Xavier Herbert

Who was Xavier Herbert?

Xavier Herbert was an Australian writer best known for his Miles Franklin Award-winning novel Poor Fellow My Country. He is considered one of the elder statesmen of Australian literature. He is also known for short story collections and his autobiography Disturbing Element.

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, even though it was written in London between 1930 and 1932.