Born Alfred Jackson in 1901 (the year of Australia's federation), Herbert was the illegitimate son of a social climbing mother and an engine driver. After studying pharmacy, Herbert moved to Melbourne where he became a magazine short story writer, drawing on his often fantastic views of boyhood, having grown up in Western Australia on the edge of the untamed outback. Herbert then moved to Darwin where he had several jobs including being "Protector of Aborigines", a colonial role in an age when many Aboriginal Australians could not vote or find work. This role increased his belief in the injustice of white Australians towards black Australians. Herbert's first book, "Capricornia", was published in 1938. A dense epic set in the Northern Territory, it tells the story of a white man who takes in his criminal brother's half-black child The novel was released alongside the sesquicentenary celebrations of white Australia. Herbert sought to portray racism and class bigotry in Australia. The novel won the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal and was much feted overseas. "Capricornia" is often cited as a contender for the Great Australian Novel.Having married his wife Sadie, Herbert struggled with his writing during the subsequent decades. His next two novels - "Seven Emus" and "Soldiers' Women" - had reasonable sales but were not critically acclaimed'; they have largely been dismissed by modern critics. Herbert followed these with a short story collection, "Larger than Life", and his autobiography "Disturbing Element" (1963). Herbert was regarded as an important part of Australia's literary fabric - and he did a lot to push his own mythology. His autobiography, as with interviews - was full of stories that historians have come to see as exaggerations if not outright fictions.Herbert and Sadie eventually moved to Queensland, where Herbert could avoid the literary world. He continued to have affairs and, even after Sadie's death, the aged Herbert continued to seek solace with female friends. A passionate believer in Australian self-determinism, and a critic of bigotry (as well as fighting for Aboriginal causes, Herbert's wife was Jewish, and he portrayed the corruption of the rich and landed classes in his novels), Herbert's views nevertheless came to be seen as dated by the 1970s. What had once been radical had become - in the eyes of younger people - unpleasant. But his charm and magnetism made him a fascinating figure to the public. In 1975 (at age 74), he published his fourth novel and sixth book, "Poor Fellow My Country". At 1,463 pages and around 852,000 words, it is the longest Australian novel ever written and arguably the longest novel in English to be published in a single volume. Set during the 1930s, the novel deals again with matters of Australian nationalism bigotry and corruption, in a deeply satirical vein. It sold well, although Nobel laureate Patrick White privately confessed he didn't read all of it.In his last years, Herbert's reputation for difficulty increased. He criticised a Jewish member of his publishing firm for correcting him on points of Jewish life, and stunned an audience when he detailed Sadie's death to such a level that similarly bereaved attendees complained (Herbert became enraged and stormed out). In 1980, when Herbert told the University of Queensland that he would not stand for the national anthem when the Governor-General formally presented the Herbert's archives to the university library, staff removed all the chairs in advance so that everyone had to stand. In 1984, at the age of 83, Herbert set out on a solo driving trip from his Queensland home to the interior of Australia. In May, he refused to be awarded an Order of Australia as it was a colonial honour, bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II. On reaching the "heart" of the country he loved so much, Herbert collapsed and was taken to Alice Springs Hospital, where he died on 10 November.
