PublishedFremantle Press, April 2018 |
ISBN9781925591408 |
FormatSoftcover, 432 pages |
Dimensions19.6cm × 13.2cm × 3.5cm |
Albert Facey's story is the story of Australia. Born in 1894, and first sent to work at the age of nine, Facey lived the rough frontier life of a labourer and farmer and jackaroo, becoming lost and then rescued by Indigenous trackers, then gaining a hard-won literacy, surviving Gallipoli, raising a family through the Depression, losing a son in the Second World War, and meeting his beloved Evelyn with whom he shared nearly sixty years of marriage.
Despite enduring unimaginable hardships, Facey always saw his life as a fortunate one. A true classic of Australian literature, Facey's simply penned story offers a unique window onto the history of Australian life through the greater part of the twentieth century - the extraordinary journey of an ordinary man.
Bill is one of the founders of Boffins and has been involved in selecting the books we stock since our beginning in 1989. His favourite reading is history, with psychology, current affairs, and business books coming close behind. His hobbies are reading, food, reading, drinking, reading, and sleeping.
The very personal style of an autobiography, the choice of what the writer shares with us of their lives, and of what they leave out, means they often tell us their story as they’d like us to see it. That’s a good thing too, for we find out what’s important to them and what affected them most in their lives. Albert Facey’s autobiography spans the period from the early 1890s when he came as a child to the Kalgoorlie Goldfields through to the mid-twentieth century. Drover, railway worker, soldier at Gallipoli, soldier settler (forced off the land during the Great Depression) and then tramway worker, Facey lived a full but hard life and tells his story in a frank and matter-of-fact way. If you want to feel what it was like to live as an average Joe in the first half of the twentieth century, then I don’t think you can do better than read this book. The good old days won’t look so good, but you’ll be both moved and informed, and you’ll perhaps be grateful for what you have today. I treasure this book.
