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Arthur Upfield

Arthur William Upfield was an Australian writer, best known for his works of detective fiction featuring Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte ('Bony') of the Queensland Police Force.

Upfield was born in Gosport, Hampshire, England on 1 September 1890. His father was a draper. In 1910, after doing poorly in examinations towards becoming a real estate agent, Upfield was sent to Australia by his father.

With the outbreak of World War I, he joined the First Australian Imperial Force on 23 August 1914.Upfield sailed from Brisbane on the HMAT Anglo Egyptian on 24 September 1914 to Melbourne. At the time of sailing he had the rank of Driver and was with the 1st Light horse Brigade Train . In Melbourne he was at a camp for several weeks before sailing to Egypt. He fought at Gallipoli and in France, and married an Australian nurse, Ann Douglass, in Egypt in 1915. He was discharged in England on 15 October 1919. He worked as a private secretary to an army officer. In 1921 he returned to Australia with his wife and their son.

For most of the next twenty years he travelled throughout the outback working at a number of jobs. He learnt much of Aboriginal culture, later to be used in his books.

Upfield created the character of Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, based on a man known as 'Tracker Leon' whom he had met in his travels. Leon Wood was a half-caste Aborigine who was employed as an Aboriginal tracker by the Queensland Police. The novels featuring 'Bony', as the character was also known, were far more successful than other Upfield writings.

Late in life Upfield became a prominent member of the Australian Geological Society, involved in scientific expeditions. In particular he led a major expedition in 1948 to northern and western parts of Australia in 1948, including the Wolfe Creek crater. The Wolfe Creek crater was a setting for his novel The Will of the Tribe published in 1962.

After living at Bermagui, New South Wales, Upfield moved to Jasmine Street, Bowral, New South Wales. Upfield died at Bowral on 13 February, 1964. His last work, The Lake Frome Monster, published in 1966, was completed by J.L. Price and Dorothy Stange.

In 1957, his second wife, Jessica Hawke, published a biography of the author entitled Follow My Dust!. It is generally held however, that this was written by Upfield himself.

Bibliography

• The Barrakee Mystery (1929)
• Wind at My Back (1931)
• The Sands of Windee (1931)
• Bony and the White Savage (1945)
• The Mountains Have a Secret (1942)
• The Bone Is Pointed (1938)
• Killer Lion (1966)
• Unlawful Occasions (1972)
• Death of a Swagman (1935)
• Journey to the Hangman (1947)