From stamps
to movies to the opening of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Ned Kelly
has become one with the Australian psyche. He's had more written
about him than anyone else in Australian history. As our greatest folk
hero Ned Kelly has become one of the unsuspecting fathers of Australian
nationalism, and with each passing year Ned's myth grows stronger.
But was Ned Kelly just another crazed bushranger or a victim of the
system – a
desperate young man forced to shoot and steal to protect his own? Come
with us on a journey as we delve into stories from the past 126 years
and on the way discover for yourself the true history
of the Kelly Gang.
Those
generous folk at ConnectEast have given the masses
something to gaze at as they sit in traffic jams
along the EastLink. Ned by
artist Campbell Robertson-Swann (yep, that's
the blokes name) has taken inspiration from Sidney
Nolan, a bucket load of cash from the State Government,
and five tons of steel to create this homage
to an Australian icon. It can be found on the
EastLink Trail, north of High Street Road. [connecteast
ned.pdf]
WEARING YOUR HART
ON YOUR SLEEVE
Steve
Hart descendant Paul O'Keefe has alerted
me to yet another ridiculous Kelly Gang claim
(the latest in a line of many). This time around
Steve escaped the Glenrowan Inn fire and lived
a long and happy life in Queensland under the
name of Billy Meade. Apparently this Meade character
confessed about his double identity on his
deathbed in 1938. Must be true then... [dna
could solve kelly mystery]
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 final judgement, remember you should
never impose 21st century sensibilities onto
harsh 19th century realities. [about
ned kelly]
MAX BROWN LIBRETTO
FROM TROJAN PRESS
Chester
Eagle, life long friend of the late author Max
Brown, wrote a mini libretto about Max
and his inspiration in writing the masterpiece Australian
Son. Chester, owner of Trojan
Press, was the editor of the fully revised
edition of Australian
Son, available for purchase in our Shop section. [kelly
country.pdf]
WELCOME TO THE NEW
IRONOUTLAW.COM
Although Under
Construction, Version 5.0 of the web
site heralds a new direction for Ironoutlaw.com.
After 13 years the site had become an unwieldy
monster with 365 pages and no proper way to
update or edit content without opening, correcting,
saving, then closing every page!
The time came for a total redesign incorporating
the latest in web techniques. This new site
now boasts an comprehensive Site
Map as well as dynamic content, cascading
style sheets, templates, java scripting, .php
coding, server side form editing, and a lot
of tender loving care! Over the coming months
each page will be updated to reflect the new
technology. The team at Ironoutlaw.com hope
you enjoy the end result. [email
us]
MAKE NO BONES ABOUT
IT
Seems Ned
Kelly's bones have been discovered among
a group of 32 prisoner remains at the old Pentridge
Prison. This would be the same prison where
his bones were already known to have been buried
BUT according to this new find the original
location of his resting place was all wrong.
Guess they'll have to unbolt that helmet attached
to the grave marker in Ronald Ryan's plot and
mothball it until this new discovery is officially
recognised – with family DNA. Perhaps
in this trade-off the Government will let his
family finally bury Ned (although he may still
be buried under RMIT). Confused? [ned
kelly's bones found]
WIRELESS IRONOUTLAW.COM
Now
you can take Ned
Kelly where ever you go with Ironoutlaw.com
Wireless. The first two sections in
our Hand Held Edition include A
Short History and The
Jerilderie Letter. This exclusively designed
web site allows easy access from your iPhone,
Pocket PC, PDA, WAP phone, Blueberry, Symbian
OS, or Sony PSP. [wireless]
A SMOKING GUN
I'm
having trouble pitying
the poor sucker who forked out seventy thousand
dollars for a revolver that has about as much
to do with the Kelly outbreak as that body buried
in the Ipswich cemetery (contrary to that nut-bag
Councilor Tully's claims). Thank's to an Age
investigation it has now come to light that the
weapon was built in 1884, long after Fitzpatrick
left the force in disgrace and Kelly swung in
the Old Melbourne Gaol. Next sucker please... [auction
house to probe kelly gun]
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 ART OF NED KELLY
It's
not just written words which have made Ned
Kelly famous. From Sidney Nolan to Norman Lindsay to
Maree Coote (and
even a few by yours truly), Ned's image
has been immortalised on canvas, paper and nearly
every other medium you can think of. Our Gallery section
is awash with great images of Ned and the people
who made up his life, from artists located right
around this wide world. [art
gallery]
NED
KELLY ON YOU MYSPACE AND YOUTUBE
To
keep our readers entertained (we hope), each month we
will source a Ned Kelly related MySpace or
YouTube clip.
This month click, sit back and listen to Bob "a
brain box is what I am" Hempel who apparently is
keen to get
"a internet" but "knows nothing about
it". Bob runs
the animated Glenrowan bushranger show. The same one
that was ridiculed on
The Late Show by
Tony Martin and Mick Molloy. Buyer beware, Bob uses
very colourful language but "if you don't like it
you can have your money back". If that's the case
then Bob owes us all, big time... [multimedia]
TEACHING
HISTORY
While
not
everyone wants to read about Ned Kelly or the ANZAC's or
even The Great Depression, we hope they
want to learn something about
Australian History. Politicians from the now ex-Prime Minister
John Howard to a confused NSW Education Minister Carmel Tebbutt
have jumped on the teaching history bandwagon. But at what
cost? From the Right Wing Liberals
(remember them?) 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.
[site map]
GO SHOPPING
This
312 page book, the
first modern account of the Kelly outbreak, was originally
published in 1948. Max Brown’s
book was the work of an open-minded outsider who’d
put time and effort into studying the events of the Gang’s
lives on the ground, in the caves, the ranges and the rough
dwellings – wherever the incidents occurred.
$34.95Australia inc.
postage $44.95Worldwide inc.
postage
Seems 
