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Ned Kelly
Ned Kelly, the most famous of our 'Wild Colonial Boys', was born in 1855.
He was raised in harsh poverty in Northern Victoria, and became an expert bushman; by his teens he had developed a reputation as a bushranger. Kelly and his 'gang' were proclaimed outlaws when they killed three policemen, accounts of which differ.
So began the prolonged hunt, which ended with Kelly's capture in Glenrowan, in iconic home-made armour made from plough parts. Ned Kelly was executed in 1880, hanged in the Melbourne Goal by order of Sir Redmond Barry. Barry was instrumental in the foundation of the State Library of Victoria where, perhaps ironically, Kelly's "manifesto", the Jerilderie letter and the armour are held.
Kelly's Irish heritage, his contempt for and success in humilating the authorities, his harsh and some say unfair treatment, his bad luck and his daring and notoriety have ensured Kelly's place as folk hero.
View videos and other Kelly artefacts from the State Library of Victoria Ergo site:
Photograph - Ned Kelly the day before he was hanged, Charles Nettleton (photographer), 1880
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A studio portrait taken in jail the day before Kelly was hanged.
Film - Interview with Peter Carey, 'Mirror of the World: Imagining Ned Kelly', 2001, State Library Victoria
Film - Interview with Peter Carey, 'Mirror of the World: Imagining Ned Kelly', 2001, State Library Victoria
-How does it start? It's really interesting that for me that this book have such a long gestation period. Well, obviously, you know, I live in Victoria. I grew up Ned Kelly. I lived in Australia, I grew up with Ned Kelly. But the thing that I most vividly remember was walking into George's in Cullen Street, 1962 I think. And then there was an exhibit of Sidney Nolan's paintings of-- well, it's called the Kelly series.
It's the second serious exhibition I'd ever been to in my life, and the previous one was only a couple weeks before that. And that just knocked my socks off. And it stayed with me, burned into my brain forever. And not long after that, I read somewhere, two or three years probably, the Jerilderie letter. Didn't see it of course because there was no way to see it then. But I was so taken with this writing that I typed it all up in my very, you know, thumpy, inelegant typing.
And I had just been reading-- I just discovered at the same time, James Joyce, and I had discovered Beckett, and there were these other very strong Irish literary voices running in my head. Also writers that didn't use a lot of commas and full stops. And so I read or misread the Jerilderie letter in that particular way. And why that really, really excited me. And the reason I typed it up is that I knew-- well I thought I was a writer then but I knew one day at least I would be a writer an I'd do something with it.
And now there have been some good things written about Kelly, of course. Bob Drewe wrote a wonderful book called, "Our Sunshine." And you've got to believe me that I thought it was a wonderful book because I've got a blurb on the back of it. And Jean Bedford also, and Douglas Stewart. But I still was conceited enough to think I could add something extra to this.
And when I thought about it, there was only one way I wanted to do it. The one voice that was in my ear was Ned Kelly's voice in this Jerilderie letter. And that really was like it seemed to me like, you know, this was the character's DNA. And one could really hope to inhabit the character of Ned Kelly through the voice of the Jerilderie letter. And my original ambition was really just to begin at the beginning of the Jerilderie letter and write another 300 pages, you know, as if that-- it didn't work out like that of course.
Well, there are a whole lot of ways in which we've sort of become used to thinking about Ned Kelly, and then I think as the years have gone by, it's funnelled in to being pretty much about the armor and perhaps less and less about the man behind it. And these are, I suppose, relics. And the armor does have all sorts of stories and ideas associated with it, but there are other things that I think we've forgotten, or I for one really just didn't even know about.
And I think one of the more moving objects, things, associated with Ned Kelly is this green sash than he was given for saving the life of a little Protestant boy, an Avenell. His name was-- I've forgotten his first name now. It was a Dick Shelton. Anyway. I know it was Shelton because, yeah, that little boy's descendants are alive and thriving as a result of Ned Kelly's-- the young Ned Kelly's heroism. Anyways, as the result of him saving this little boy from drowning he was given this green sash.
So the Protestant community gives the Irish boy the green sash. And we know how much that meant to him. And remember-- so sorry to go back. You got to remember too, you know that the Irish are at the bottom of the pecking order. The Avenells are very English sort of a town with people with English names. And the Kellys were way down there.
So he's given this green sash. And this is the day I think that he's seen as a good citizen. His courage is recognized and he's included in the community. We know how much it meant to him because on the last free day of his life at the Siege at Glenrowan he was wearing this same green sash under the armor. And that tells us so much. It perhaps tells us a lot more than the armor tells us about him.
So it was-- now I'd seen a photograph of it. I only discovered quite late in the process that such a thing had ever existed. But I was on a research trip up to what's called Kelly country. And I was with my friend, Richard Leplastrier and Laurie [? Malouf ?] from University of Queensland Press. And Laurie had driven down and had already found out that the sash was in this little museum in Benalla. And so after bought the leg of lamb and the various things that we were going to take out into the bush with us,
Laurie said, ah, there's a little Kelly museum in here. You know, maybe you should have a look at it. And I walked in that door, and there was that damn green sash. Very, very, very moving. When I think about the ways that we represent Kelly to ourselves, what pictures the newspapers want to-- you know, they want the death mask, the armor, and the old engraving of Ned's shooting.
I think there are other more telling things that we can sometimes look at, and I think the green sash is one of them. It's an odd thing. It's physically very, very beautiful. It's also interesting to reflect that it was taken from his body, if I'm not wrong, by the doctor who was there to save him. A souvenir that like so many parts of this story was souvenired only surfaced quite recently.
Well, the thing that really most engaged me with the problems of writing Ned Kelly is it that, you know, we have these bits of the story that we know so well, almost like the stations of the cross in a way. There's this bit and that bit and that bit. But we really have no idea what happened between this bit and that bit. And so there's a huge pleasure in inventing a whole world that's consistent with what is known, but is unlike anything anybody ever imagined about the Kelly story before, and in which you have to have your characters walking out the door they're known to have walked out of, and walking in the door that they're known to have walked into. So you know, there's one way of reading it where you can read that and think, well, it's not very inventive. But in fact, it's the most invented, made up book I've ever written.
"I lost my own father at 12 year of age and know what it is to be raised on lies and silences. My dear daughter, you are presently too young to understand a word I write. But this history for you and will contain no single lie may I burn in hell if I speak false. God willing, I shall live to see you read these words to witness you astonishment, and see your dark eyes widen and your jaw drop when you finally comprehend the injustice we poor Irish suffered in this present age. How queer and foreign it must seem to you, and all the course words and cruelty which I now related are faraway in ancient time.
Your grandfather were a quiet and secret man. He'd been ripped from his home in Tipperary and transported to the prisons of Van Diemen's land. I do not know what was done to him. He never spoke of it. When they'd finished with their tortures they set him free and he crossed the city to the colony of Victoria. He were by this time 30 year of age, red-headed and freckled with his eyes always slitted against the sun. My dad sworn an oath to ever more avoid the attentions of the law. So when he saw the streets of Melbourne was crawling with policeman worse than flies, he walked 20 miles to the township of Donnybrook. And then or soon thereafter he seen my mother. Helen Quinn were 18 year old. She were dark-haired and slender, the prettiest figure on a horse he ever saw. But your grandma were like a snare laid out by God for Red Kelly. She were a Quinn, and the police would never leave the Quinns alone.
My first memory is of mother breaking eggs into a bowl and crying that Jimmy Quinn, my 15-year-old uncle were arrested by the traps. I don't know where my daddy were that day, nor my oldest sister Annie. I were three-year-old. While my mother cried, I scraped the sweet yellow batter onto a spoon and ate it. The roof were leaking above the camp, having each drop hissing as it hit. My mother tipped the cake into the muzzling cloth and knotted it. Your auntie Maggie were a baby, so my mother wrapped her also, then she carried both cake and baby out into to the rain. I had no choice but follow up the hill. How could I forget them puddles, the color of mustard. The rain like needles in my eyes.
We arrived at the beverage police camp, drenched to the bone and doubtless stink of poverty, a strong odor about us. Like wet dogs, and for this or other reasons we was excluded from the sergeant's room. I remember sitting with my chilled bland hands wedged beneath the door. I could feel the lovely warmth of the fire on my fingertips. Yet when we was finally permitted entry, all my attention were taken not by the blazing fire, but by a huge red gel creature, the Englishman, who sat behind the desk. I knew not his name, only that he were the most powerful man I ever saw, and he might destroy my mother if he so desired."
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In this interview, Peter Carey discusses the inspiration for his novel True History of the Kelly Gang, from an early encounter with the Jerilderie letter to an encounter with a less-familiar Kelly relic in rural Victoria.
Photograph - Spot where Ned Kelly was taken, Oswald Thomas Madeley (photographer), 29 June 1880, State Library Victoria
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Photograph taken by a photographer during the Glenrowan siege.
Weapon - Snider Enfield rifle belonging to Ned Kelly, Pre-1880, State Library Victoria
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This rifle is believed to have belonged to Ned Kelly. It has a number of inscriptions carved on it including NK son of RED (Kelly's father was known as Red Kelly).
Functional object - Armour worn by Ned Kelly, 1880, State Library Victoria
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The armour was made by the Kelly Gang with the help of local blacksmiths.
It is made of steel from plough shares, leather, iron bolts, in five pieces with separate helmet and visor. Total weight of armour and helmet: 41.4 kg. approximately.
Photograph - Monochrome, John Bray (photographer), 'The Siege at Glenrowan', 5 July 1880, State Library Victoria
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Photograph - Burnt remains of the Glenrowan Inn, John Bray (photographer), 5 July 1880, State Library Victoria
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During the drawn out siege at Glenrowan a number of journalists, photographers and artists as well as members of the public gathered and watched the drama unfold. These photographs were taken on the day , Monday June 28th 1880.
Image caption (top): The view from Glenrowan Railway Station, looking back to the remains of Ann Jones’ Hotel, the Glenrowan Inn, (left rear). Jones’ Hotel was where the final confrontation between Ned Kelly and the Victorian Police began.
Image caption (bottom): The burnt remains of the Glenrowan Inn.
Print - Wood engraving, Francis Thomas Dean Carrington (artist), 'Ned Kelly at Bay', 3 July 1880, State Library Victoria
Published in The Australasian sketcher, July 3, 1880
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Published in The Australasian sketcher, July 3, 1880
Kelly holds the police at bay during his last stand at Glenrowan.
Print - Wood engraving, James Waltham Curtis (artist, 1839-1901), 'A strange apparition - Ned Kelly's fight and capture', 17 July 1880, State Library Victoria
Published in The Illustrated Australian News, July 17 1880
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Published in The Illustrated Australian News, July 17 1880
His head, chest and sides were all protected with heavy plates of quarter-inch iron. Many shots hit him, yet he always recovered himself, and tapping his breast laughed derisevely, as he coolly returned their fire. It appeared as if he were a fiend with a charmed life. - Reporter from The Age
Print - Wood engraving, 'Last Scene of the Kelly Drama: The criminal on the scaffold', 20 November 1880, State Library Victoria
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Wood engraving of the scene of Kelly's hanging in The Melbourne Gaol published in The Australasian Sketcher November 20, 1880.
Sculpture - Cast, 'Ned Kelly Death Mask', 1880, State Library Victoria
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They were used in the study of phrenology. It was thought that Phrenologists could help predict and understand criminal behaviour.
Film - Public Records Office Victoria, 'Ned Kelly Writes to Sergeant Babington', State Library Victoria
Film - Public Records Office Victoria, 'Ned Kelly Writes to Sergeant Babington', State Library Victoria
-Notice that there are several different sheets of paper tied together. The letters were forwarded with the replies so that the person getting it at the end of it understood the entire chain of correspondence-- a lot like email these days.
And so the very beginning of this chain of correspondence is this little letter here.
This is from Ned Kelley, aged 15, writing to Sergeant Babbington to thank him for looking after him after he'd been released from prison, and to ask a favor.
"I write you these lines hoping to find you and Mr. Nicholson in good health, as I am at present. I have arrived safe, and I would like you would see what you and Mr. Nicholson could do for me. I have done all circumstances would allow me. Would you now try what you and answer me this letter as soon as possible. Direct your letter to Daniel Kelly, Greta for a post office. That is my name. No more at present. Everyone looks on me like a black snake. Send me and answer me as soon as possible."
So that somewhat desperate little letter sparked off quite a chain of correspondence because the police force-- you couldn't do anything, naturally, without requesting permission.
So the next letter in the chain-- Sergeant Babbington reports his contacts with Kelly, and presents an account for two pounds, which represents money that he spent both helping Kelly, and also, incurred for his own expenses.
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Police files at Public Record Office Victoria contain a letter from Ned Kelly to Sergeant James Babington of the Mansfield police, seeking help. The letter and Babington's response tell us a lot about how the police force worked at the time.
Film - Public Records Office Victoria, Ned Kelly's School Records, State Library Victoria
Film - Public Records Office Victoria, Ned Kelly's School Records, State Library Victoria
-So you imagine if you're on horseback, you don't want to be carrying a lot of weight with you. So Mr. Brown made it a specialty of tiny writing. On the left-hand side of this book, we have all the student's names and what grade they were in, and Edward Kelly is there in the third level. And then these columns here recorded their marks. So young Ned had passing grades in reading and writing. He wasn't tested in arithmetic.
The curriculum was arranged back then, a little differently. And some again, passing grades in various other forms, things like maths and so on. And on the right here is Inspector Brown's notes about the school in general. So there's a fair amount of light in the classrooms. Playground is-- it's difficult to see. No fence around the playground, but otherwise, fair. Desks were reasonable, and a number of other notes about things, including the teachers.
Jason Irving, Henriette Irving, Patterson's wife, the school's previous registry was maintained properly, and in general a fair report. He moved on.
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Ned Kelly attended school at Avenel. Schools were regularly inspected and students' marks recorded. Public Record Office Victoria has many of these reports.
Film - Public Records Office Victoria, 'The Story of the Kelly Gang' Poster, State Library Victoria
Film - Public Records Office Victoria, 'The Story of the Kelly Gang' Poster, State Library Victoria
-This is an original 1906 film poster of the first feature film of the Ned Kelly story. And it's the first feature film done anywhere in the world. So a pretty exciting first for Australia.
The poster was used in the restoration of the film. When they found little extracts of the film-- a whole nine minutes-- -- and they used some of these to add to the sequencing. The film was produced by the Tait brothers, who were very famous film entrepreneurs. I think they were even the largest theatrical entrepreneurs in the world there for a short time.
The poster-- Why the public record office of Victoria had it in their archives was that it was used in a court case. And the police had used it, because the Kelly family had protested about this film being shown, and they thought it was not nice to have their family depicted in such a way.
But more importantly, the government both in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia wanted to actually ban the film. They thought it would have a terrible effect on the youth and cause them to race off and become bush rangers and things, and heaven knows whats.
So the film was actually banned. So not only is it the first feature film in the world, it's the first film to be banned and censored.
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A copy of the poster advertising the film 'The Story of the Kelly Gang' was kept by the government while they were discussing the decision to ban the film in 1912.
Students will use the internet to investigate some of the people around Ned Kelly, and think about the reliability of the historical sources they find. VELS level: 4. AusVELS level: 5-6
The resources and worksheets examining depictions of Ned Kelly in contemporary newspapers allow students to evaluate sources, compare images and study a single image in detail. VELS level: 6
In 1879, Ned Kelly dictated the Jerilderie letter to Joe Byrne. In the letter, Kelly tells his version of events leading up to his exile and eventual capture. These materials and worksheets provide students with a unique insight into what Kelly was thinking and feeling, as well as how he hoped to be perceived by those around him. They can be used to help students evaluate sources and analyse documents. VELS level: 6
