Bushy Bushranger's Fluctuating Follicles

IF THERE'S ONE thing in Australian folklore that sprouts a conspiracy theory, it's Ned Kelly. Every person and their well-behaved dog has a version of the man and his myth. Like the Old Melbourne Goal's tour guide Bob Foulkes, for example. His pet theory is about this photo, one of the most famous images of Ned. The experts say this is him at 19, fighting fit in his boxing gear, around the time of his bareknuckle grudge fight against Wild Wright in 1874.

But Bob's not so sure. In many other photos, Australia's most notorious bushranger has a low hairline and straight, bushy eyebrows. In this photo, the hairline is high back, and his eyebrows thinner and slightly curved. This isn't Ned Kelly at 19, says Bob. However, Ian Jones, a highly respected Kelly expert and author of the definitive biography, Ned Kelly: A Short Life, concedes the hairline is intriguing. “I couldn't agree more. The forehead is unusual.”

But Ian, who chose that photo for the front cover of his book, has no doubts it is genuine. “It has every other feature of his face, right down to his lazy, slightly-hooded left eye... It is definitely Kelly at 19. The photo is dated 8 August 1874 and the beard - it is not a downy beard. It is a very good growth - totally credible as a first beard that's been growing for about eight months”.

And Ian should know. He's been studying Ned for 54 years. In fact, he first identified this photo at Copelands Antiques, St Kilda, in 1962 (the photo wasn't for sale then, but it was sold in 1987 for $20,000). Ian, also a creator of The Sullivans, says the high hairline may be explained by the angle of the shot or the way he did his hair. He says Ned had been beaten by a policeman with the barrel of a revolver, and perhaps he was trying to cover the scars. The hairline of Ned's brother, Dan, also fluctuates in different photos.

"That image is typically Ned Kelly. It's Ned in his prime. He'd done two-and-half-years hard labor and was working in a saw mill. He was fighting fit and ready to take on the world". And if anyone has any of their own theories, please don't ring the Old Melbourne Goal. They get inundated with calls every time something like this appears in a newspaper.