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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'An Inspector Bonaparte Mystery featuring Bony, the first Aboriginal detective. Why had Luke Marks driven specially out to Windee? Had he been murdered or had he,as the local police believed, wandered away from his car and been overwhelmed in a dust-storm? When Bony noticed something odd in the background of a police photograph, he begins to piece together the secrets of the sands of Windee. Here is the original background to the infamous Snowy Rowles murder trial.'
Adaptations
- form y Boney and the Powder Trail ( dir. Peter Maxwell ) Australia : Fauna Productions , 1973 Z1458937 1973 single work film/TV Inspector Bonaparte is sent to investigate a murder and finds himself tracking a hired killer who is attempting to escape across the outback with a young Aboriginal guide and a bag of highly marketable heroin.
Notes
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Setting is fictitious Windee Station.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Braille.
- Sound recording.
- Large print.
Works about this Work
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Some Burning Issues : Arthur Upfield and the Murchison Murders, Marginalising Aboriginal People and Suggestions on Teaching Australia’s History of Frontier Violence
2018
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Aboriginal Studies , no. 1 2018; (p. 29-42)'This paper’s main concern is how educators can best face the challenge of teaching Australia’s history of frontier violence. Understandably, high school and undergraduate students are wary of such a dark topic that draws in massacres, rapes and allegations of genocide. However, if teachers steer clear of the controversial material, students are left with significantly reduced understandings of why Australian race relations can be so strained. Ignoring the full story of colonisation undermines reconciliation and augments a racial divide. Ignoring frontier violence also strengthens imperialism’s capacity to render subjugated people ‘invisible’. The curriculum’s requirement to teach Australian Aboriginal history in partnership with Indigenous community members is therefore a crucial way of dispelling invisibility and reasserting the legitimate rights of Indigenous peoples to their intangible heritage. Shared teaching humanises the impact of colonisation and frontier violence on Australia’s First Peoples, and protects, maintains and respects Indigenous knowledge, practices and innovations. This is the first paper to indicate that Western Australia’s 1927 Royal Commission of Inquiry into Alleged Killing and Burning of Bodies of Aborigines in East Kimberley and into Police Methods when Effecting Arrests may be the plot source for Arthur Upfield’s (1961[1931]) novel The Sands of Windee and for the Murchison murders (1929–30). The case study’s example of Kimberley Aboriginal people becoming ‘invisible’ leads into an overview of imperialism, where invisibility is implicated in the process of colonisation. The paper then illustrates how collaborative teaching benefits students, teachers and Indigenous people.' (Publication abstract)
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Perfect Murder Around the Fire
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sunday Mail , 25 August 2013; (p. 54) 'A debate on how to dispose of a body inspired a book, three WA murders and possibly one in Queensland.' -
By the Book
2009
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 13-14 June 2009; (p. 24-25) -
The Writer and the Murderer
2009
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 11 June 2009; (p. 12-13) -
Just the Facts : Death Imitates Art
2004-2005
single work
column
— Appears in: Mystery Readers Journal , Winter vol. 20 no. 4 2004-2005; (p. 46-49)
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Some New Australian Books
1931
single work
review
— Appears in: All About Books , 14 September vol. 3 no. 9 1931; (p. 178-179)
— Review of The Rue Tree : Poems 1931 selected work poetry ; Songs and Poems : With an Introductory Essay on Poetry in Australia 1931 selected work poetry ; Earth Kindred 1931 selected work poetry ; The Getting of Wisdom 1910 single work novel ; The Sands of Windee 1931 single work novel ; The Butterfly with Big Feet 1931 single work novel -
Australian Detective Story Praised
Shorter Reviews and Notes
1932
single work
review
— Appears in: All About Books , 15 January vol. 4 no. 1 1932; (p. 12-13)
— Review of The Sands of Windee 1931 single work novel -
Best Sellers and A.B.A. Recommendations
1931
single work
column
— Appears in: All About Books , 14 November vol. 3 no. 11 1931; (p. 218) -
This Year's Australian Literature
1931
single work
review
— Appears in: All About Books , 1 December vol. 3 no. 12 1931; (p. 227)
— Review of Songs and Poems : With an Introductory Essay on Poetry in Australia 1931 selected work poetry ; The Poor Poet and the Beautiful Lady 1931 selected work poetry ; Saturday Mornings 1931 single work prose ; Tybal Men 1931 single work novel ; Trinity 1931 single work novel ; Vision : A Novel 1931 single work novel ; Bracken 1928 single work novel ; Macleod of 'The Bulletin' : The Life and Work of William Macleod 1931 single work biography Palmer reviews some new Australian novels and gives an overview of those published throughout 1931. Also includes comment on Australian Authors' Week in London. -
Fiction That Became Fact
1958
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Parade , January no. 86 1958; (p. 43-45) Discusses the real-life murder case that reflected the plot of Upfield's 1932 novel. -
The Writer and the Murderer
2009
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 11 June 2009; (p. 12-13) -
By the Book
2009
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 13-14 June 2009; (p. 24-25)
- Far West NSW, New South Wales,