Anyone who doubts that the Kelly Legend is on its death bed only needs to look back at two things to be convinced that it is: the first is the fascinating 1968 publication “Ned Kelly: Man and Myth” edited by Colin Cave. This book contains the proceedings of a Kelly Symposium held in Wangaratta over the Easter weekend of 1967, to which many very serious academics came to give prepared talks and take questions from the floor about Ned. There was also a display of related relics and writings and even a bus tour of Kelly Country.
The audience was treated to a lecture by the famous Australian historian, Professor Manning Clark and to another by Monash University Law Professor, Louis Waller, and another by Melbourne University Historian Dr Weston Bate. Ian Jones was there too, of course, and it was the place he first publically described his now debunked theory about a Kelly Republic of North East Victoria. In 1993 in Beechworth a second symposium was held to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first one : this time lectures were delivered by Victorian Chief Justice John Phillips, Professor John McQuilton and Keith McMenomy…and Ian Jones! It was claimed by Marian Matta that because of the interest in Kelly that the first symposium created “It would be safe to say that Ned is no longer viewed as Colin Cave’s “bearded, braggart, brawling Irishman; horse-thief, bank robber, bushranger and murderer; the loud- mouthed, law-breaking, swaggering son of an Irish convict” but as a complex and extraordinary man whose ethical standards and moral courage eclipse his relatively minor criminal tendencies.” Wow…there’s a point of view that has not aged well!
The second phenomenon to observe, looking back, was the long series of annual Beechworth ‘Ned Kelly’ weekends. An entire weekend of lectures from invited experts, of outdoor activities, re-enactments of Court sessions, local tours and exhibitions beginning Friday night would be booked out months in advance. In 2008, for example, for $15 you could go to a Lecture in the Courthouse given by Grahame Fricke, the author of just released book “Neds Nemesis”.
The important point being made here is that back then there was genuine academic interest in the Kelly phenomenon, the “experts’ were genuine academic heavyweights, people with powerful enquiring minds and intellect, people who understood logic and the rules of academic debate and what were reasoned arguments.
But now, 30 years later, the genuine academics who once defended Kelly have all died or moved on, and nobody has replaced them. These days, academics and writers with an interest in the Outbreak have abandoned the 1993 notion that Kelly was a man “whose ethical standards and moral courage eclipse his relatively minor criminal tendencies” . The spotlight that was turned on Kelly and on his extended family exposed truths about it all that made it impossible to go on pretending his criminal tendencies were ‘relatively minor’. Even Ian Jones admitted that if what was planned for Glenrowan wasn’t about establishing a republic, it would have been a criminal atrocity on a monstrous scale, so, unsurprisingly he clung to the Republic theory to the end in order to preserve his belief that Kellys criminal tendencies were ‘minor’.
So instead of the academics being on the side of Kelly myths promoted by Jones and still clung to by fanatical sympathisers on various pro-Kelly Facebook pages, academic works written about Kelly are now about the true story that the myths tried to conceal, and it all started with the sympathisers nemesis, Ian MacFarlane. Since then we’ve had brilliant writing and research publications from Dawson (several ), Morrissey (Three), Kieza (two), Kennedy, Dufty, Strahan, Cormick, Newman…the combined result being a huge roll-back of mythology and a huge exposure of the historical realities of what actually happened. Books still to be written will no doubt include the results of discoveries made on this blog such as the myth of the Boxing match, the myth about the green sash being a reward for the rescue of a boy from Hughes creek, the appreciation of what Lonigan’s thigh wound proves about his murder at SBC….And on the pro-Kelly side? Total Publications: NIL. Silence. Dumb looks. Rants on Facebook.
In 2025, instead of heavyweights of academia, the only ‘experts’ defending Kelly are the deplorable lightweight conspiracy theorists and fanatics like Steve Jager and Stuart Rowsell who claim to be historians and ‘researchers’, the modern experts. “I have always called myself a historian and ONE of Australia’s leading Ned Kelly experts, because I am!” says Jager, the paranoid guy who claims to know where Ned Kellys skull is …. but it’s a secret! Recently when I asked Joanne Griffiths about the skull , this woman, who is a Kelly descendant who parades herself as a keeper of the Kelly flame avoided answering the question and asked my what my favourite pancake topping was! Stuart Rowsell is the perpetually confused conspiracy theorist who believes Lonigan was shot twice but McIntyre didn’t see the two flashes and clouds of smoke because he had his eyes closed! GOOD GOD -thats the best he can do, this self proclaimed Kelly historian and researcher? This week, he created yet another conspiracy theory to explain away another of the many facts he doesn’t like: that Kelly was the person who injured Metcalf at Glenrowan : his theory is that the people who testified that it was Kelly were all paid off. And this is the guy who declared “Anyone can have an opinion … i just want to see that opinion backed with evidence – i am sick of opinions dressed as facts. I always try and attach my opinion with evidence – but others don’t – they just say ‘trust me’ … i am sick of that BS …. i get you we have discussed this 1000 times – how many more times do we discuss this shit!!???? All i want is the discussion backed with verifiable evidence and not a ‘trust me’ bollocks”. Needless to say not one of these clever dicks has ever published anything – all they’ve done is post delusional rants on various Facebook pages, rants which rapidly disappear down the list as posts about man Caves and Benalla in the 1980s and other irrelevancies quickly replace them.
The abysmal standard of thier ‘research’ and writing in defense of the crumbling Kelly mythology is worse than an intelligent schoolkid could easily manage. Its embarrassingly amateurish and pathetic : conspiracy theory, misquotes, ad hominem attacks, straw man arguments – every invalid form of argument is on display every time they put pen to paper. Compare that to a lecture from Professor Luis Waller or Manning Clark – something substantial and authoritative vs flimsy lightweight and worthless word salads. No wonder one of thier crap ever gets published…or even quoted by anyone other than themselves.
And in place of the Ned Kelly Weekend at Beechworth ? This year, in June there will be beers and a pub meal in Wangaratta for two or three dozen members of the Mark Perry and Ned Kelly Admiration Society. I believe they are going to re-enact the last stand, get drunk and all fall down.
A delusional bunch of misfits.
Hi David, I think you are right that this blog is going to be referenced by future writers about the Kelly story because it does have a lot of ground breaking myth busting content, and this blog has in fact been referenced in a few recent serious Kelly books written by well qualified people.
The exploration and debunking of the Green Sash tale is one of the highlights from last year; as is the challenge to Ned’s claimed status as an expert boxer. In many posts on various topics there have been great discussions and points made by contributors resulting in “go-to” articles for anyone interested in the topic in question.
Yesterday I wanted to revisit the question of why Ned’s trial was moved from Beechworth to Melbourne and sure enough, there is an article on the blog that started with me discussing something in Fricke’s book ‘Ned’s Nemesis’ which became a new post about the trial being moved, with a whole bunch of comments getting into the details. Then there are a whole pile of source references by me and others grabbed quickly at the time which I am looking forward to revisiting. Great stuff!
The Kellyheads are totally kicking our asses in the Facebook Ranting stakes !
“We must not allow a Rants on Farcebook GAP to open!” – Someone Famous… (make it Gandhi so it sounds better)
Hi Tomas, I gather there are lots of Kelly lunatics on Fakebook but I don’t have it, partly because Zuckerbucks sells everyone’s data, partly because there have been at least 3 major data theft breaches in the past 3 years that I heard of, and partly because for what they tell me it is mostly occupied by aging lunatics 🤪. A couple of people occasionally send me screenshots of something exceptionally idiotic, but I don’t have time to set up Facebook just to argue with crackpots. 😂
Hi David. We must catch up next time you are in Melbourne.
In my book on Wallace I have acknowledged you and your blog as having played an important role in correcting mistruths about the Kelly story. I have also acknowledged the great work done by Stuart Dawson and Ian McFarlane in correcting some of the misinformation that has been generated over the years about the Kellys.
As you know though, I am now also posting on the BBM facebook page. I have to say that I have had some very good interactions with many others who post on that site, including Steve Jager and Stuart Roswell. I have also through BBM been in touch with a number of Kelly descendants and people in Kelly country whose families have been there for multi-generations. I don’t share their views on Ned, but despite this some of them have gone out of their way to provide me with information and to take me to Kelly-related sites, for which I am really grateful. It is a pity that all this mud-slinging between the different groups has to continue. At the end of the day we all have something in common – an interest in the Kelly outbreak.
Hi Peter
Thanks for your kind words about the Blog. Yes, I know these FB wars distress you and it seems childish and stupid a lot of the time. Also, I am sure you’re right to recognise Jagers interest in identifying the purported actual locations of gang hideouts and so-on. Not everything these fanatics believe or claim to know is erroneous…however I think its a mistake to think we have something in common…
My interest – and I think yours too – is in understanding accurately what I call ‘the true story’, the historical reality of the Kelly outbreak – whereas their interest is in preserving the Kelly mythology at any cost – and you will have seen the absurd lengths they go to, to do so, the verbal gymnastics, the tortuous irrational argumentative word salads and misquoting, distorting and misinterpreting of facts and evidence, the legion of Rowsells insane conspiracy theories, the verbal assaults and hateful bigoted disrespectful attacks on everyone who disagrees with them….you copped an earful from one of them at the very beginning…Ive been getting it for over a decade, as have Stuart and Ian MacFarlane …
In fact, I would say our interests are diametrically opposed to each other, at least in respect of the people with whom we have open disagreement. At its most fundamental I think its about a commitment to allowing the facts and evidence to lead us to rational conclusions as opposed to finding ways to reinterpret facts and evidence to justify predetermined beliefs.
There are a few exceptions of course but very few of those people participate in the discussions on FB…bullying and disparagement has taught them its better to keep a low profile. Have you seen the disgusting abuse heaped on Dave White by several of them for daring to post to my Page? Have you seen the list of vile epithets I documented that Mark Perry directed at me? I have saved a long string of unsolicited abusive text messages that Jager sent me over a year or two…he and others have made clear reference on more than one occasion to their desire to physically assault me…he and his pals regularly make disparaging and mocking reference to me and my family, to my profession, to my Kiwi background, to my honesty and integrity.…etc etc.
I am pretty sure I have almost nothing in common with these people…but if they are going to parade themselves as ‘experts’ on the kelly story, they are going to have to continue to contend with me exposing them as dodgy fanatics and their claims about Kelly history to often be false.
As Trump would say “There are some very fine people on both sides”. (although there was nothing good about the people he was referencing on that occasion). Honestly though, there are many contributors both on your blog and on BBM who have some very interesting stories to tell and who are willing to direct me to some interesting Kelly-related sites. I’ve been trying to locate some areas within Woolshed that were mentioned by James Wallace, and Steve Jager is being pretty helpful in that regard. As for all the conspiracy theories and abusive stuff, I just flick through it all to be honest.
It’s funny, I was thinking that writing that James Wallace book would put an end to my Kelly obsession, but it has had the opposite affect – I’ve been putting notes together about a possible book on Captain Standish, but now I’m starting to become more interested in collecting stories from people in Kelly country (a bit like Eugenie Navarre) and documenting places (like Kevin Passey). It amazes me that people in the north-east (Kelly country) are so passionate about it all after some 140 plus years have passed. I am meeting some “pro-Kelly” descendants this Thursday, and then on Sunday I am meeting with the descendants of a family whose lives were severely impacted by the Kellys. I am keen to hear both sides.
Yes I imagine Jager COULD be helpful….but I would need to verify anything he told me from an independent source. I noticed today he made a completely wrong comment on Facebook about what Craig McCormicks book reported about handwriting analysis. I cant tell if he just doesn’t understand what was written, or he deliberately misquoted it, but for whatever reason he was wrong and now has misinformed anyone who reads it….and of course nobody there is bright enough to notice and to correct him.
Meeting with pro-Kelly descendants will be an interesting experience I would imagine. I am not sure what you might hope to get from them, other than recitations of mythology about St Ned : most if not all will have grown up during the ‘Jones’ years so I daresay will be well versed in the Jones version – if I could call it that – and I would guess thats what they will claim is what their ancestors handed down to them….even things we know Jones invented, like the Republic. And none of them will be interested in learning the true story – their minds will be closed to anything but the kelly cult doctrines .
I think your time would be much better spent writing the book about Standish. Now that WOULD be interesting!
Hi Peter, I’d love to see a book about Detective Ward one day! Sounds like a fascinating character.