Geoffrey 'Geppie' Piers Henry Dutton AO (2 August 1922 – 17 September 1998) was an Australian author and historian.

Early life and education

Dutton was born at Anlaby Station near Kapunda, South Australia on 2 August 1922. His grandfather was Henry Dutton, the "Squire of Anlaby"; his parents were adventurer Henry Hampden Dutton and talented socialite Emily Dutton. Dutton grew up in four houses owned by his parents: Anlaby Station near Kapunda; Kalymna (or Kalimna) House, on the edge of the east parklands, Adelaide; Ooraminna, on the foreshore at Victor Harbor; and Rocky Point, a limestone house overlooking Eastern Cove, Kangaroo Island. He was taught French as a young boy. At age eight, he was sent to Wykeham Preparatory School near Belair, a suburb of Adelaide. After being tutored at home from around 1934 to 1939, he went to Geelong Grammar School, in Geelong, Victoria, matriculating in 1940. Dutton enjoyed spotlighting in his teens, modifying a Morris van used at Anlaby to collect mail to be used to track rabbits and foxes. He studied at the University of Adelaide from 1941 to 1945, residing at St Mark's College. He enrolled for English, History, and French, and continued piano lessons under Hooper Brewster-Jones. Before commencing, Dutton was introduced to Arthur Boyd, Gino Nibbi, and Max Nicholson. While at the University of Adelaide, he wrote for the student newspaper On Dit and avant-garde magazine Angry Penguins. His lecturers included G. V. Portus, J.I.M. Stewart, and Brian Elliott. He later studied at Magdalen College, Oxford.

Wartime service

Geoffrey enlisted into the Royal Australian Air Force at Keswick, South Australia, on 29 August 1940. He made the decision to join up on his eighteen birthday, sharing the news with his mother over lunch at the Covent Garden Cafe, Adelaide. He was taken on in May 1941, initially as a Second Class Aircraftman. He was posted to No. 1 Elementary Flying Training School RAAF at Parafield Airport, in July 1941, before moving to No. 1 Service Flying Training School at Point Cook. He later received training at Central Flying School RAAF, Tamworth and No. 1 Wireless Air Gunnery School (1 WAGS) at Ballarat.

Career

During his career, Dutton wrote or edited over 200 books, including poetry, fiction, biographies, art appreciation, art and literary history, travel books, novels for children and critical essays. In 1965, together with Max Harris and Brian Stonier, he co-founded the Australian paperback publishing company Sun Books. Dutton was also a founder of the Adelaide Festival and Adelaide Writer's Week. In June 1968, Dutton was appointed as an inaugural member of the Australian Council for the Arts.

Later life and death

Dutton died on 17 September 1998.

Awards and honours

Novels

Short stories

Poetry

Children's

Non-fiction

Edited

Family

Geoffrey's father, Henry Hampden Dutton married Emily Martin, on 29 November 1905; their children were:

Sources