Archives

AUSTRALIAN DICTIONARY OF BIOGRAPHY ONLINE is brought to you by the Australian National University and Melbourne University Publishing. As Australia's pre-eminent dictionary of national biography, you will find over 10,000 scholarly biographies of significant Australians who died before 1980 including our own Ned Kelly.

WIKIPEDIA This link points to Ned Kelly but the site is massive. In his entry alone there are enough cross links to keep you busy for days (just remember to come back here eventually!). Wikipedia is an international Web-based free-content encyclopedia project. It exists as a wiki, a web site that allows visitors to edit its content; the word Wikipedia is a portmanteau of the words wiki and encyclopedia. Wikipedia is written corroboratively by volunteers, allowing articles to be changed by anyone with access to the web site Wikipedia's main servers are located in Tampa, Florida, with additional servers in Amsterdam and Seoul.

AUSTRALIAN HISTORY PROMOTIONS Prolific researcher and writer Brian McDonald finally enters the cyber world with an impressively designed and maintained web site (which puts many current offerings to shame). Dedicated to reproducing rare and informative historical books and publications for historians and those with a passion for Australia's unique heritage, the site succeeds in its aim to promote Australia's rich and fascinating past through the medium of the printed word.

PANDORA, Australia's Web Archive, is a growing collection of Australian online publications, established initially by the National Library of Australia in 1996, and now built in collaboration with nine other Australian libraries and cultural collecting organisations. The name, PANDORA, is an acronym that encapsulates our mission: Preserving and Accessing Networked Documentary Resources of Australia. Ironoutlaw.com is regularly archived by PANDORA. You can view earlier incantations by clicking on the link above.

NATIONAL CENTRE FOR HISTORY EDUCATION A virtual warehouse of must read bytes which is now that little bit fuller thanks to a reference for ironoutlaw.com under the title “Taming or Blaming Ned Kelly” an electronic journal for middle to upper secondary school students.

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD Their Ned Kelly archives lists numerous stories featured over the years as well as photographs and recommended links — such as ironoutlaw.com

JOHN “RED” KELLY Ned’s father finally gets his own web site Read all about Red Kelly including the story how he stole the two pigs and some background as to why he did it. As the site states “It is pertinent to remember that in the 1840’s we are dealing with the most wretched period in modern Irish history. The majority of the Irish population of over eight million people (1841) were chronically poor tenant farmers and cottiers. The Kelly’s, it would appear, were just another poor, near landless family whose plight was of little concern to the alien administration in control at that time”. Definitely worth a visit.

NED KELLY BY THE ABC The Australian Broadcasting Commission's summary on the life and times of Mr Kelly. Check it out, after all it's your ABC (well, until Packer decides to buy it)!

PAPERS PAST Although a New Zealand based web archive coordinated by their National Library there is still plenty of information on Ned Kelly and his Gang. Seems even across the Tasman Ned kept the papers selling.

Tourism

NED KELLY GPS TOUR is an all-in-one audio book, tour guide and satellite navigation system which provides the user with a unique travel experience. Now with the touch of a screen, travellers can be entertained and informed with historical information and legendary local stories as they journey across Kelly Country.

JERILDERIE Home to the most famous hold up in Australian history, and where Ned tried to get his manifesto printed. Unlike Euroa, Jerilderie has managed to hold onto some of it’s Kelly heritage. The old bank may be long gone but the telegraph office still stands. Well worth a visit.

THE VINE HOTEL Located in the heart of North East Victoria, The Vine offers contemporary Australian cuisine in a charming atmosphere that dates back to the 1860s and the Ned Kelly era. Enjoy dining al fresco during the lazy summer months, or rent out our function room for special occasions. Don't forget to visit their cellar museum and be sure to check out 'Ned Kelly's escape and entrance tunnel.'

Attractions

NED ONLINE Documents of the Kelly Outbreak at the Public Record Office Victoria. Design wise, this is the most impressive site I've seen on Ned (besides ironoutlaw.com), but with it's content heavy, flash enabled structure it does take a while to “warm up”. Nevertheless, this is a must see site!

THE NOLAN GALLERY Every detail of the Kelly series by Sir Sidney Nolan including the gallery's address at Lanyon, Tharwa Drive, Tharwa and the hefty admission prices of $1.20 for adults and 60 cents for children.

MELBOURNE STYLE Artist Maree Coote has redesigned Ned for the new millennium. And she's done a very impressive job (in fact I'm a little jealous!). This site has links and images to a number of Kelly works and collectibles that would put many of those trinket shops hocking Kellyana out of business. A few of these pieces can been seen in our Collectibles section.

ANIMATED THEATRE Sitting at the end of the Glenrowan tourist strip lies Bob Hempel's Bushranger Show. While not exactly a tourist attraction in my eyes it's still worth one visit in a lifetime (especially if you're keen to waste 40 minutes and $22 dollars). It claims to have been built for 5.5 million but I'm guessing that was Monopoly dollars!

Spreading The Word

NED KELLY FORUM After all the rubbish Kelly related forums that have littered the internet these past few years it is refreshing to finally see people with passion and persistence come up with a site that deserves not only recognition but participation as well. My new mates Trent Cupid and Steve Jager have put together a great platform which allows like-minded Kellyites to discuss all things Ned. And knowing these guys, they won't put up with the crap that littered KC2000. To quote the site, 'This forum is a celebration to the Australian Legend and we encourage open minded and considerate discussion in our forum. We welcome those from all over the globe to share in our conversation.'

ELEVEN MILE CREEK is the brain child of prolific researcher and writer Sharon Hollingsworth along with Dr Brian Stevenson the Kelly brainiac who very nearly won the ABC's 2005 The Einstein Factor grand final with this red hot topic. The blog is a treasure trove of thousands of words on the legend of Kelly. Quoting Stevenson, '... we hope that those who read this blog will benefit from the differing points of view that emerge on all sorts of issues. Sharon and I have also had a lot of fun as well, and we are not above sending up this very serious topic, something which would probably see us excommunicated from other arenas of expression. Differences in outlook notwithstanding, we can always laugh, most of all at ourselves. We certainly enjoy each other's online company, and we hope that you enjoy ours!'

NED KELLY TALES is the official site of one A.D. Crichton, the same man that's filled tens of ironoutlaw.com pages with his thoughts, reports and rants. At Ned Kelly Tales you can order his books online and send them anywhere around the world. I'm sure there are a few people in the Arctic circle who haven't heard of him (well, maybe...).

GAME AS NED KELLY is [according to their web site] the world's first board game based on the history of the Kelly Gang. Inspired by the true life story, the game play incorporates acts of heroism, team strategies, shoot outs, heartbreak and a clever mix of action cards that add to the drama of the game. Action cards also contain a wealth of facts about the fascinating Kelly story, which teaches a part of Australian history in an enjoyable way [much like ironoutlaw.com]!

JERILDERIE PRODUCTIONS brings to life Australian national treasures - with The Jerilderie Letter by Ned Kelly. Devised and performed by Peter Finlay, a Melbourne theatre veteran, a founding member of TheatreWorks and author. Peter also has film and TV credits including Dying Breed and City Homicide. Music by Malcolm Hill, Rock Troubadour. Highlights of his career include touring Australia supporting Nick Cave, and an underground star of the cult feature film The Last of the Wild Bohemians.

RUSTIC PRINTS Home to Australian Artist Keith Pulver who specialises in producing Ned Kelly Drawings and Australian Colonial and Country Sketches.

NED KELLY PETITION I can not explain this in only one paragraph so instead check it out for yourself and when you are finished mailing the petition off (if it prints out with such a shocker of a background colour) check out the rest of the site dealing with Ned Kelly right here.

NEDUCATE That man Paul O’Keefe (great great grand nephew of Steve Hart) has put his money where his mouth is and started up a new innovative venture — taking Ned and the Boys to our primary and secondary schools with educational talks and lectures. Check out his site and book him for an appearance. You never know, after a visit from Paul to the classroom, your kids may just teach you something new.

GRAHAM FRICKE Retired County Court judge Graham Fricke's self titled site features a speech he gave at the Ned Kelly Beechworth Weekend, back in the days when the weekend was actually about Ned Kelly! Graham also wrote the book Ned's Nemesis.

THE GAME NED KELLY Yes, it’s actually a great piece of entertainment! 100% designed and built in Australia, Ned Kelly is based on an ancient Nordic game called Hnefatafl (The King's Table). This two player tactical game comes complete with 37 playing pieces and a washable canvas cloth housed in a practical cardboard tube, allowing for easy pack and carry. Perfect for any age from 8 to 80.

BADASS OF THE WEEK This site is a homage to all things tough as steel including our own Ned Kelly. The author uses very colourful language to describe the deeds of this iron outlaw but it's fun, entertaining and slightly educational. Well worth a visit.

Movies And Movies

iMUSIC: NED KELLY MOVIE SOUNDTRACK Needless to say the sound that came out of the movie was better than the celluloid. The soundtrack album for Ned Kelly features performances from Mick Jagger, Waylon Jennings and Glen Tomasetti. Mick Jagger adds a cappella version of Wild Colonial Boy to the soundtrack. Featuring words and music by acclaimed author and poet Shel Silverstein, and vocals by Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Tom Ghent, the soundtrack is very western sounding with twangy bawdy ballads and hoe-down music. Well worth the buy.

NED KELLY THE MOVIE Visit the official Ned Kelly 2003 movie web site.

PICTURE AUSTRALIA While not exactly a Ned Kelly site, they do have a Sidney Nolan Kelly helmet as their logo and give Ironoutlaw.com as one of the links to find out more about Ned. So they deserve some sort of mention here. I did say we draw long straws on this page

THE KELLY OPTION Pat Drummond writes the words so you can sing out loud.

THE KELLY GANG is the brain child of musician Daryl Melbourne who has set up this web site to promote his three volume recording featuring some of the most recognisable voices in the Australian entertainment industry including Richard Clapton, Dave Gleeson, Mark Gable, Michael Spiby, Anne Kirkpatrick, Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, and Doc Neeson. "Daryl J Melbourne has written an exciting homage to this important piece of Australian history.This 15 song epic is now available in a special three part series that will only be offered for purchase through Daryl's web-site. Part 1 is a limited offer special edition release of 600 numbered copies, personally signed by the author, and will go on sale from July 1 2006. As an added bonus, purchasers will have their names printed along with a tribute message, in a special booklet titled The Sympathisers to be released with Part 2 of the series.

IF NED KELLY WAS KING by MIDNIGHT OIL In 1981 Midnight Oil made a pilgrimage to London to play and record with legendary British producer Glyn Johns. Johns' label, A&M, refused to release the tapes as the band did not concede to A&M's wish that the band “go back and record a couple of singles”. The resulting album, Place Without A Postcard was, ironically, the most distinctively Australian album Midnight Oil has yet recorded. Many of the songs including If Ned Kelly Was King spoke directly of Australian experiences. Place Without a Postcard was their first real hit. Amongst the multitude of information here, the Midnight Oil web site also contains hundreds of playable excerpts from every album they have produced, including If Ned Kelly Was King.

Added Extras

INDEPENDENT AUSTRALIA Editor David Donovan presents an impressive online journal of Australian identity and democracy. His work is first class (seeing he also uses some of my articles) not to mention the fact he runs the Australian Republican Movement web site and facebook page.

AUSFLAG Everything you wanted to know about the campaign to get rid of the Union Jack and finally give us a flag fitting this grand country of ours. The site includes a history of flags in Australia, an update of where the campaign is at the moment, a gallery of new flag designs, and some fascinating debates between Ausflag and the bearded lady Kerry Jones. Just remember the ANZAC’s did not fight under the Australian flag, so that old argument goes out the window!

AUSTRALIAN REPUBLICAN MOVEMENT They may have lost the battle but they definitely haven't lost the war. Next time there will be no John Howard sabotaging the referendum or a warbling James Blundell spreading disinformation across this big brown land. Rudd and Turnbull both want it and so do the majority of real Australians, and with that crazy pants man ex Governor General Peter Hollingworth you can’t help but wonder how the Queen keeps hanging in there. In the meantime you can check on the campaigns progress and even join the ranks.

MONARCHIST LEAGUE Courtesy of a silver spoon from millionaire daddy Mr Moran (big dollar backer of the Liberal party and owner of numerous retirement home “cash–cows”) comes daughter Ms Jones and that weird looking five o’clock shadow. Her dad may be rich but this site is both content and design poor. Talk about a shoe string budget. This site is full of rubbish about the inbred royal family as they swagger across the world bringing cheer to the masses. You can download a picture of her majesty for your desktop or better still buy a Kerry Jones T-shirt to wear to your next “Dag” party. They even put the New Zealand flag in a fundraising brochure to raise money for the “No” campaign. As Forest Gump said “Stupid is what stupid does” — with Kerry Jones and the gang at the Monarchist League as living proof.

THE BUSHRANGERS Okay, this web site really has nothing to do with Ned, Joe, Steve or Dan except for the logo used by the Victorian State Cricket Team. Yes our Ned (or another member of his armour clad gang) is featured wielding a cricket bat (instead of a Spencer Repeating Rifle) in the official VCA corporate id. Far enough too, after all, like our antiterrorist cricketing icon Deano, Ned and the boys were Victorians too!

PAUL KEATING Sometimes I lie awake at nights worried people may think me too left wing. Then I get up in the morning and spend the day being a capitalist. I'm also the editor-in-chief of this web site, so I can link to who I like! It's a pity there's no Keating protégé in the current Federal Labor Party otherwise Abbott would have been pensioned off years ago.

HISTORY ESSAYS Not content to just spew forth wise words on Ned Kelly, I decided to branch out and tell everyone what I think about Australian and world history — in this new web site full of essays from the keyboard of yours truly.