A Fortunate Life - Albert Facey - A Classic Australian Movie You Must Watch! Review!
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Albert Facey - Wikipedia
Albert (Bert) Facey (31 August 1894 – 11 February 1982) was an Australian writer and World War I veteran, whose main work was his autobiography, A Fortunate Life, now considered a classic of Australian literature. It has sold more than 800,000 copies
Facey was born in Maidstone, Victoria, the son of Joseph Facey and Mary Ann Facey, née Carr.His father died on the goldfields of Western Australia in 1896 of typhoid fever, when Albert was two years old. In 1898, Albert's mother departed for Western Australia to care for her older children, who had accompanied their father to the goldfields. She left her younger children, including Albert, to the care of their grandmother. When his grandfather died in 1898, the grandmother, Mrs Jane Carr, (née Barnett), moved with Albert and his siblings Roy (born 1890), Eric (born 1889) and Myra (born 1892) in 1899 from Barkers Creek near Castlemaine, Victoria, to Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. He began his working life around 1902, aged eight, and hardly ever lived with his family again. He was never able to attend school, but he managed to teach himself to read and write when he was in his teens.
On his first job as a farm boy, his employer subjected him to virtual slavery and violent beatings with a horse whip. After sustaining months of such abuse, Albert escaped by walking over 20 miles through the bush and luckily finding some new settlers that had camped. Although the police were informed of the abuse, his employer was never prosecuted. The scars on his back and neck from the injuries he had sustained remained evident for the rest of his life.
In 1908 Facey's mother remarried, and he travelled at her request to Perth to live with her and her second husband, a plumber named Arthur Bill Downie at Subiaco. However, he only stayed a short time before accepting work back in rural Western Australia. Thereafter Facey and his mother saw each other sporadically until she died suddenly in September 1914, aged 51.[2] His childhood in Western Australia was spent in areas such as Kalgoorlie, Narrogin, Bruce Rock, Merredin, Yealering, Wickepin, Pingelly, and at Cave Rock, near Popanyinning, which he writes about in Chapter 2 of A Fortunate Life.
By the age of 14 he was an experienced farm labourer and bushman, and at 20 he became a professional boxer with a troupe that toured South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. His boxing career continued until he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in January 1915.
A Fortunate Life - Wikipedia
A Fortunate Life by Albert B. Facey - Goodreads
A Fortunate Life by A B Facey - Penguin Books Australia
Albert Facey Homestead
Located in the main street of Wickepin, the Albert Facey Homestead celebrates the life of Albert Facey, author of the best selling autobiography A Fortunate Life. The homestead was moved into town from a farm property in 2000 and has been lovingly restored to reflect the harsh and simple lifestyle in the early 1930's.
Source: Wickepin Shire Website
Albert Facey Homestead Photos
Albert Facey Photos - The Boy, The Man, The Early Pioneer, The Farmer, The Soldier, The War Hero, The Western Australian Legend
Albert Facey Homestead Wickepin (Beautiful Short Clip)
The Complete Movie Series
A Fortunate Life - Part 1
A Fortunate Life - Part 2
A Fortunate Life - Part 3
A Fortunate Life - Part 4
Wickepin, Western Australia
Wickepin, is a town located within the wheatbelt region approximately 215kms from Perth. During our stay in Collie we planned a day trip out to Wickepin to visit the site of Albert Facey's House and the town in which our ancestors lived (Haacks and Walker families) when they first migrated to Australia and set up farming properties within the area.
Wickepin, Western Australia is a great little town with so much history and local artwork for you to stop off and see.
If you've read Albert Facey's Book, Our Fortunate Life, then visiting the homestead and the heritage walk will be a must.
Before returning to Collie we enjoyed a beautiful meal at the Wickepin Harvest Café.
Tony Hughes-d'Aeth talks about his book, Like Nothing on this Earth.
Tony Hughes-d'Aeth is a scholar based at The University of Western Australia. His latest book looks at the paradox of the Western Australian wheatbelt: as a space of environmental degradation, and as a world with its own identity. Tony traces the wheatbelt through the work of writers such as Albert Facey, Peter Cowan, Dorothy Hewett, Jack Davis, Elizabeth Jolley, and John Kinsella.
Find out more about the book on our website at