of Cairns - where Sadie lodged Xavier's first drafts with their bank - but lies amid sugar cane fields at the base of the coastal ranges where Xavier established his writer's camps. The Herberts became well known to the Redlynch community, with Xavier acting as relieving pharmacist in the village during the 1950s and 1960s. A fitness fanatic, he regularly jogged through the canefields, along the railway and into the hills, before jogging became fashionable, and claimed he gained the inspiration to write Poor Fellow My Country while running. Xavier was also known for his attempts at self-sufficiency. He experimented with battery-powered DC electricity, and the wiring in the cottage may contain remnants of this system. In the backyard he constructed a small "writer's shed", which local residents believe was made of two small sheds taken from the Kuranda Scenic Railway and moved by railcar to Redlynch. Poor Fellow My Country was partly written and revised here 1969–74, but this structure was demolished late in 1995. With the prize money received for Poor Fellow My Country, the Herberts carried out a number of alterations to the Redlynch cottage. A septic system was installed and a new bathroom and toilet were built at the rear of the house. The interior was modernised with plasterboard ceilings and imitation timber-grain wall panelling. The exterior was re-clad with aluminium, enclosing the front verandah in the process, and a garage and guest room for the use of visiting friends and academics was built in the backyard. A new carport was constructed at the side of the cottage. Following Sadie's death in 1979, Xavier remained in the cottage until a few months before his own death at Alice Springs in April 1984. Toward the end of his life, Herbert in 1983 gave the Redlynch cottage to his friend and bank agent Robyn Pill, asking her to look after the house when he left. She retained the place until 1989. There have been substantial renovations to the Redlynch cottage since the Herberts' time, with the interior reconstructed and refurbished in mid-1996, and most of the trees and shrubs in the garden removed, except for a number of palm trees. A great loss was the writer's shed in the backyard, Xavier's million dollar dog house, demolished in the summer of 1995–96. Description The former Xavier and Sadie Herbert's Cottage is located in the heart of the village of