Francis Brabazon

Who was Francis Brabazon?

Francis Brabazon was an Australian poet and a member of Meher Baba's mandali.

Brabazon was born in London. His family moved to Australia when he was a boy. In the 1940s, Brabazon became interested in Eastern spirituality and soon became a student of the Australian Sufi leader Friedrich von Frankenberg.

With the death of his Sufi teacher in 1950, Brabazon became the head of one part of the split 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 he wrote to American Sufi leader Murshida Ivy O. Duce indicating "great depression". Duce replied she thought this was due to the "gradual understanding of what we have to do". In preparation for a planned visit to Australia by Meher Baba, Francis and a party of helpers managed to complete "Beacon Hill house" near Sydney in time for Baba's arrival in August 1956. It was later renamed "Meher House".