Xavier Herbert

File:Xavier Herbert in 1984 (Territory Stories PH0350-0012).tif

Herbert was born Alfred Jackson in Geraldton, Western Australia, in 1901, the illegitimate son of Amy Victoria Scammell and Benjamin Francis Herbert, a Welsh-born engine driver. He was registered at birth as Alfred Jackson, son of John Jackson, auctioneer, with whom his mother had already had two children. Before writing he worked many jobs in Western Australia and Victoria; his first job was in a pharmacy at the age of fourteen. He studied pharmacy at Perth Technical College and was registered as a pharmacist on 21 May 1923 as Alfred Xavier Herbert. He moved to Melbourne, and in 1935 enrolled at the University of Melbourne to study medicine. He started his writing career writing short stories for the popular magazine and newspaper market, publishing under a range of pseudonyms, the most common being Herbert Astor.

He did not publish his first book, Capricornia, until 1938. Capricornia was in part based on Herbert's experiences as Protector of Aborigines in Darwin, though it was written in London between 1930 and 1932. It won the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal for Australia's Best Novel of 1939.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12435804 "Prize for Best Novel" The Argus, 19 March 1940, p1]

The 1940s and 1950s were a relatively lean time for Herbert in terms of publication. He released Seven Emus (1959). In the 1960s he published two books, before the release of Poor Fellow My Country (1975), as well as a short story collection. Poor Fellow My Country is the longest Australian novel.{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/gnt/history/Transcripts/s1224186.htm|title="Xavier Herbert" ABC Retrieved 12 July 2013|website=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=31 January 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303165134/http://www.abc.net.au/gnt/history/Transcripts/s1224186.htm|archive-date=3 March 2016|df=dmy-all}}

Herbert was well known for his outspoken views on indigenous issues. He was a great champion of Aboriginal peoples,31 May 2006 (31 May 2006). [http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=897 "Remembering Herbert"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140112093101/http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=897 |date=12 January 2014 }}. Eureka Street. Retrieved 12 July 2013. particularly those living in missions in Queensland and the Northern Territory. In his personal life he was considered difficult, and his wife Sadie said it was a choice between having children and looking after Xavier. Aware of his own mythology, he frustrated biographers by telling unreliable stories about his life and past.

In 1977 the artist Ray Crooke painted a Portrait of Xavier Herbert followed in 1980 by a Portrait of Sadie Herbert. Professor Emeritus Laurie Hergenhan discussed the story behind the creation of these artworks, and another portrait by Crooke of Sir Zelman Cowen, in "A Tale of Three Portraits."{{cite journal|last1=Hergenhan|first1=Laurie|title=A Tale of Three Portraits|journal=Fryer Folios|date=July 2013|pages=7–9|url=https://www.library.uq.edu.au/_//filething/files/get/fryer/documents/ff8_1_2013.pdf|access-date=3 December 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150207073518/https://www.library.uq.edu.au/_//filething/files/get/fryer/documents/ff8_1_2013.pdf|archive-date=7 February 2015|df=dmy-all}}

By 1982, the widowed Herbert was working on a new novel, "Me and My Shadow" and took a two-month tour of his birth state, Western Australia, in 1983 to gather material for the book.{{cite book |last=De Groen |first=Frances |date=1998 |title=Xavier Herbert |publisher=University of Queensland Press |pages=109–114 |isbn=0702230693}} On 15 January 1984, at age 83, he left his home in Redlynch, Queensland for the last time to drive in his Land Rover into the centre of the country, the Northern Territory. He travelled 2,000 km to his destination: Alice Springs. In June 1984, Herbert refused to accept an award of the Order of Australia from the Hawke government, on the grounds that it was a British Empire honour rather than a nationalist Australian one.De Groen, p.268

In September, Herbert was treated for skin grafts on his leg and carpal tunnel syndrome in Alice Springs, where he was visited by the artist Sidney Nolan and his wife Mary. After his treatment, Herbert moved in temporarily with his doctor, Charles Butcher, and Butcher's family, where he would live for the remaining weeks of his life.De Groen 1998, p.268-269

Herbert died on 10 November 1984 from kidney failure. He was commemorated by the Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, as "a prodigiously committed Australian".De Groen 1998, p. 269 He was buried in Alice Springs, together with his wife's ashes, in a ceremony officiated by Aboriginal activist Pat Dodson in recognition of Herbert's long support for the rights of Aboriginal Australians.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122527953 |title=OBITUARY. |newspaper=The Canberra Times |date=12 November 1984 |access-date=3 December 2014 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}De Groen 1998, p.270

File:Xavier and Sadie Herbert's Cottage (former), 1996.jpg

• Capricornia (1938)
• Seven Emus (1959)
• Soldiers' Women (1961)
• Poor Fellow My Country (1975) – Miles Franklin Award Winner, 1975{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mvhjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WeYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1186,8079733&dq=poor+fellow+my+country+herbert+1975+miles&hl=en |title=The Sydney Morning Herald – Google News Archive |date=28 April 1976 |access-date=23 March 2012}}{{cite web|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/xavier-herberts-poor-fellow-my-country-republished-for-40th-anniversary/story-fn9n8gph-1227137219946?nk=fd501c7ede8e3c9c49f7e98c5dc3d168|title=His country|date=28 November 2014|access-date=31 January 2018}}

• Larger than Life (1963)
• South of Capricornia (1990) – Edited by Russel McDougal
• Xavier Herbert (1992) – Edited by Frances de Groen and Peter Pierce

• Disturbing Element (1963) – Autobiography
• Letters (2002) – Edited by Frances De Groen, Laurie Hergenhan{{cite book | last1 = Herbert | first1 = Xavier | title = Letters |editor1= Francis de Groen |editor2=Laurie Hergenhan | publisher = University of Queensland Press | year = 2002 | location = St Lucia, Qld | pages = 490 | url = http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/9791851 | access-date = 19 August 2013 | isbn = 0-7022-3309-9}}
• Letters from Xavier Herbert, 1980–1983 (unpublished), By Peggy Hayes{{cite book | last1 = Hayes | first1 = Peggy | title = Letters from Xavier Herbert, 1980–1983 [manuscript] | publisher = National Library of Australia | url = http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1538270 | access-date = 19 August 2013 | quote = Manuscript reference no.: NLA MS 9116 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121012111456/http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1538270 | archive-date = 12 October 2012 | df = dmy-all }}

{{reflist}}

• {{Citation|author1=De Groen, Frances|title=Xavier Herbert : a biography|publication-date=1998|publisher=University of Queensland Press|isbn=978-0-7022-3069-1}}
• {{Citation|author1=Dunstan, Keith|title=Ratbags|publication-date=1979|publisher=Golden Press|isbn=978-0-85558-784-0}}

• [http://www.xavier-herbert-novels.com A Long and Winding Road: Xavier Herbert's Literary Journey] – Sean Monahan (2003) – [https://web.archive.org/web/20080611084855/http://home.vicnet.net.au/~abr/Sept03/Walker.htm Review]

• [http://www.xavier-herbert-novels.com A book on Herbert's novels at www.xavier-herbert-novels.com. The book can be read on site or downloaded.]
• [http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/authors/herbertx/herbertx.html Biography on www.middlemiss.org]
• [http://www.abc.net.au/gnt/history/Transcripts/s1224186.htm George Negus Tonight segment]
• [http://www.nla.gov.au/openpublish/index.php/jasal/article/view/771/1168 Frances Devlin-Glass 'The Eco-Centric Self and the Sacred in Xavier Herbert's Poor Fellow My Country ' JASAL 8 (2008)]
• [http://www.nla.gov.au/openpublish/index.php/jasal/article/view/316/462 Fiona Probyn-Rapsey 'Some Whites are Whiter than others: the Whitefella Skin Politics of Xavier Herbert and Cecil Cook' JASAL Special Issue 2007]

{{Miles Franklin Literary Award}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Herbert, Xavier}}

Category:1901 births

Category:1984 deaths

Category:Australian male short story writers

Category:Miles Franklin Award winners

Category:ALS Gold Medal winners

Category:People from Geraldton

Category:20th-century Australian novelists

Category:Australian male novelists

Category:Australian people of Welsh descent

Category:Writers from Western Australia

Category:20th-century Australian short story writers