Ned Kelly was born in 1855 to a proud Irish Catholic family whose resentment of the British set the precedent for his life. Washed deep with the convict stain, Ned’s destiny was cast in a defiant mold. The story of his short life was one that saw Ned and his gang take on corrupt police, greedy land barons and an ignorant government in a quest to change their world for the better. Wrongly accused, they survived a deadly shoot out with police in 1878 that resulted in Ned, his brother Dan, and their mates Joe Byrne and Steve Hart, being declared outlaws with the largest reward ever offered in the British Empire for their capture – dead or alive. Over the next eighteen months the Kelly Gang held up two country towns and robbed their banks, without firing a single shot; wrote numerous essays, including the famed Jerilderie Letter, explaining their actions; and became folk heroes to the masses. Their grand plan to derail a special police train and declare a republic of North East Victoria came to a fiery end in Glenrowan when they donned their famous but cumbersome armour against an overwhelming police presence. By November 11, 1880 the era of the Kelly Gang drew to a close when Ned, after a brief trial, was hanged. Yet the legacy of his life and the chord he struck within a young nation, unwilling to bend to injustice, saw Ned Kelly become Australia’s most enduring legend.
Noelene Allen's 248 page hardcover book Ellen: A Woman Of Spirit is now on sale after a successful book launch at St Francis Church in Melbourne - the same church Ellen wed the love of her life, John 'Red' Kelly in 1850. You can purchase your signed hardcover edition with bonus bookmark for $34.95 plus postage. We also have a digital edition to suit Kindle, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Nook, Kobo and most e-reading platforms available for purchase via Smashwords for $14.95USD.
[shopping]
On Wednesday 19 September Noelene Allen joined Jon Faine on 774 ABC's Conversation Hour to discuss Ned Kelly's mother from her best selling book 'Ellen: a woman of spirit'.
[interview]
FACE TO FACE ON FACEBOOK
Here at ironoutlaw.com we thought it was high time we joined the social network scene, so we have decided to grab a bit of facebook action. To all you Kelly folk out there who may feel obliged to join in please do so and add your two cents worth, virtually speaking, seeing it's free to join – although facebook will probably collect your soul once you are dead, or maybe sooner... [facebook]
BACK TO OUR FUTURE
With
all this digging around what better way to bring
back the virtual past than a visit to the Internet
Archive WayBack Machine. Our site has impressions
dating back to August 17, 2001. So if you're
feeling a tad nostalgic but can't afford the
time to whip up a flux-converter simply click
the link below and relive the glory days. The
Internet Archive was founded with the express
aim to build an Internet library, with the purpose
of offering permanent access for researchers,
historians, and scholars to historical collections
that exist in digital format (like us). [wayback
machine]
IRONOUTLAW.COM ON PINTEREST
IronOutlaw.com now has it's own feature board on pinterest.com which showcases a number of high resolution sepia images from our online archive, many of which also feature in our Ned Kelly: A Pictorial History iBook which is now available through the Apple iTunes Store.
[pinterest]
THE NON-DEAD POETS SOCIETY
We
here at ironoutlaw.com invite
all those budding poets out there to put pen
to paper (or fingers to keyboards) and send
in your best pieces for our Poetry section.
The poet area has taken on a life of its own
with a number of scribes including Mollie
Schollum adding their words on a regular
basis. So, any more takers? [poetry]
NED KELLY BEECHWORTH WEEKEND 2012
For the next instalment of Keep Ya Powder Dry, Alan Crichton turns his attention to the annual Beechworth Ned Kelly Weekend held this year from the 3rd to the 5th of August. While the highlight for me was the annual IronOutlaw.com dinner this year it didn't even rate a mention as Alan turned his attention instead to false starts, fiery debates, book launches and a few ordinary performances both on and off the stage. So for those of you who missed the weekend but wished they were there (or vice-versa) here's the low down of what went on (and on, and on, and on...). [keep ya powder dry]
ON SALE NOW: AUSTRALIAN SON
Ned was hanged in 1880. A lifetime later, with the world recovering from World War 2, Australian Son was written. Decades later, Max revised it but didn’t live to see this later version, which keeps the tradition alive. Tradition? Yes. The famous bushranger, from the poorest of poor families, has given rise to a persisting idea that the apparatus of justice may pursue the ends of injustice, and be meted out to those who, by their own sense of what’s right, deserve it least. The 312 page hardcover edition of Max Brown's masterpiece 'Australian Son: the story of Ned Kelly' is now on sale at $34.95 plus postage for those wishing to lock in their own piece of history.
[shopping]
COME AND HAVE YOUR SAY
Have
a question or opinion on Ned and the boys you
would like to share with the rest of us? Then
head over to our Feedback section
where you can send in your thoughts or read through
what's been said before. We also have a Feedback
Vault with an archive of thousands of letters
from the past ten years. There's enough words
here to keep you busy for the next few months...
[feedback]
THE GIRL WHO LOVED NED KELLY
IronOutlaw.com would like to welcome Sophie Masson, award winning author of 'The Hunt For Ned Kelly', and her report on Paul O'Keefe's recent sell-out speech at the Balmain Town Hall on his great, great grandmother Ettie Hart titled The Girl Who Loved Ned Kelly. For those of us unlucky enough to miss Paul's talk live this article is the next best thing!
[the girl who loved ned kelly – review]
THE LIFE AND TIMES
OF NED KELLY
Why
did Ned Kelly live
such a larger than life existence, one that has
enthralled millions of people over this past
century? Why didn't Ned just take what was dished
up? Live a poor, honest, harsh life and die a
broken man like thousands of other peasants throughout
time? Well, if Ned did we would never have heard
of him, nor spent countless hours debating his legacy. It's time to read the facts of his life
and decide for yourself. But before you pass
judgment, remember you should never impose twenty-first
century sensibility onto harsh nineteenth century reality. [about
ned kelly]
UNCOVERING NED'S BONES
One of Australia's leading social commentary web sites Independent Australia recently commissioned IronOutlaw.com to write an article about the rediscovery of Ned Kelly's headless skeleton and it's possible implications for both the government and the family. The article also examines a number of possibilities as to the whereabouts of Ned's missing skull and the current the location of his brain. [rediscovery of ned's bones]
GET YOUR KELLY FIX ON NEDTUBE
A YouTube contributor by the name of 'teddie488' features a video production of the Waylon Jennings's song 'Ned Kelly' from the 1970 self titled movie soundtrack starring that freaky drug-addled skinny kid Mick 'The Lips' Jagger. [nedtube]
TALKING SENSE
While
not
everyone wants to read about Ned Kelly or the ANZACs or
even The Great Depression, we hope they
want to learn something about
Australian History. From the ex-Prime Minister
John Howard to a confused ex-NSW Education Minister Carmel Tebbutt
(see the ex-pattern here?) a number of politicians have jumped on the teaching history bandwagon. But at what
cost? From Right Wing Liberals
to the multitude of State Governments, seems
everyone has an agenda. We'd like to let the readers decide
what is worth learning. Here at IronOutlaw.com we
present the facts, the fiction and everything in between. It
all adds to the experience and hopefully makes History an exciting
place to be while also proving it needn't always have to be written by the victors. [site map]
SHOPPING
If you're looking for that perfect gift then head over to our shop where we have just landed Noelene Allen's new 248 page hardcover limited edition book Ellen: a woman of spirit for $34.95 plus postage ($8.95 Australia or $19.95 worldwide). All books are signed by the author and come with a bonus Ellen bookmark. Of course the money we raise goes back in to building the world's greatest Ned Kelly web site.
