A Fortunate Life

At eight years old, an impoverished Bert Facey was forced to start the backbreaking, dawn to dusk life of a farm labourer. Unschooled, his father dead, abandoned by his mother, by the age of twenty he had survived the rigours of pioneering the harsh Australian bush and the slaughter of the bloody WWI campaign at Gallipoli.

Adapted from A.B. Facey's best selling autobiographical novel, this is the extraordinary tale of an ordinary Aussie battler, and remains one of the great Australian miniseries. In the tradition of A Town Like Alice and Sara Dane, the complete four chapters of this epic television event finally comes to DVD.

Part 1: Starting Out (1897 - 1905)
Bert Facey's tormented early years through his fathers death and harsh economic depression

Part 2: Bush Schooling (1905 - 1908)
Bert goes to work for the Phillips, a childless couple who treat him as one of the family.

Part 3: Journey (1908 - 1914)
Reunited with his mother after 12 years, Bert soon moves north to seek work.

Part 4: Providence (1914 - 1916)
A champion prize fighter, Bert enlists when WW1 breaks out, surviving the nightmare of Gallipoli.