Facey, Albert (1894-1982), an Australian, became a best-selling author with the publication of his autobiography, A Fortunate Life (1981). The autobiography, Facey’s only book, was published nine months before his death. A Fortunate Life originated in notebooks Facey kept. His children typed them up and showed the manuscript to a publisher, who issued the book.
In his autobiography, Facey told of his hard childhood and early life. Deserted by his widowed mother, Facey and his brothers and sisters were brought up in poverty by their grandmother in rural Western Australia. He began work at the age of 8, and his employers exploited and beat him as if he were a slave. He worked on cattle stations (ranches) and drove cattle to market. As a teenager, he worked on the railroads before joining a traveling boxing troupe. He fought at Gallipoli, now in Turkey, during World War I (1914-1918), and on his return to Australia, married and became a soldier settler. During the Great Depression of the 1930’s, he moved to Perth and became an organizer in the Tramways Union. He lost a farm during the Depression, and one of his sons died in World War II (1939-1945).
Albert Barnett Facey was born in Maidstone, Victoria, Australia. He had no formal education and taught himself to read and write when he was an adult.
