Arthur William Upfield (1 September 1890 – 12 February 1964) was an English-Australian writer, best known for his works of detective fiction featuring Detective Inspector Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte of the Queensland Police Force, a mixed-race Indigenous Australian. His books were the basis for a 1970s Australian television series entitled Boney, as well as a 1990 telemovie and a 1992 spin-off TV series.
Born in England, Upfield moved to Australia in 1911 and fought for the Australian military during the First World War. Following his war service, he travelled extensively throughout Australia, obtaining a knowledge of Australian Aboriginal culture that he would later use in his written works. In addition to writing detective fiction, Upfield was a member of the Australian Geological Society and was involved in numerous scientific expeditions.
In The Sands of Windee, a story about a "perfect murder", Upfield invented a method to destroy carefully all evidence of the crime. Upfield's "Windee method" was used in the Murchison Murders, and because Upfield had discussed the plot with friends, including the man accused of the murders, he was called to give evidence in court. The episode is dramatised in the film 3 Acts of Murder, starring Robert Menzies.
Early life The son of a draper, Upfield was born in Gosport, Hampshire, England, on 1 September 1890. In 1911, after he did poorly in examinations towards becoming a real estate agent, Upfield's father sent him to Australia.
With the outbreak of the First World War in the summer of 1914, he joined the First Australian Imperial Force on 23 August 1914. He sailed from Brisbane on 24 September 1914 to Melbourne. At the time of sailing he had the rank of Driver and was with the Australian 1st Light Horse Brigade Train (5 Company ASC [Army Service Corps]). In Melbourne he was at a camp for several weeks before sailing to Egypt. Copy of article with Upfield's World War 1 Military Records held by the National Archives of Australia. 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. Before returning to Australia, Ann gave birth to their only child, James Arthur, born 8 February 1920.
For most of the next 20 years he travelled throughout the outback, working at a number of jobs and learning about Aboriginal cultures. A contributor of an article 'Coming Down with Cattle' to the first edition of Walkabout magazine, he later used the knowledge and material he had gathered in his books.
Career Upfield created the character of Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, based on a man known as "Tracker Leon", whom he said he had met in his travels. Leon was supposedly a half-caste employed as a tracker by the Queensland Police. He was also said to have read Shakespeare and a biography of Napoleon, and to have received a university education. However, there is no evidence that any such person ever existed.Caroline Baum, "The Case of the Disappearing Detective", The Age, Good Weekend magazine, 20 January 2007, p. 26 The novels featuring Bony, as the detective was also known, were far more successful than any other writings by Upfield.
Late in life Upfield became a member of the Australian Geological Society, involved in scientific expeditions. He led a major expedition in 1948 to northern and western parts of Australia, including the Wolfe Creek Crater, which was a setting for his novel The Will of the Tribe published in 1962.
After living at Bermagui, New South Wales, Upfield moved to Bowral. Upfield died at Bowral on 12 February 1964. His last work, The Lake Frome Monster, published in 1966, was completed by J.L. Price and Dorothy Stange.
In 1957, Jessica Hawke published a biography of the author entitled Follow My Dust!. It is generally held, however, that this was written by Upfield himself.
Works Upfield's novels were held in high regard by some fellow writers. In 1987, H. R. F. Keating included The Sands of Windee in his list of the 100 best crime and mystery books ever published. J. B. Priestley wrote of Upfield: "If you like detective stories that are something more than puzzles, that have solid characters and backgrounds, that avoid familiar patterns of crime and detection, then Mr Upfield is your man." His grandson, William Arthur Upfield holds his grandfather's copyright, and the trademark 'Bony', keeping the works in print.
The American mystery novelist Tony Hillerman praised Upfield's works. In his introduction to the posthumous 1984 reprint of Upfield's A Royal Abduction, he described the seduction in his youth of Upfield's descriptions of both the harsh outback areas, and "the people who somehow survived upon them ... When my own Jim Chee of the Navaho Tribal Police unravels a mystery because he understands the ways of his people, when he reads the signs in the sandy bottom of a reservation arroyo, he is walking in the tracks Bony made 50 years ago."
His Bony books were translated into German for the Goldmanns Taschenkrimi Series in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They were widely read and quite successful.
Books Title of book Setting Publication The House of Cain Melbourne and NE of South Australia Serialised: Perth Sunday Times (1928) Hutchinson, London, n.d. ; 1st US Edition: Dorrance, Philadelphia, 1929; 2nd US Edition: (pirated) Dennis McMillan, San Francisco, 1983. The Barrakee MysteryNear Wilcannia, New South Wales First book to feature Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte Serialised: Melbourne Herald (1932) Hutchinson, London, n.d. ; 2nd UK Edition: Heinemann, London, 1965; 1st US Edition: Doubleday/Crime Club, New York, 1965 – as The Lure of the Bush.The Beach of AtonementDongara, Western AustraliaHutchinson, London, n.d. .The Sands of Windee'Windee' is a fictional sheep station near Milparinka, a north of Broken Hill. Windee covered of land and ran 70 000 sheep. Hutchinson, London, n.d. ; 1st Australian Edition: Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1958; 2nd UK Edition: Angus & Robertson, London, 1959.A Royal Abduction Cook and Eucla, on the Nullarbor Plain Serialised: Melbourne Herald (1932) Hutchinson, London, ; 1st US Edition: (pirated) Dennis McMillan, Miami Beach, 1984.Gripped by DroughtThe fictional Atlas Station near Pooncarie, NSWHutchinson, London, n.d. The Murchison MurdersUpfield's own account of the murders in the Murchison regionMidget Masterpiece Publishing, Sydney, n.d. ; 1st US Edition: (pirated) Dennis McMillan, Miami Beach, 1987.Wings Above the DiamantinaIn the region of the Diamantina River, which flows from Western Queensland into northern South AustraliaAngus & Robertson, Sydney, 1936; 2nd Australian edition Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1940 1st UK Edition: Hamilton, London, n.d. – as Winged Mystery 1st US Edition: Doubleday/Crime Club, New York, 1943 – as Wings Above the Claypan. Serialised in Australian newspapers as When Wings are Clipped (1935).Mr. Jelly's BusinessTakes place at Burracoppin and Merredin east of Perth in the Wheat Belt of Western Australia along the rabbit-proof fence. The railway station in the story map and the water pipe have changed little since Upfield's day (he worked clearing brush in Burracoppin).Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1937; 2nd Australian Edition: Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1964 1st UK Edition: Hamilton, London, 1938 1st US Edition: Doubleday/Crime Club, New York, 1943 – as Murder Down Under.Winds of EvilSilverton, New South Wales, and the nearby Barrier Range, which is north and east of Broken HillAngus & Robertson, Sydney, 1937; 2nd Australian Edition: Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1961 1st UK Edition Hutchinson, London, n.d. 1st US Edition: Doubleday/Crime Club, New York, 1944The Bone is Pointed"Opal Town" or Opalton, Queensland, in the Channel Country of the Diamantina RiverAngus & Robertson, Sydney, 1938; 2nd Australian Edition: Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1966 1st UK Edition: Hamilton, London, 1939 1st US Edition: Doubleday/Crime Club, New York, 1947; US Book Club Edition: Unicorn Mystery Book Club, New York, 1946. Serialised in Australian newspapers as Murder on the Station (1938).The Mystery of Swordfish ReefTakes place from Bermagui, New South Wales; the reef extends from Montague Island. The plot is based on the 1880 disappearance of the geologist Lamont Young near Mystery Bay, New South Wales.Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1939; Aust. Book Club Edition:Readers Book Club, Melbourne, 1963 1st UK Edition: Heinemann, London, 1960; UK Book Club Edition: The Companion Book Club, London, 1963; 2nd UK Edition: Heinemann, London, 1971 1st US Edition: Doubleday/Crime Club, New York, 1943Bushranger of the Skies"McPherson's Station", 80 miles northwest of Shaw's Lagoon, South Australia. Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1940; 2nd Australian Edition: Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1963 1st US Edition: Doubleday/Crime Book Club, New York, 1944 – as No Footprints in the BushDeath of a SwagmanWalls of China now in Mungo National Park, north-east of Buronga, far south-western NSW1st Australian Edition: Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1947; 2nd Australian Edition: Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1962 1st UK Edition: Aldor, London, 1946 Doubleday/Crime Book Club, New York, 1945; US Book Club Edition: Unicorn Mystery Book Club, New York, 1946The Devil's StepsSet in a fictional mountain resort called Mount Chalmers, similar to the Dandenong Ranges on the eastern edge of Melbourne, Victoria (most probably in the vicinity of Mt Dandenong, but with some similarities to One Tree Hill in Ferny Creek), and also in Melbourne City and its suburbs South Yarra and Coburg.1st Australian Edition: Invincible Press, Sydney, n.d. [1950–1953]; 2nd Australian Edition: Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1965 1st UK Edition: Aldor, London, 1948 Doubleday/Crime Club, New York, 1946; US Book Club Edition: Unicorn Mystery Book Club, New York, 1946An Author Bites the DustSet in the fictional town of Yarrabo, in the valley of the real Yarra River.Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1948 1st US Edition: Doubleday/Crime Club, New York, 1948; US Book Club Edition: Unicorn Mystery Book Club, New York, 1948The Mountains Have a SecretSet mostly in the Grampians mountain range in western Victoria.1st UK Edition: Heinemann, London, 1952; 2nd UK Edition: Heinemann, London, (date not identified) Doubleday/Crime Club, New York, 1948; US Book Club Edition: Unicorn Mystery Book Club, New York, 1948The Widows of BroomeSet in Broome, Western Australia1st UK Edition: Heinemann, London, 1951; 2nd UK Edition: Heinemann, London, 1967 Doubleday/Crime Club, New York, 1950; US Book Club Edition: Dollar Mystery Guild, New York, 1950The Bachelors of Broken HillBroken Hill, New South Wales1st Australian Edition: Invincible Press, Sydney, between 1950 and 1953 1st UK Edition: Heinemann, London, 1958; 2nd UK Edition: Heinemann, London, (date not identified); Large Print Edition: Ulverscroft, Leicester, 1974 Doubleday/Crime Club, New York, 1950; US Book Club Edition: Detective Book Club, New York, 1951The New ShoeAireys Inlet; specifically, Split Point Lighthouse and Broken Rock1st UK Edition: Heinemann, London, 1952; 2nd UK Edition: Heinemann, London, 1968 Doubleday/Crime Book Club, New York, 1951Venom House Set in and around "Edison", the real-life Elston, on the swampy coast south of Brisbane.(The name was later changed as Surfers Paradise) long before it became a tourist resort.1st UK Edition: Heinemann, London, 1953; 2nd UK Edition: Heinemann, London, 1970 Doubleday/Crime Club, New York, 1952; US Book Club Edition: Unicorn Mystery Club, New York, 1952Murder Must Wait"Mitford", New South Wales, which is approximately where real-life Wentworth is located. Various references indicate far west of New South Wales.1st UK Edition: Heinemann, London, 1953; 2nd UK Edition: Heinemann, London, (date not identified)