Arthur W. Upfield © Kees de Hoog 2004 kdehoog@graduate.uwa.edu.au Just ONE page on the Collecting Books and Magazines web site based in Australia. Page updated 4th May, 2008. Short Biography Published Novels Some Published Minor Works Further Research Links to Other Web Sites Movie news 'Blood in the Sand'

Arthur William Upfield is well known to aficionados of mystery fiction as the creator of Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte (Bony) of the Queensland Police who appears in 29 novels, mostly set in outback Australia. It's not so well known that he also wrote another six novels as well as numerous articles published in journals including The Wide World Magazine, The West Australian newspaper, The Herald (Melbourne) newspaper, Walkabout, and The Australian Journal.

Upfield was born into a family of drapers on 1 September 1890 in Gosport on Portsmouth Bay, Hampshire, England. He was an avid reader of boys' adventure magazines that were popular at the time, but did not do well at school. Apprenticed aged 16 to a surveyor, he was more interested in writing novels and other, more daring, escapades. In despair, his father sent him to Australia saying: "it is so far away you will never save enough money to return."

Arriving in Adelaide in 1911, Upfield soon went to the outback where he worked as offsider to a mule team driver, fence builder and boundary rider, opal digger and drover, to mention just a few. He quickly developed an attachment to the outback that laid the foundations for the rest of his life.

On the outbreak of World War I in 1914 he joined the Australian Imperial Forces and served in Egypt, Gallipoli, England and France. In 1915 he married Ann Douglass, an Australian Army nurse, in Cairo, and a son was born in England in 1920. They returned to Australia in 1921 and Upfield "went bush" again soon afterwards.

He had continued to write desultorily, and in 1924 was persuaded to "have a go" at becoming a professional writer. After four novels and several articles were published, he left the bush in 1931 to live in Perth with his family and write full time.

With the help of workmates while working on the No 1 Rabbit Proof Fence in Western Australia, Upfield developed a method of disposing of a body for his second Bony novel, The Sands of Windee. One "mate", Snowy Rowles, adopted that method when committing at least two murders in 1929, and Upfield gave evidence at Rowles' trial in Perth in 1932. See Murder on the Rabbit Proof Fence for more details.

Upfield joined The Herald newspaper in Melbourne in 1933, but was retrenched and returned to freelance writing the following year. Over the next five years his output of articles and short stories was prolific as he struggled to make a living. The only novels he wrote during that time and later were Bony stories - many were serialised in journals as well as published as books.

When World War II began in 1939 he joined Military Intelligence as a censor. He resumed writing in 1944, producing about one novel a year.

Some Bony novels, previously published only in the UK and Australia, were sent to a US publisher in 1943. They proved very popular and most of the Bony novels were published there within a short time, as were those he wrote later. The extra sales allowed Upfield to live comfortably from writing Bony novels for the rest of his life.

In 1946 he left Anne to live with Jessica Hawke, a widow, in a defacto relationship that lasted until his death in 1964. Together they moved from Melbourne to Airey's Point on the south coast of Victoria in 1951, then to Bermagui on the south coast of New South Wales in 1954 where Upfield indulged his favourite pastime of swordfishing, and finally to Bowral just south of Sydney in 1957.

Upfield spent several months each year wandering around the outback until poor health prevented it. In 1948, he led a National Geographic Society expedition to Wolf Creek Crater in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, which he later used as the setting for The Will of the Tribe.

A feature of all Upfield's writings is first hand knowledge of the locations, both real and imaginary, together with highly evocative descriptions of the landscapes. For example, Death of a Swagman takes place around the Darling River in New South Wales where he spent the most time in the bush, The New Shoe was set in Airey's Point, and Bermagui was the location for The Mystery of Swordfish Reef.

Upfield is now recognised as the first Australian writer of mystery stories. But his books were never critically acclaimed here during his lifetime, despite their popularity in the UK and the US where the mystery novel had become an established form of literature. His response was to write An Author Bites the Dust, published in 1948, an attack on the Australian literary establishment.

The Cake in the Hatbox was a runner-up for the 1956 Gold Dagger award from The Crime Writers Association of Great Britain. The Bushman Who Came Back was awarded the 1957 Book of the Year by Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and was nominated for the 1958 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers Guild of America. Upfield was the first non-American admitted to the Guild.

Over the years his books have been translated into many languages, read over radio, and transformed into radio plays and television series. There was even an attempt in 1961 to create a Bony comic strip, but it did not gain syndication.

Follow My Dust by Jessica Hawke is Upfield's official biography, but there is a strong suspicion that he partly wrote it. Some aspects of his life, such as his marriage and army experiences, are barely mentioned; and there are significant discrepancies with an earlier unpublished autobiography.

It's generally agreed that his best novel is Death of a Lake in which the solution to the mystery is revealed when a lake dries up.Upfield himself considered Gripped by Drought to be one of his best and I agree. Used copies of all his books are still readily available, except The House of Cain, A Royal Abduction, Gripped by Drought and The Murchison Murders which are quite rare. The Beach of Atonement has recently been republished at http://stores.lulu.com/thewombat .

I have recently published a selection of Upfield's short stories.

I have always enjoyed mystery stories starting with Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie's books. I had read most of the Bony books when, looking for an interest outside of work, I decided in 2001 to delve further into the works of an author. It made sense to choose an Australian author, and from that point Upfield virtually chose himself.

Published Novels
With alternative titles and in order of publication (in book form unless otherwise indicated). * Denotes non-Bony novels.
*The House of Cain, 1928.
The Barrakee Mystery, 1929; The Lure of the Bush, 1965.
*The Beach of Atonement, 1930.
The Sands of Windee, 1931.
*A Royal Abduction, 1932.
*Gripped by Drought, 1932.
*Breakaway House, serial 1932, book 1987.
Mr Jelly’s Business, serial 1932-3, book 1937; Murder Down Under, 1943.
*The Great Melbourne Cup Mystery, serial 1933, book 1996.
Wings Above the Diamentina, 1936; Winged Mystery, 1937; Wings Above the Claypan, 1943.
Winds of Evil, 1937.
The Bone is Pointed, 1938.
The Mystery of Swordfish Reef, 1939.
Bushranger of the Skies, 1940; No Footprints in the Bush, 1944.
Death of a Swagman, 1945.
The Devil’s Steps, 1946.
An Author Bites the Dust, 1948.
The Mountains Have a Secret, 1948.
The Widows of Broome, 1949.
The Bachelors of Broken Hill, 1950.
The New Shoe, 1951; The Clue of the New Shoe, 1952.
Venom House, 1952.
Murder Must Wait, 1953.
Death of a Lake, 1954.
Sinister Stones, 1954; The Cake in the Hatbox, 1955.
The Battling Prophet, serial 1955, book 1956.
The Man of Two Tribes, 1956; Man of Two Tribes, 1956.
The Bushman Who Came Back,1957; Bony Buys a Woman, 1957.
Journey to the Hangman, 1959: Bony and the Mouse, 1959.
Bony and the Black Virgin, 1959; The Torn Branch, 1965.
Valley of Smugglers, 1960; Bony and the Kelly Gang, 1960.
The White Savage, 1961; Bony and the White Savage, 1961.
The Will of the Tribe, 1962.
The Body at Madman's Bend, 1963; Madman's Bend, 1963.
The Lake Frome Monster, 1966 (completed by J L Price & D Strange).

Some Published Minor Works
de Hoog K, Up and Down Australia, Internet: Lulu.com, 2008 (a selection of short stories). Go to http://www.lulu.com/content/1447061 to order.
“Fighting the Dingo”, The Wide World Magazine, vol 56, Apr 1926, pp 441-446.
“Fur-Getting in Australia”, The Wide World Magazine, vol 59, no 349, Apr 1927, pp 64-70.
“The Land of Opportunity, Part 1”, The Wide World Magazine, vol 61, no 365, Aug 1928, pp 363-374.
“The Land of Opportunity, Part 2”, The Wide World Magazine, vol 61, no 366, Sep 1928, pp 492-498.
The Murchison Murders, Midget Masterpiece, Sydney, 1934; Dennis McMillan, Miami Beach, Florida, 1987.
“A Visit to Lake Frome”, Walkabout, vol 1, no 2, Dec 1934, pp 44-47.
“Men, Sheep and Far Horizons”, Walkabout, vol 1, no 3, Jan 1935, pp 8-16; Bolton A T (Ed), Walkabout’s Australia, Ure Smith, Sydney, 1964, pp 11-19.
“Hosts Hidden in the Bush”, Walkabout, vol 1, no 4, Feb 1935, pp 22-25.
“Patrolling the World’s Longest Fence”, Walkabout, vol 1, no 5, Mar 1935, pp 11-16; The Murchison Murders, Dennis McMillan, Miami Beach, Florida, 1987, pp 56-68.
“An Australian Cattle Station”, Walkabout, vol 1, no 8, Jun 1935, pp 27-29; The Murchison Murders, Dennis McMillan, Miami Beach, Florida, 1987, pp 69-74.
“Trapping for Fur”, Walkabout, vol 1, no 11, Sep 1935, pp 25-30; The Murchison Murders, Dennis McMillan, Miami Beach, Florida, 1987, pp 75-90.
“Wandi and the Bilker”, The Australian Journal, vol 73, pt 860, Nov 1937, pp 1477-1481, 1503.
“A Man Who Dreamed”, The Australian Journal, vol 73, pt 861, Dec 1937, pp 1638-1642.
“The Bewildered Castaways”, The Australian Journal, vol 74, pt 862, Jan 1938, pp 70-79.
“Dehamboi the Makromme”, The Australian Journal, vol 74, pt 864, Mar 1938, pp 352-359.
“Angling for Sword-fish”, Walkabout, vol 8, no 4, Feb 1942, pp 34-38.
“This Jealous Land”, Walkabout, vol 14, no 6, Apr 1948, pp 38-42.
“Walking the Cattle”, Walkabout, vol 14, no 7, May 1948, pp 8-13.
“Pearling Town of the North-west”, Walkabout, vol 15, no 3, Mar 1949, pp 29-32.
“The Vermin Fences of Western Australia”, Walkabout, vol 15, no 5, May 1949, pp 17-20.
“The Critics Value”, The Austrovert, vol 4, 1951, p 8.
“Wisp of Wool and Disk of Silver”, Ellery Queen’s Magazine, New York, vol 74, no 6, Dec 1979; Ellery Queen’s Cruise Round the World, Dial Press, New York, 1981; Latta D (Ed), Sand on the Gumshoe, Random House, Hornsby, Australia, 1989, pp 167-180.

Further Research
Hawke J, Follow my Dust, Heineman, Melbourne, 1957 (Upfield’s official biography).
Hetherington J, Forty-Two Faces, Cheshire, Melbourne, 1962, pp 19-23 (a short biography).
Asdell P T (Ed), The Bony Bulletin, Maryland, vol 1, Nov 1981 - vol 33, Jul 1990 (an occasional journal for Bony & Upfield enthusiasts); The Collected Bony Bulletins, Tucson, Corgi, 2007 (email c.stone@cox.net to order).
Ruskin P, “Arthur Upfield: They Still Follow His Dust”, This Australia, vol 5, no 3, Winter 1986, pp 53-58 (a short biography).
Browne R B, Spirit of Australia, Bowling Green, 1988 (a critical analysis of Upfield’s crime fiction).
Walker T, Murder on the Rabbit Proof Fence, Hesperian, 1993 (a detailed look at the Snowy Rowles murders case).
Finder J H(Ed), Marsupial Mutterings, New York, no 1, Nov 1994 - no 6, Nov 2007 (an occasional journal for Bony and Upfield enthusiasts).
Burnet R, An Upfield Bibliography, Australian Book Collector, 2002 (a comprehensive listing of the various editions of Upfield’s books and their values).
Lindsey T, Arthur William Upfield: A Biography, http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/adt/browse/view/adt-MU20051003.113934 2005.
In Search of Bony, Marcom Projects, DVD 6SB1SB, 2007. Go to http://www.marcom.com.au/product_details.php?prod=6SBISB to order.

Web Sites
http://homepage.mac.com/klock/upfield/upfield.html The Unofficial Arthur W Upfield and Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte Homepage.
http://upfield.quaggabooks.co.uk/ Bony - Arthur W Upfield’s Australian Detective.
http://heenan73.proboards29.com/ Famous Folk Forum: Arthur W Upfield.
http://www.classicaustraliantv.com/Boney.htm Classic Australian Television: Boney.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/bwriting/stories/s550978.htm Radio National Books and Writing: The Arthur Upfield Mystery - Bony.
http://nicholnl.wcp.muohio.edu/DingosBreakfastClub/Australia/UpfieldMysteries.html Australian Natural History: Human ecology context for the "Bony" mysteries by Arthur William Upfield.

Movie News [CB&M Editor]
May 3 - Filming began in Western Australia this week, on a brand new ABC telemovie Blood in the Sand. Written by Ian David (Blue Murder, Joh’s Jury, The Shark Net), this true crime story explores the relationship between violent behaviour and creative responsibility. / Set in the late 1920s and early 1930s Blood in the Sand stars Robert Menzies (Three Dollars) as Arthur Upfield, crime writer and rabbit proof fence repairer, who plots the perfect murder for his fictional super sleuth Napolean Bonaparte (Bony), however Upfield has no idea of the power of his imagination. The telemovie will also star Luke Ford (The Black Balloon, Kokoda, Junction Boys), Nicholas Hope (Bad Boy Bubby) & AFI Award-winning actress Emma Booth (Clubland). [ABC TV publicity]

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