Praise for "The Five Walking Sticks"
Biographer Henry Lew allows Brodzky to tell his own story wherever feasible via edited excerpts from original documents; elsewhere missing details have been meticulously researched and seamlessly integrated. A ripper read. — Diane Carlyle. (Melbourne editor and reviewer.) (The Australian 4/4/2001.)
I greatly enjoyed reading “The Five Walking Sticks.” Yours was a bold experiment to use the first person. It is largely successful and I can see how it helped you get inside Brodzky’s character and motivations, capturing his romantic and idealistic inclinations. In my view you have got closer to the historical truth than most thesis-writers could. — Michael Cannon. (Australian historian and writer, author of “The Land Boomers.”)
Brodzky seems to have been a fascinating character and Henry Lew’s modestly fictionalised biography, which contains an enormous amount of research and many fine examples of Brodzky’s writing, is equal to its extraordinary subject. — Cameron Woodhead. (Melbourne reviewer) (The Age “Pick of the Week” 28/09/2002)
Completing the reading of your book is like being at the end of a journey and having the book allows one to remember every step of the way. I am going to re-read it. It is a brilliant work, a new way of writing a biography. Similar to a doppelganger; Brodzky as an apparition or shadow or double of yourself; a phantom extension of your will, you the author submerged in his artistic identity. Quite intriguing! Sometimes I did not know who was writing the book, you or he. What a treasure to have in my library. Thank you. — Laurel Hessing. (New York playwright, author of “The Golden Bear.”)
Lew has brought the rich, venal, high-minded world of Melbourne’s zenith back to life through one of its most colourful witnesses. — Peter Pierce. (Professor of Australian Literature James Cook University, author, reviewer and editor of “The Oxford Literary Guide to Australia.) (The Bulletin 5/6/2001.)
Dr. Lew has done a marvellous job, using original documents and old issues of Table Talk to tell the talented Brodzky’s story. A fascinating read. — Dr. Jacqualine Hollingworth. (History Teachers Association of Victoria.) (Agora 1/10/2001.)
First published in Australia in October 2000,
by AMCL Publications,
338 Balaclava Road,
Caulfield North,
Melbourne, Victoria 3161.
This digital edition published March 2011
ISBN: 978-0-9871018-2-2
Copyright © Dr. Henry R. Lew 2000
All rights reserved as provided for by Australian copyright law. No part of this book may otherwise be reproduced without permission in writing from the publishers.
Designed by Alexander M. C. Lew & Henry R. Lew.
National Library of Australia, cataloguing - in - publication data
Lew, Henry Ronald, 1948-
The Five Walking Sticks: The Story of Maurice Brodzky, Investigative Journalist Extraordinaire.
Bibliography.
Includes Index.
ISBN 0-646-40180-7 (Paperback)
1. Brodzky, Maurice, 1850-1919. 2. Journalists – Australia – Biography. 3. Jews — Australia— Biography. I. Title.
079.94092
For
Alex Lew
John Brodzky
Richard Brodney
Robin Bardwell
Rebecca Dalton
Horace Brodzky
Aby Altson
Phil May
Charles Nuttall
&
John Weyland
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Proem.
Chapter 2: The Sussex.
Chapter 3: Melbourne 1872.
Chapter 4: Me and My Biographer.
Chapter 5: The Brodzkys of Kiev.
Chapter 6: Ben Israel.
Chapter 7: A New Australian.
Chapter 8: A Teacher of Languages.
Chapter 9: The Triumvirate and Marcus Clarke.
Chapter 10: Margaret Morris.
Chapter 11: Captain Moonlite, My First Scoop.
Chapter 12: A Special Assignment.
Chapter 13: My Darling Florrie.
Chapter 14: Brodzky versus Blaubaum.
Chapter 15: Table Talk.
Chapter 16: Friends, Acquaintances & Celebrities.
Chapter 17: The Land Boom and Bust.
Chapter 18: An Especially Privileged Pair.
Chapter 19: David Syme and Myself.
Chapter 20: Jewish Issues.
Chapter 21: Editorial Opinions.
Chapter 22: Bromley versus Brodzky.
Chapter 23: Aftermath.
Chapter 24: San Francisco.
Chapter 25: Shakeup.
Chapter 26 Downstream.
Appendix 1: Genius, Lunacy and Knavery.
Appendix 2: Historical Sketch of Two Melbourne Synagogues.
Bibliography.
List of Illustrations
Front Cover
The Return - Oil Painting by Horace Brodzky.
Frontispiece
Portrait of Maurice Brodzky - Drawing by Charles Nuttall 1903. Enlarged from Chapter Plate 22.
Chapter Plate 1
Stone Henge - Linocut by Horace Brodzky.
Chapter Plate 2
Boxers - Linocut by Horace Brodzky.
Chapter Plate 3
Dazzle Ships - Linocut by Horace Brodzky.
Chapter Plate 4
The Expulsion - Linocut by Horace Brodzky.
Chapter Plate 5
Springtime - Linocut by Horace Brodzky.
Chapter Plate 6
The Ascetic - Woodcut by Horace Brodzky.
Chapter Plate 7
Dansant - Linocut by Horace Brodzky.
Chapter Plate 8
Soho Square - Linocut by Horace Brodzky.
Chapter Plate 9
Studio Scene - Woodcut by Horace Brodzky.
Chapter Plate 10
Mother and Child - Woodcut by Horace Brodzky.
Chapter