Like our Document section,
it would be impossible to catalogue every writer or historian's
view on the Kelly uprising. However, there are a few
exceptions which stand out from the crowd. In the list
below are two of Ned's infamous letters plus some enlightened
reading by Manning Clark and Clive Turnbull as well as
an interesting article regarding Ned's head and a memoir
from Sir John Monash's childhood.
Major
General Sir John Monash W.W.1 A.I.F Commander
It was 1879
and the
scene was the Jerilderie Bank of New South Wales
Robbery. One unnoticed spectator on that Monday was
a Jerilderie storekeeper's son on the last day of
Christmas holidays from Scotch College, Melbourne.
The storekeeper was Mr Louis Monash, his son John
Monash. In the next century he was to become one
of Australia's greatest statesman and most distinguished
generals.
Looking back
through fifty remarkable years, Sir
John Monash told a journalist that, as a small
boy of thirteen, he sat on his father's verandah while
the outlaws collected their prisoners: Sir John says
that he has never been so overawed in his life as when
the redoubtable bushranger spoke a few words to him,
and for many a month he was the envied hero of his
school as the boy who talked to Ned Kelly.
Professor
Manning Clark from A History of Australia
Ned Kelly had
a remarkable impact on the history of Australia.
In his lifetime he left an impression on the minds
of people such as John Monash, a bush boy in Jerilderie
who rose to be the Commander-in-Chief of the Australian
Imperial Force during the First World War, on J.B.
Gribble, the missionary who achieved fame as 'the
blackfellow's friend', on Dr Walter Richardson, the
father of novelist Henry Handel Richardson, and on
Isaac Isaacs, another bush boy who rose to the office
of a High Court Judge and Governor-general of the
Commonwealth of Australia.
Ned Kelly was
a wild ass of a man, snarling, roaring and frothing
like a ferocious beast when the tamer entered the cage.
Mad Ireland had fashioned a man who consumed his vast
gifts in an insensate war on property and on all the
props of bourgeois civilisation - the police, the bankers,
the squatters, the teachers, the preachers, the railway
and the electric telegraph.
Ned Kelly became
a legend during his own life, and a contributor to
the mythology of the bush - the bush as a cradle of
mateship, equality, the emphasis on the masculine virtues
of strength, and the belief that the bush life was
the cradle of much that was different from other lands,
the cradle of the Australian, the cradle of the yearning
for the life of the fearless, the free and the bold.
Because he was
elevated by the bush people and the cultural nationalists
to such an exalted role - and yet, paradoxically, was
a man who had murdered three policemen - historians,
biographers, poets, playwrights and film script writers
have always had difficulty in sorting out the fact
from the legend. They have also found it difficult
not to take sides - some portraying Ned Kelly as a
mad-dog bushranger, and others seeing him with the
eye of pity as the victim of his harsh environment.
Charles White
spent his life collecting historical materials and
writing a four part history of early Australia for
the readers of his newspaper, the Bathurst
Free Press.
He was born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1848
into a religious family. His father was a lay preacher
and newspaper proprietor. He moved with his family
to Bathurst where his father took over the Bathurst
Free Press.
In time, Charles
used the paper to publish his history of Early Australia
as a serialisation. In 1890 he produced the eighteen
part historical account of the Kelly Gang titled the History
of Australian Bushranging. While Whites
writing is self assured and arrogant, his account was
one of the first to acknowledge the important role
played by the native troopers from the Queensland Police
Force. Charles White died in Randwick, Sydney, in 1922.
The
Babington Letter Edward
Kelly
1870
The
O'Loghlen Letter Edward
Kelly
1878
The
Cameron Letter Edward Kelly & Joe
Byrne
1878
The
Parkes Letter Edward Kelly
1879
The
Sherritt Letter Joe Byrne
1879
Letter
to brother concerning his capture T. H. Cameron
1880
Condemned
Cell Edward Kelly November 10
1880
History
of Australian Bushranging Charles White
1890
Ned
Kelly: Being His Own Story of His Life Clive
Turnbull
1942
Quinn
Tea Max Brown Buttered Toast: Stories and
Sketches
1980
The
day Kelly called out a man John Lahey SMH
1991
Kelly
gets off the rope Tony Stephens SMH
1991
Margaret
Kelly Keith McKenry
Kellyana Brian
McDonald
1997
Bushy
bushranger's fluctuating follicles
Sermon
on Ephesians 610-20 Gary Bennett
1997
Ned
Kelly hung again Geoff Maslen
1998
Kelly's
head, lost and found again Paul Heinrichs
1998
Ipswich
memorial to Ned Kelly's brother Suzanne Hall
1998
Regina
v Edward Kelly Julian Burnside
2000
Tracking
down a just reward Greg Roberts SMH
2000
Ned
Kellys Last Testament Patrick Barkham
2000
Kelly
letter takes a convoluted path Brett Foley
2000
John
farewells Ned Kelly's sister Tamara Whitsed
2000
Ned
Kelly trial verdict Sixty Minutes ninemsn
2000
The
trial of Ned Kelly Susanna Lobez ABC
2000
In
Kellyland Ellen Connolly & David
Dale SMH
2001
Town
wants First Shot at Last Stand The Border Mail
2001
Ned
Kelly Arthur Montague essortment.com
2001
Ned
Kelly armour fragment sold Grant Holloway CNN
2001
Kelly
Gang Strikes Again www.exread.com
2001
In
defence of Kate Kelly Ellen Hollow
2001
A
Ventriloquist’s Taler D J Taylor newstatesman.co.uk
2001
Grave
said to contain remains of Ned Kelly's brother AAP
2001
Ned
Kelly launches Bevan-Fellner ops in Oz Adam
Dawtrey
2001
Body
surfing bushranger Michael Zerman zerman.net
2001
R
v Edward (Ned) Kelly Julian Burnside A
Bit About Words
Bushrangers Julian
Burnside A Bit About Words
Ned
Kelly rides again Chris Brice The Advertiser
2002
Ned
Kelly Movie Silent Type & Father Geek aintitcoolnews.com
2002
Kelly
shot with his mother Geoff Maslen SMH
2002
Photograph
of Ned Kelly cost $19,000 Andrew Rule The
Age
2002
Ned
Kelly’s latest last stand Andrew Rule SMH
2002
Man
and Myth Michael Fitzgerald Time Pacific
2002
Real
or fake, the Ned Kelly puzzle Anna Cock Daily
Telegraph
2002
Awkward
day for Kelly Expert Paul Heinrichs The
Age
2002
Release
Granted for Ned’s Head Jen Kelly Herald
Sun
2002
Auction
House refunds mistaken Kelly photo AAP
2002
For
my next trick Garry Maddox SMH
2002
Outlaws,
Mobsters & Crooks Sarah Hermsen gale.com
2002
The
Bullets of Kelly Creek Bill Denheld
2002
Outback
Outlaw Erin Lauten boxoff.com
2002
Ned’s
Heavy Metal Gets It Together Orietta Guerrera The
Age
2002
Kelly
Film Here The Chronicle
2002
Gallery
gives corporate favours Aaron Watson Capital
Times
2002
Kelly’s
sites off limits Larissa Dubecki The
Age
2002
Another
shot of justice Garry Maddox SMH
2002
New
light on Ned Kelly Geraldine O’Brien SMH
2002
Jerilderie
hopes Denis Gregory The Sun Herald
2003
Heath
Ledger: Bulletproof The Age
2003
Theory
on shooting up the creek Geoff Strong The
Age
2003
Australia’s
year of comedy The Age
2003
Ned
ends Eureka blockade Daily Telegraph
2003
Ned
rides high Daily Telegraph
2003
Ned
Kelly steals box office AAP news.com.au
2003
The
many histories of the Kelly Gang Martin
Flanagan The Age
2003
Begorrah,
Ned, or G'Day Philip Derriman SMH
2003
Fiction
meets fact Richard White SMH
2003
Ned
Kelly movie review Clint moviehole.net
2003
Funs
rough; Such is life Vicky Roach The
Daily Telegraph
2003
Ned
Kelly DVD review James Anthony webwombat.com.au
2003
Souvenirs
rounded up Geraldine O'Brien SMH
2003
Kelly
Cottage: Why is this place important? Brad
Webb
2003
Kelly
Cottage: What do you want to achieve? Brad
Webb
2003
Such
Is Life Philip Maguire
2003
10
Most Important Aussies Craig McGregor SMH
2003
Like
a Moth to the Flame Sharon Hollingsworth
2003
St
Lawrence String Quartet, Musica Viva Craig
McCallum SMH
2003
A
loophole may have saved Ned Kelly from noose John
Huxley SMH
2005
Don't
dare dig up Dan Kelly: Family Steve Grant Queensland
Times
2005
Simply
Ned Lee Mylne news.com.au
2005
Kelly
site heritage listed AAP news.com.au
2005
The
Myth in the Iron Mask Simon Caterson The
Age
2005
Myth
clouds truth of Stringybark Creek survivor Larry
Schwartz The Age
Kelly
film photos come out of hiding Bendigo
Weekly
2006
Ned
at The Dead Michelle Eve
2006
Ned
Kelly: Scum or Hero? Greta Baumgartel
2006
Local
fossicker unlocks Kelly armour mystery Steve
Waldon The Age
2006
Found:
Rare pictures of Kelly gang matriarch Steve
Waldon The Age
2006
Kelly
spirit rides again as sympathisers gang up on Beechworth
jail developer Orietta
Guerrera The Age
2007
Ned
Kelly still brings in the Dollars Brad
Worrall The
Border Mail
2007
Kelly
remains mystery, no bones about it AAP The
Age
2007
Ned
Kelly may have been gravely wronged Michael
Davis The Australian
2007
Kate
Kelly gun Ian Jones ABC
Goulburn Murray
2007
LATEST NEWS
While
news reports abound with stories of Ned Kelly's missing bones
not a word is mentioned about his stolen skull? Back in December
1978, Kelly's cranium was lifted from the Old Melbourne Gaol
in what appeared to be a university student prank. One of
the culprits was rumoured to be an ex-prime minister's son,
yet to this day no one knows what happened to it. While a
dirt farmer in Western Australia claims he has the skull
buried in a tin can in his backyard, evidence has consistently
disproved his claim. For while he allegedly carries one of
the skull's teeth on a necklace, it is in fact Ernest Knox's
skull (hence the EK engraved on the skull). This EK was executed
in 1894 for murder, after the shooting death of a jeweller's
son during a bungled armed robbery. Either way, they are
human remains and the befuddled Western Australian police
should have confiscated this skull when they first heard
his claim.
GO
SHOPPING
This
re-release includes an extra 30 minutes of special features
beautifully presented in a new and exciting cover design.
The viewer now has the privilege of accompanying Ian Jones,
an eminent Kelly historian and author, as he revisits such
sites as the Kelly and Police caves, Glenrowan, Stringybark
Creek and Joe Byrne and Aaron Sherritt's secret hide out
in Byrnes Gully. The main feature is also an exciting journey
through the events of Ned Kelly’s life and the country
that shaped it, told through rare photographs and press drawings.
Showcasing many beautiful locations of North Eastern Victoria,
the DVD provides an accurate guide for the traveller interested
in visiting the places where these remarkable events occurred.
$29.95Australia inc. postage $39.95Worldwide inc.
postage