Starting Out

Bert Facey doesn't have an easy start in life. Born in 1894, he is two years old when his father dies of typhoid fever trying his luck on the western Australian gold fields. Then Bert's mother abandons him and his brothers and sisters to the care of his grandmother. At this time, Australia is deep in an economic recession, which makes the difficult life of pioneering the Australian bush even harder. Bert, his grandmother and his siblings travel hundreds of miles from Melbourne to join an uncle and his family in their rough hut on the Kalgoorlie goldfields. But the gold is almost depleted, so they move to a Government land grant to carve out a farm from virgin bush, miles from any settlement. Despite this, there are too many mouths to feed, so at eight, Bert goes to work on the farm of a family of drunken horse thieves. Forced to work from dusk to dawn, he never sees the wages and clothing he is promised. When he is whipped almost to death at the age of ten, Bert escapes back to the care of his grandmother and uncle.