The Count, Giovanni Francisco De Bonanate, a Perth Character
Ed. by Peter J. Bridge.
ISBN 978-0-85905-743-1, (New, 2018), A4, 24pp, illustrated, 80 grams, $22.00*
The jury is still out as to whether the Count was merely a demented Diego, a con artist, or a lost relic of Buonaparte's empire.
Bonanate was a travelling journalist who sold cheap cigars, played the ponies, and was a fixture in the Magistrate's courts for his love affairs with booze.
His line was, he claimed, that of Napoleon's retinue and his son's destiny to be King of France.
He left Australia in 1930 to 'help' Mussolini. He certainly helped us by leaving.
Two of his many children returned to Australia much later to live and die. They would have had a story.