Albert Facey

Albert Facey (1894–1982) was an Australian memoirist whose autobiography, A Fortunate Life, recounts hardship, work, and family life in rural Western Australia.

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A Fortunate Life: Albert Facey’s autobiography, first published in 1981, recounts his life in rural Western Australia. Facey’s best-known work records the childhood hardships and adult experiences that shaped his public legacy.
Bristol: A city in southwest England and a historic port on the River Avon. Facey was born in Bristol before his family emigrated to Western Australia.
Evelyn Facey: Albert Facey’s wife, with whom he raised a family in Western Australia. Facey’s marriage and family life form a major part of the later chapters of his autobiography.
Australian autobiography: First-person accounts of lives written by Australian authors. A Fortunate Life is a widely read example of autobiography grounded in working-class experience.
Miles Franklin: An Australian novelist best known for the 1901 novel My Brilliant Career. Franklin fictionalized rural girlhood, while Facey recounted his own working life as memoir.
Wundowie: A town in Western Australia established around an ironworks and associated settlement. Facey spent his later years in Wundowie, where he wrote his autobiography.
Western Australia: A state occupying the western third of Australia, with Perth as its capital. Facey’s childhood, working life, and memoir are closely tied to this state.
Hazel de Berg: An Australian oral historian known for recording interviews with writers and other public figures. De Berg recorded Facey discussing his life and work, preserving an oral account alongside his memoir.
A Fortunate Life (miniseries): A 1985 Australian television miniseries adapted from Albert Facey’s autobiography. The adaptation transformed Facey’s written recollections into a nationally broadcast drama.
Henry Lawson: An Australian writer of short stories and poems about bush life and working people. Lawson shaped bush writing through crafted fiction and verse; Facey wrote from direct personal recollection.