Alan Pert graduated from the University of Sydney in 1971 with a Bachelor of Economics degree. In 1981 he completed the Graduate Diploma in Librarianship at the Canberra College of Advanced Education. Since 1988 he has been a librarian at the University of Sydney. He has a particular interest in comparative religion and Hermetic philosophy.
Red Cactus, his biography of the English theosophist Anna Kingsford (1846-1888) includes a detailed account of her close friend, the novelist
Edward Maitland (q.v.) who lived for a number of years in Australia.