisters of Loreto, and has been described as an early proponent of feminist ideals.

Published works

Scholarly essays and reviews

Whilst White's work remained at the centre of Brady's writing and teaching, she also published scholarly essays on the fiction of Rolf Boldrewood, Joseph Furphy (a favourite),

Tom Keneally Thomas Michael Keneally, AO (born 7 October 1935) is an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and actor. He is best known for his non-fiction novel ''Schindler's Ark'', the story of Oskar Schindler's rescue of Jews during the Holocaust, wh ...

David Malouf David George Joseph Malouf AO (; born 20 March 1934) is an Australian poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright and librettist. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2008, Malouf has lectured at both the University of Quee ...

, Les Murray,

Henry Handel Richardson Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson (3 January 187020 March 1946), known by her pen name Henry Handel Richardson, was an Australian author. Life Born in East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, into a prosperous family that later fell on hard tim ...

Christina Stead Christina Stead (17 July 190231 March 1983) was an Australian novelist and short-story writer acclaimed for her satirical wit and penetrating psychological characterisations. Christina Stead was a committed Marxist, although she was never a mem ...

and

Randolph Stow Julian Randolph Stow (28 November 1935 – 29 May 2010) was an Australian-born writer, novelist and poet. Early life Born in Geraldton, Western Australia, Randolph Stow was the son of Mary Campbell Stow née Sewell and Cedric Ernest Stow, a ...

. Another activity was reviewing and she published around 100 responses to new works of fiction, poetry and criticism. Published first in the

UWA The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

journal '' Westerly'', her reviews eventually appeared in most major Australian literary and critical journals – ''Arena'', ''

Australian Book Review ''Australian Book Review'' is an Australian arts and literary review. Created in 1961, ''ABR'' is an independent non-profit organisation that publishes articles, reviews, commentaries, essays, and new writing. The aims of the magazine are 'to ...

'', ''Australian Historical Studies'', ''Australian Journal of Cultural Studies'', ''

Australian Literary Studies ''Australian Literary Studies'' is a Peer review, peer-reviewed academic journal of literary studies, specialising in historical, critical, and theoretical studies of Australian literature. It was established in 1963 by Laurie Hergenhan (Universi ...

'', ''Australian Society'', ''CRNLE Reviews Journal'', ''Fremantle Arts Review'', ''Helix'', ''Island'', ''Kunapipi'', ''Makar'', ''Overland'', ''Southerly'' and ''Westerly'' – as well as newspapers such as ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', ''

Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in ...

'', ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

'' and the ''West Australian''.

Books

Brady's books included ''The Future People: Christianity, Modern Culture and the Future'' (1971); ''The Mystics'' (1974); ''A Crucible of Prophets: Australians and the Question of God'' (1981); ''Playing Catholic: Essays on Four Catholic Plays'' (1991); ''Polyphonies of the Self'' (1993); and ''Caught in the Draught: Contemporary Australian Culture and Society'' (1994); as well as ''South of My Days: A Biography of Judith Wright'' (1998). Her love of words was probably inherited from her Irish-Australian father. Childhood books that remained lifelong companions included ''

The Magic Pudding ''The Magic Pudding: Being The Adventures of Bunyip Bluegum and his friends Bill Barnacle and Sam Sawnoff'' is a 1918 Australian children's book written and illustrated by Norman Lindsay. It is a comic fantasy, and a classic of Australian childr ...

'', '' Winnie The Pooh'' and '' archy and mehitabel'', from which she was fond of quoting; a particular favourite being the cockroach Mehitabel's maxim “toujours gai kid” and “there’s more than one dance in the old dame yet”, a line she often used in her later years.

After retirement

Whilst continuing her work as a reviewer and speaker in general and academic forums, Brady completed a 586-page biographical study of Judith Wright titled ''South of My Days'' (also the title of an early poem by Wright). The biography draws on primary sources and interviews, and demonstrates the sympathy to the writer that Brady brought to the work of White, arguing that Wright's political activism was closely related to her poetry.

Candid critic

Brady was known for being outspoken. She publicly criticised the Vatican's stance on abortion, homosexuality and

contraception Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...

, was involved in the

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

rights movement and the anti-uranium mining lobby as well as supporting the

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorization, authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominational ...

of women as priests in the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. Her view of Australia's conservative political elite was, perhaps, best summed up by her forecasts as to which circle of

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

’s hell was the likely destination of various

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

prime ministers. Brady’s uncle Jack Collins, and cousins

Geoff Collins Geoff Collins may refer to: * Geoff Collins (American football), American college football coach * Geoff Collins (Australian rules footballer) Geoffrey Anthony Collins (10 August 1926 – 14 August 2005) was an Australian rules football play ...

and Michael Collins, played for the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

broadcaster Phillip Adams called her "my favourite catholic. The one of whom

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

used to ask every morning when he woke up 'Is she dead yet?'." Brady died on 20 August 2015 in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

at the age of 86. She had been in care for the previous two years. Kath Jordan's biography of Brady, ''Larrikin Angel'', was published by Roundhouse Press in 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brady, Veronica 1929 births 2015 deaths Writers from Melbourne Australian women writers Australian biographers Academic staff of the University of Western Australia University of Melbourne alumni 20th-century Australian Roman Catholic nuns Sisters of Loreto 21st-century Australian Roman Catholic nuns Australian women biographers People educated at Loreto Mandeville Hall