Francis Brabazon

Francis Brabazon (24 January 1907 - 24 June 1984) was an Australian poet and a member of Meher Baba's mandali.

Life
Brabazon was born in London, England, but moved to Australia with his family when he was still a boy. At the age of 21, Francis Brabazon embarked on a quest to discover the relationship between beauty and truth. He studied music and painting and finally found his niche in poetry. In the 1940s, Brabazon became interested in Eastern spirituality and soon became a student of the Australian Sufi leader Baron Friedrich von Frankenberg.

With the death of his Sufi teacher in 1950, Brabazon became the head of the Sufi Movement in Australia. He met Meher Baba on a trip to America in 1952 and later described Baba as "the very personification of truth and the very embodiment of beauty." After returning to Australia, Francis and a party of helpers managed to complete "Beacon Hill house" near Sydney in time for Baba's first visit to Australia in August 1956. It was later renamed "Meher House". In 1958 Brabazon established a new center on a 100 acre estate on Kiel Mountain, Woombye, Queensland to host Meher Baba on his second visit. While he was there, Meher Baba named the area Avatar's Abode and said it would become a place of world pilgrimage.

Francis' grave is on Avatar's Abode overlooking the ocean. The Avatar's Abode Trust holds copyright of Francis Brabazon's works.

Publications

 * Early Poems, Luxton & Hooper for Beacon Hill, Sydney, n.d.
 * 7 Stars to Morning, Designed and produced by Edwards & Shaw (Sydney) for Morgan's Bookshop, 1956
 * Cantos of Wandering, Beacon Hill Press, 1957
 * Singing Threshold, Beacon Hill Press, Sydney, 1958
 * Stay With God: A statement in illusion on Reality, Edwards & Shaw (Sydney) for Garuda Books, Woombye, Queensland, 1959. Meher House Publication, Bombay, 1977. New Humanity Books, Melbourne, 1990 (ISBN 0949191078)
 * Let Us the People Sing, Published by: Meherjee A. Karkaria, India, 1962
 * The East West Gathering, Sydney: Meher House, 1963
 * The Word at World's End, John F. Kennedy University Press, Berkeley, 1971
 * Journey With God, Sheriar Press, Myrtle Beach, 1971
 * Three Talks of Meher Baba, Meher Era Publications, 1971
 * In Dust I Sing, Beguine Library, Berkeley, 1974
 * Four and Twenty Blackbirds, Sheriar Foundation, Myrtle Beach, 1975
 * The Silent Word, Meher Baba Foundation, Australia, 1978
 * The Golden Book of Praise, Awakener Press, 1982