Albert Facey

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Albert Facey (born August 31, 1894 in Maidstone, Victoria; died February 1982) is an Australian writer, whose main work was his autobiography A Fortunate Life, now considered a classic in Australian literature.

His father died on the Goldfields of Western Australia in 1896 of typhoid fever and Albert's mother left her children to the care of their grandmother shortly afterwards. In 1899 he moved from Victoria to Western Australia with his grandmother and three of his six older siblings. Most of his childhood was spent in the Wickepin area.

He started working on farms at the age of eight and had little education. By the age of 14 he was an experienced bushman, and at 18 a professional boxer. He was badly injured at Gallipoli in August 1915 during the First World War, in which two of his brothers were killed. While recuperating he met his future wife Evelyn 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, Barney, was killed during the Second World War - and twenty-eight grandchildren.

After teaching himself to read and write, Facey began making notes on his life and, at the urging of his wife and children, eventually had the notes printed into a book. It was published just nine months before his death in February 1982.[1]

His home in Wickepin is a tourist attraction today, while a government building on Forrest Place in the state capital, Perth, is named in his honour and is home to Perth's main travel bureau and visitor centre. A public library in Mundaring and a hotel in Narrogin also bear his name.

Persondata
NAME	Facey, Albert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	A. B. Facey
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Western Australian pastoral worker well know for autobiography A Fortunate Life
DATE OF BIRTH	1894
PLACE OF BIRTH	Western Australia, Australia
DATE OF DEATH	1982
PLACE OF DEATH	Western Australia, Australia