Murphy, Ffion, and Nile, Richard (2016) The naked Anzac: exposure and concealment in A.B. Facey's A Fortunate Life. Southerly, 75 (3). pp. 219-238.

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Abstract

[Extract] In January 1915, five months after the outbreak of the Great War, twenty-year-old would-be soldier Albert Facey stripped naked for examination at the Blackboy Army Camp situated in the foothills of Perth, Western Australia. "I had to strip off all my clothes and lie down," Facey remembers in his best-selling autobiography, A Fortunate Life: "A doctor came and examined me from head to toe." The young man’s exemplary body attracted the attention of the presiding medical officer. In the course of further assessment, several other attending personnel were called to observe: "I was informed that I was the only man out of the thousands measured, who was exactly six feet tall. So I had, in their opinion, a height all to myself" (299–300). Albert Facey’s military and medical records confirm that he was, indeed, six feet tall, weighed 175pounds, measured between 36˝ and 39 inches around the chest, and had blue eyes, brown hair and a "fresh complexion." The only imperfections were four small vaccination scars on his upper left arm (War Service).

Item ID:	46039
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	0038-3732
Date Deposited:	12 Jun 2017 04:07
FoR Codes:	47 LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE > 4705 Literary studies > 470502 Australian literature (excl. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander literature) @ 75% 43 HISTORY, HERITAGE AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 4303 Historical studies > 430302 Australian history @ 25%
SEO Codes:	95 CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING > 9505 Understanding Past Societies > 950503 Understanding Australias Past @ 100%
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