A FORTUNATE LIFE

by AB Albert FACEY

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New softcover book, 422 pages. Published 2005

In Albert Facey's story we find a story of Australia.

Born in 1894, Facey lived the rough frontier life of a sheep farmer, survived the gore of Gallipoli, raised a family through the Depression and spent sixty years with his beloved wife, Evelyn. Despite enduring hardships we can barely imagine today, Facey always saw his life as a 'fortunate' one.

A true classic of Australian literature, his simply written autobiography is an inspiration. It is the story of a life lived to the full - the extraordinary journey of an ordinary man.

Awards for A Fortunate Life

Banjo Award for Australian Literature - Non-Fiction Winner - 1981

NSW State Literary Award - Douglas Stewart Prize Winner - 1981

About the Author

Albert Barnett 'Bert' A.B. Facey (31 August 1894 – February 1982) was born in Maidstone, Victoria and grew up on the Kalgoorlie goldfields and in the wheat-belt of Western Australia. His father died before he was two and he was deserted by his mother soon afterwards. He was looked after by his grandmother until he was eight years old, when he went out to work. His many jobs included droving, hammering spikes on the railway line from Merredin to Wickepin and boxing in a travelling troupe. He was in the Eleventh Battalion at the Gallipoli landing. He was badly injured at Gallipoli in August 1915 during the First World War, in which two of his brothers were killed. He was subsequently evacuated to Alexandria and ultimately to Suez. He was then invalided to Australia on 31 October 1915. While recuperating he met his future wife Evelyn Mary Gibson and they were married in Bunbury in August 1916. The Faceys lived in East Perth before returning to Wickepin six years later with their children, where they lived until 1934. The couple had seven children - the eldest, (also Albert Barnett Facey) known as Barney, was killed in Malaya on 15 February 1942 during the Second World War - and twenty-eight grandchildren.

After the war, he became a farmer under the Soldier Settlement Scheme but was forced off the land during the Depression. He joined the tramways and was active in the Tramways Union. Facey, who had no formal education, taught himself to read and write. He made the first notes of his life soon after World War I, and filled notebooks with his accounts of his experiences. Finally, on his children's urging, he submitted the hand-written manuscript to the Fremantle Arts Centre Press. He died in 1982, nine months after A Fortunate Life had been published to wide acclaim.

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A Fortunate Life by A.B Facey