John Upton playing guitar

This photograph is of John Upton playing a guitar. John Upton was born on 23 Aug 1939, lived and raised a family for some years in Penrith area. He died on 19 Jan 2017 at Burwood, New South Wales. Early on, he was a journalist and the editor of the Penrith Press from 1960 to 1975. Upton was also Secretary in 1968 of Kingswood ALP branch. Upton was the Henry Lawson Club’s foundation President and continued in this role until 1974. He also directed a few plays at the Henry Lawson Club. Upton went on to become the President of the Australian Writers' Theatre from 1981-1986, and trained young playwrights. He was a graduate of the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) and became a professional dramatist, writing for TV and stage for 27 years. He wrote for more than 20 TV series. Four of his stage plays have also been published: The Warhorse, Machiavelli, Machiavelli, Waiting for Rupert Murdoch, and Men of Honour. Copies of these are held in the Doreen Warburton Collection. The Warhorse was performed at the Q Theatre in 1981. He won several awards for his work including the Australian Writers Guild Award for Best New Play (AWGIE). He also became a published poet. Upton received a $24,700 grant from the Australia Council to make a film of his one-act play titled - ''Cries from a Cold Aquarium'' in 1978. Upton also wrote a book titled - "The Henry Lawson Club : a personal memoir" a copy of which is held in the Penrith Local History Collection. John Upton assisted David Clune in researching the book titled "Inside the Wran Era: the Ron Mulock Memoirs", a copy of which is held in the Penrith Local History Collection.