Австралиялық детективтер жанрының авторы Артур Апфилд

Writer best known for Australian detective fiction

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 with 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.

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. 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.

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. The novels featuring Bony, as the detective was also known, were far more successful than any other writings by Upfield. [[Image:Bowral3JasmineStreet. jpg|thumb|3 Jasmine Street, Bowral, the house where Upfield spent his last years and died

After living at Bermagui, New South Wales, Upfield moved to Bowral. Upfield died at Bowral on 12 February 1964. His Bony books were translated into German for the Goldmanns Taschenkrimi Series in the late 50s and early 60s. They were widely read and quite successful.

From 1972 to 1973, Fauna Productions (also responsible for Skippy the Bush Kangaroo) produced a 26 episode television series. After a long search for a half white, half Aborigine actor, the producers chose English actor Jon Finch for the role of Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte. When he suddenly became unavailable, Fauna's John McCallum flew to London in panic and was lucky enough to audition New Zealand actor James Laurenson on his last day there. Offered the lead role, Laurenson hurriedly flew to Australia, reading "Bony" books all the way over. The series was called Boney, partly to make the pronunciation of the name obvious, and partly because that had been Upfield's original intention – a publisher's misprint on the first novel had renamed the character. Most of the episodes were based directly on one of the novels, but there were some adaptations. Two original scripts were not directly based on any novel; five novels were not adapted for television, effectively "reserving" them in case a third series was produced. At the time, many of the books were reprinted with the spelling altered to "Boney" on the covers (although retaining the original in the text), and featuring a photo from the relevant episode. Bony was also a 1990 telemovie and later a 1992 spin off TV series (using the original "Bony" spelling). However, the series was criticised for casting Bony as a white man (played by Cameron Daddo), under the tutelage of "Uncle Albert", an elderly Aborigine played by Burnum Burnum.