Xavier and Sadie Herbert's Cottage, historic site in Queensland, Australia
Xavier and Sadie Herbert's Cottage is a small timber house in Redlynch, Queensland, built on low supports with a simple design. The dwelling features enclosed front and back verandahs and three rooms connected by French doors, alongside a corrugated metal roof and aluminium exterior panelling.
Herbert purchased the house in 1951 as a place to write and create a home for Sadie. The cottage became central to his literary output during his residency, particularly following the 1975 publication of Poor Fellow My Country, his longest and most significant novel.
The house served as both a home and workspace that deeply shaped Herbert's identity and writing. The name 'Sadie's house' reflects how the home was rooted in his relationship with his wife, who provided emotional support that grounded his literary work.
The house sits on Kamerunga Road opposite Redlynch railway station and near the local hotel, making it accessible in the village setting. Visitors should know the writer's shed where Herbert worked was demolished in the mid-1990s, though the main residence and surrounding cane fields still convey a sense of his daily life and surroundings.
Herbert built a writer's shed from old railway parts in his backyard in the 1950s, a simple workspace that reflected his desire for self-sufficiency and independence. This unusual writing retreat vanished in the mid-1990s but remains part of the story of how his unconventional approach shaped his literary output.
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