Upton learned his trade in England as a consulting engineer designing bridges and buildings before returning to Australia to work for the Country Roads Board.
He returned to the front a year later before being wounded a second time and sent to the rear lines as a staff officer and acting captain.
[1] Returning to the Victorian Country Roads Board following a brief stay in the United States, Upton worked for ten years on the roadways of Victoria.
[1] He was heavily involved in modernising the road systems of New South Wales and working for the State Department of Transport.
He moved to the Metropolitan Water, Sewerage & Drainage Board in 1935, and worked there until the outbreak of the Second World War whereupon he designed dockyards for the Royal Australian Navy.