On the Facebook Kelly places this year the dominant item of interest has been the Unforgotten Image. Ironoutlaw and Ned Kelly Central both ignored it because of personal animosities, but even Matt Shore admitted at the end of the year that the image added nothing to our knowledge of Ned Kelly or to Kelly history. In the end it was just an amusing sideshow that exposed some of the Kelly descendants to be manipulative, secretive and inclined to be bullies. Just about everything else that appeared on those Facebook pages were just reposting of Kelly related stories from the news – the house sale, the Beechworth Gaol sales, a Play about Neds love life and so on. Attempts to start discussions on Kelly history never got past a couple of likes. The liveliest discussions were ones that I stimulated – I challenged comments that were sexist, misogynist, bullying, anti-Police hate speech or just plain wrong but once I was banned from Ned Kelly Central and the Vault Facebook Pages, those discussions have disappeared. Bill is stirring them up a bit at the moment and already has been warned by NK Central – so he’s skating on thin ice: be careful Bill – if you make them too uncomfortable you’ll be banned too!
In contrast to the declining interest, censorship and lack of ideas on the Facebook pages of whats left of the online Kelly World, Death of the Legend Blog went from strength to strength in 2016. Here are the stats that prove it : In December 2014 there were 2768 visitors, in December 2015 there were 6119, and in December 2016, with another week to go there have already been over 10,000!
Blogger Stats shows me that TODAY more than 10 different blog posts have been visited : for example 2 people visited and read the post and discussion about Peter Carey’s book, 2 people visited and read the article about Bill Denheld’s discoveries at Stringybark Creek, several people read the post about why Ned Kelly hated the Police and 9 people read the Post about Ian Jones entitled ‘The Last Kelly Warrior’. These visits are so much more meaningful than Likes and Clicks to comments on Facebook pages – these are visits by people who read and are informed by entire essays on Kelly topics and the viewpoints and opinions of readers who post comments and digress into other interesting corners of Kelly history. Here are some of the topics we discussed on the Blog in 2016 :
ü The myth of the Kelly Republic ( a fantasy designed to hide Ned Kellys murderous intent): read it again HERE
ü The murder of Lonigan at SBC ( Ned Kelly lied – it wasn’t self defence): read it again, and 60 readers comments HERE and HERE
ü The myth about John Monash meeting Ned Kelly during the Jerilderie Bank Robbery ( he didnt!) : read it again HERE
ü The criminal career of Dan Kelly ( petty thief and delinquent) : read it again HERE and HERE
ü The criminal career of Jim Kelly in three parts: (he briefly changed his name to Jim Wilson and stole horses in NSW) read them again HERE , HERE and HERE
ü The myth of Dan Kelly and Steve Hart surviving the Ann Jones inn fire ( they didn’t) : read it again HERE and HERE
ü The myth that Ned Kellys last words were ‘Such is Life’ ( They weren’t) – a review of the latest research by Dr Stuart Dawson) : read it again HERE
ü The true site of the Police murders at SBC : read it again HERE
ü The myth about Police persecution being the cause of the Kelly Oubreak (it wasn’t) : read it again HERE
ü A new view of Red Kelly – (this is ground breaking insight even if I say so myself!) : read it again HERE
In 2016 we also discussed all these books:
ü Ned Kellys Last Days by Alex Castles ; Reviewed HERE (excellent book)
ü Ned Kelly Knight in Aussie Armour by Eugenie Navarre ; Reviewed HERE and HERE (rubbish )
ü Ned Kelly the Man behind the Mask by Hugh Dolan ; Reviewed HERE (interesting Comic)
ü The Kelly Gang Unmasked by Ian MacFarlane ; Reviewed HERE (the BEST new era Kelly book, and absolute MUST READ)
ü The Trial of Ned Kelly by JBPhillips ; Reviewed HERE (worth reading)
ü The True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey ; Reviewed HERE (a prize winning novel , historically inaccurate but a moving read)
ü The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang by JJKenneally ; Reviewed HERE (a classic piece of extreme Kelly propaganda)
ü Ned Kelly : A Lawless Life by Doug Morrissey ; Reviewed HERE (the brilliant second of the new era Kelly books, short-listed for a Literary Award but not the winner – another ‘must read’)
ü The Myth of the Lost Cause ; Reviewed HERE (an interesting comparison of historical Myths)
ü The CSI@SBC Report ; Reviewed HERE (a brave but unsuccessful attempt at making a case for an alternative to Bills site for the SBC murders)
ü The Reports of the Royal Commission ; Reviewed HERE (The Classic official resource : HUGELY misquoted and misinterpreted by Kelly propagandists)
Ned Kelly Volume 1 by Dr Michael King ; Reviewed HERE ( an e-book full of conspiracy theory garbage)
We also reviewed something called “Neducation” which is the word invented by a Kelly Propagandist to describe the telling of lies about Ned Kelly to children, and we looked at several children’s books, HERE. We also had a couple of Guest Posts from Peter Newman, one of which was the review of Eugenie Navarres book, and the other about the burial sites of Kelly gang members. We also had the second report from Dr Stuart Dawson, ( about Neds last words) , there was a post, which is 4th in the list of the Top Ten all time favourite posts, about the Kelly biographer and former giant of the modern Kelly world Ian Jones, we ran a Poetry competition and after more than 365 days of counting we gave up waiting for the Kelly troll to front up with his promised explanation of how Lonigan received his wounds. Instead, with the help of Blog readers I solved the century old mystery myself.
We covered a lot of ground in 2016, we had some really interesting discussions and I believe we all learned a great deal about the Kelly legends.
Its hard to believe that about a year ago someone said I had covered just about everything there was to cover in the Kelly story and I was going to run out of topics before too much longer – well that certainly didnt happen and I am pretty sure we will find plenty more to discuss and discover and argue about in 2017.
I want to thank all the contributors and readers of this Blog for your interest and attention all year long, and for helping the Blog grow and continue to be successful and become now, undoubtedly the centre of the online Kelly world. Long may it continue.
May you all greatly enjoy the Festive season and your summer holidays, and have a fruitful and fulfilling New Year.
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Hi Dee, the range of topics and comments discussed over 2016 does indeed look impressive, even if there was far too much about the 1880s Walter and Jack photo (thanks to Christies for making that crystal clear), given that all sides agree it adds absolutely nothing to the Kelly story and can now be cheerfully disregarded in the interests of topics that actually do add something new to Kelly land. As I said to someone recently, even if it was Ned, so what? Big deal. Obviously the idea of it potentially being a Ned photo has some mystical significance that is totally lost on me. I could put up a photo of my great-great grandfather too, with his wild-eyed stare at the camera outside his bush hut; but who cares? It's just an odd old photo. But supposing I told you that he'd been prospecting with young Danny at Bullock Creek… Who'd wet themselves for a look? Get real and move on everyone..
All those book reviews by Dee and a couple of others are making me jealous. I think it's time for a book review of something I'm reading for the first time just now – Max Brown's 'Australian Son'. The original 1948 first edition, except that my just obtained copy is a ex-library 1949 London reprint of the Aussie one. Same thing, though. Most people seem to have read the 1956 revised edition, or the 1980 more revised edition. And the keen enthusiast can get the 2005 even more revised edition. But the original 1948 one is where Max outlines his original project to discover the real Ned Kelly. And with the opening up of the police and government legal archives from late 1966, and their now ready access via PROV, we can see what a distorted hash he made of it.
For starters Brown went travelling in NE Vic in search of the Kelly legend. He was rightly impressed with the memories and relics of the bush farmers and their often hard lives and very human warmth and stories going back a couple of generations. His big mistake was to think that these were typical of the Kellys, rather than typical of all over country Victoria. There was much to admire in what he saw and heard, but the Kelly saga was a most uncharacteristic deviation. Brown could not understand how hated, feared and despised the Kelly gang were in their day by the vast majority of regional Victoria.
At this point I think what he has done is elevate the criminal rantings of the Jerilderie letter into a vindication of bush Aussie manhood as seen in the lives of the colonial selector. I'm only halfway through the book, but aim to have something to post by maybe February. Happy new year everyone!
Stuart, the thing that seems to be lost on you is the realisation that Ned Kelly, though a notorious villain was a standout in Australian History, not just for his villainy but for the fact that because of the rare and peculiar combination of the person and the times, he somehow inspired this great mad myth about himself. To me that’s the fascination, how such a dreadfully violent man could be the source of noble myths, and how rational modern people can overlook the true history and fall for the fairytales.
Regarding Max Browns book, please do write a review. I wrote one too – scroll back to December 2014.
Max Browne trotted out all the myths then available but added the faked Republic material which became a legend that deceived Ian Jones, Barry Jones and many others…
Browne himself did not deliver a scintilla of proof in his book. Like Ian Jones later, he wanted a Kelly republic to explain all the mad, murderous stuff away. He just made it all up.
Thanks a lot Max!
I've long come to the conclusion that no Kelly site will ever actually be neutral (unbiased), including even this one (oh heaven forbid did I actually say that? Bend me over and spank me Dee…). Lately there's been so much brown nosing and back patting going on here, one could almost be mistaken for being on a marketing call. I do agree with the context of part of your statement above Stuart, in that perhaps there's been too much focus on a single topic (or two), it truely has become monotonous, let's move on….please.
I'm sure many are thinking (just like I did yesterday) that perhaps without Ned Kelly Central, "that photo", and The Vault, (and perhaps a few other colourful individuals) that this blog may have actually had nothing here to bitch or write about, and it to would have faded away just like the supposed dwindling pro Kelly's..(oops, my bad, harder Dee, harder)… It also appears there is soooo much worth now in counting page visits, it's become blogworthy, (just hit that refresh button a few more times, I know I have… 😉 ), then squeeze in a few more twisted statements, add a play on words, copy and paste or quote from other Kelly related websites and email conversations, reassure along the way that everyone will have their statement posted here (not entirely true, hey Dee?), claim them as blogspot errors (oh dear I'm doomed now, aren't I?), praise about potentially bringing down a few more pro Kelly sites, berate and/or negatively label a few individuals along the way, cry foul about others anonymity, and you could get voted most junk-worthy site of 2016…starting to look a lot like MSN to me.
There's my blogspot summary (particularly for the second half of 2016), and here's hoping we can all make 2017 even more disjointed and….well unimportant.
Oh shit…they're all after me…RUN James, RUN…
Seriously though, to all the great people out there (for or against), Merry Christmas…and don't have too many drinks like I may have had while constructing this review…
Thanks for the Summary James, everyone is welcome to share their point of view here and as long as its not a direct personal attack, then it will always be Posted. And that IS entirely true James –
I would like to respond to some of your comments, and firstly admit that I am not going to be falsely modest about the success this Blog has achieved, because as you may know my numerous attempts to participate in Kelly discussions on the Forums created by others, and then on my own ones were to begin with, disappointing failures because I was censored and expelled and my first few Forums destroyed by various self appointed kelly bullies . They tried hard again when I started this Blog , and for a long while I wasn’t sure if it too wasn’t going to end up the way the others had – but as you see, it didnt and I consider that a worthwhile achievement. So forgive me if I do blow my own trumpet occasionally….
Regarding your suggestion that if it hadn’t been for the Vault, the Photo and NKCentral there wouldn’t have been anything happening here on the Blog – um, did you READ the list of all the Topics that were discussed here? Did you see the list of all the Books that were reviewed here? There were 12 discussions about particular books and 15 discussions about Kelly myths, in that list and a whole lot of others on miscellaneous topics such as Man Haron Monis, the ‘creepy’ side of Ned , and so on that weren’t on that List. There were only 4 related to the Photo, and I suggest you go back and read the first one, written in July and see that it was a fair but challenging discussion about it. ( at http://kellylegend.blogspot.com.au/2016/07/the-ned-kelly-photo-gallery.html )
Lastly you’re right this is not a neutral and unbiased Blog. I have a very clearly and publicly declared position on the topic of Ned Kelly : I believe that much that is popularly understood about him is unhistoric myth making, and my purpose in running this Blog is to expose the nonsense and uncover the reality of who he really was, and what really happened. However, I encourage people with other points of view to add their voices to the discussions, and I will never censor them because only by hearing and listening to all the available ideas and opinions will my task be achievable.
So don’t Run James, keep reading and keep posting!
I have been confused by this blog (I'm new here), I cannot work out what you mean by that you have a public position on the topic of Ned Kelly Dee? What is the public position?
Renae if you look in the column on the right of every page there's a paragraph entitled "Why this Blog?" And further down some more information about my public position in relation to the Kelly story "About this Blog" . Also, If you read the responses I make to various comments posted by others it will be every clear to you what my 'public position' is. What I was saying to James is that I am not trying to be like the Vault and other places and promotors of Kelly stories, that I am in the middle adopting a neutral position because there's so much uncertainty and so many difficult arguments for and against the character and the story of Ned Kelly that it's really impossible to decide. No, I am absolutely certain that there is ample evidence that he was a villain and that the view that he was some sort of hero is not viable as history. Until not so long ago the general public who didn't live within a few miles of Melbourne relied on the writings of people who purported to have examined the records and got the story from the horses mouth. Nowadays as we can all access large volumes of those records even if we live in the USA like Sharon does, using the Internet, we are discovering the truth about Ned Kelly for ourselves and exposing the Myths that have been created around his memory. There are of course people who cling to those myths and defend them even though the basis for many have been demolished – and those people will probably never change their minds – their beliefs are fixed, largely based on ignorance and an an unwillingness to look again at the new evidence, but for people coming to the Kelly story for the first time, I Want them to have access to modern understandings and evidence based opinions and the facts about the Kelly story rather than a kind religious dogma about a super hero that is unhistorical.
Sorry Dee I just read more of your blog, again, Ok I think I get it you are running the blog to expose the nonsense so why on other sites are you often referred to as Anti Kelly then?
Thank you Dee this explains your stand with the blog, I have met and know of some descendants of the Quinns and have done some research into my own family connections which have a mixture of Irish and Cornish origins. Can I ask what your background heritage is? as this can have an influence on our stand and "position" as you put it.
My heritage is white Anglo-Saxon, meaning a mix of English, Irish and Scottish, but any family connections with any of those countries were lost generations ago. I have never lived in Victoria, I do not know any Kelly descendants, I am not a Policeman and have no connection with Police, the Law or the Legal profession, I am not an author, an academic, a teacher or public servant, and I am not a Catholic or member of any religious or political organisation. My interest in the Kelly story developed from a curiosity to find out more after realising that apart from vague details, like most people I knew very little about the true story, so read a couple of books, came across an Internet Forum – which now no longer exists – joined it to find out more, and as they say, the rest is history. It would be fair to say though, that what I Found on that Forum – intolerance to other points of view, bullying, disrespect for the Police and surprising ignorance of even simple facts of history – motivated me to an involvement in the Kelly story that was much more than I had ever imagined when I first began. I am now more determined than ever, given the growing success of this Blog to continue to provide a forum for open and free discussion about the Kelly story, to continue to expose the unhistorical nature of much of the Kelly story as its popularly told, and to promote honesty and accuracy in our understandings of Australian, and in particular "Kelly" history. The man was a villain, albeit a distinctly unusual and charismatic one, and one whose history is fascinating – but I find it repellant that he is promoted as an icon and a role model.
Labelling me as "anti-Kelly" is done for the same reasons anyone, or any group is labelled : it's a convenient way to avoid having to confront the argument being advanced, which in this Blog is that much of what is claimed to be the truth about Ned Kelly and the Kelly outbreak is simply wrong. Labelling me "anti-Kelly" is an example of the commonest of all fallacies, the 'ad hominem' attack, which as you probably know is an invalid form of argument in which the person making the argument is attacked, rather than the subject under discussion. This kind of invalid argument is advanced almost every single day by Kelly people who don't like what I write : there's a perfect example on the Ned Kelly Cente Facebook page right now where I asked a perfectly reasonable question about the Unforgotten Image – two well known Kelly followers attack me relentlessly but say absolutely nothing about the Photo. They call me an anti-Kelly internet troll, speculate about how I spent Xmas day (!!!) and suggest I am a miserable and boring person, spreading anti-Kelly bile! None of that worries me at all but let's suppose it's all true : does that help in any way to answer my question about the Photo? Or would it help to rebut my claim that Ned Kelly lied about what happened at Stringybark Creek, or that he what he planned for Glenrowan was mass murder that would these days be regarded as an act of terror or that the idea of a Kelly republic is a modern day fantasy that never entered the mind of Ned Kelly or that his behaviour was typical of a psychopath? The answer of course is no it would not, because what's relevant are the arguments and the facts not where or not I am a lonely miserable internet troll or if I am Ian Jones or the Pope. Sadly, too many people in the Kelly world – too many people generally – don't get this, and think that attacking me is somehow advancing the Kelly cause. – it's not. What they are doing is wrecking the Kelly cause because they are demonstrating they are not only ignorant and unable to supply a VALID response but also illogical, ill mannered bullies. So just remember next time you see someone call me "anti-Kelly" it's because they haven't got an answer, and have to resort to name calling.
I have always admired Max Brown’s book (the original edition). It is one of my favourite Kelly reference books and beautifully written, and I shudder when I see it referred to as a “distorted hash”. It is of course a product of its times, and I think it was inevitable Max would have been influenced by Kenneally’s earlier “Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang” (which is not well written). So I suspect that Max probably made his trip to Kelly country to research his own book with preconceived ideas about Ned and his family. It is interesting though that whatever sympathies Max had for Ned were not changed as a result of his meetings with the local farmers in the Glenrowan district. But rather than Max having made a mistake in thinking the Kellys were typical of those people, maybe the mistake was made by those locals themselves. Being several generations removed from the Kelly times and having faced the hardships of a Depression and two world wars, and perhaps themselves having been influenced by Kenneally, maybe it was them rather than Max who made the mistake that Kelly was one of them.
Perhaps what you are repelled by Dee, is the use of the Ned Kelly symbolism for other people's political, or ignorant agendas and sentiments, an area that I'm currently interested in writing about. The 'Reclaim Australia' movement and anti cop 'sentiments' are brought to mind immediately here. The use of the Eureka flag in recent Anti Muslim propaganda is also a recent example of distortion of Australian identity and symbolism.
I can see why you do not want to be labelled as Anti Kelly.
However I think your average law abiding Aussie is interested in the romantic, historical notion of the man and this is suggested by you when you say "charismatic" villain. As for an "icon", I believe Ned Kelly is already well established in our culture and history and that is also known and recognised internationally, and the armour is undeniably Ned Kelly and the Kelly Gang.
I think you may be confusing "role model" with propaganda, who is actually promoting Ned Kelly as a role model?
Hi Peter, some good points there. The book is very well written and not a distorted hash! That was a comment about some of his historical interpretation, not his writing ability, which is widely admired and one of the reasons he is persuasive. Brown's bibliography only appears in his 2005 posthumous edition and reveals some key influences other than Kenneally which are quite entertaining, especially Jon Robbit Clow and Clive Turnbull. The 'product of the times' factor is to some extent inevitable, but we have access now to documents that I gather from notes in Cave's "Man & Myth" were not accessible prior to 1966 and then not readily accessible till about 1979. Anyway it is all good food for thought, who knows where it will lead?
Hi again Peter, on Brown's page 247 of your 1948 edition, he starts to present Ned's interjections to Judge Barry at his Melbourne trial. After the first two paragraphs, he inserts the 'blameless life' speech best known as Condemned Cell letter 1, but actually written for Ned by Gaunson while he was in Beechworth gaol (Google my "Redeeming Fitzpatrick" article for the details). Brown then quotes a man p. 248 as writing that "for two days his case had been in retreat and had scarcely scored a point. Now breaking the utter silence of the Old Criminal Court came a stir of sympathy…". Brown then resumes his narration of the dialogue between NK and Barry during sentencing.
What we have here is a piece of manufactured unhistorical history; a lengthy insertion from elsewhere, and not even written by Ned (although Brown might reasonably not have known that), wrongly inserted into the sentencing narrative by Brown to infer a courtroom stir in Ned's favour. This sense however cannot be obtained from the coverage of the trial dialogue itself (and in which the 'blameless life' speech also never appeared). So the fun and games continue…
Renae , I am wondering if its one of those 'chicken or the egg' arguments – do people with particular agendas like the Reclaim Australia mob adopt the symbolism of the Kelly Legend, or is it an attraction to the Kelly legend that encourages them to adopt anti-establishment, militant anti-cop right wing agendas because they admire Ned kelly – or at least the unhistorical heroic misrepresentation of him? Part of my reason for wanting to dismantle the Myth is to remove any support it may provide to these anti-social types who think that being like Ned Kelly is somehow part of the Australian Way. And who is 'actually promoting Ned Kelly as a role model" you ask? Well theres the person who coined the term 'Neducation" who advertises his services to school and school children, and there is the outfit run by Matt Shore called Ned Kelly Adventure Tours and School Camps. Its impossible to imagine that those two noted Kelly enthusiasts leave the participants in their programmes with an unsympathetic view of Ned Kelly, though no doubt they kid themselves and the parents theyre providing a balanced look at him. Which parent would let their kid go to self proclaimed balanced and neutural "Man Haron Monis Adventure Tours and School Camps"?? It would be interesting to hear more about what you're studying and writing about in this context.
All I can say is thank God for the Macfarlane and Morrissey books, and your blog Dee, for helping to set the record straight after decades of public reliance on the fictional, modern Ned Kelly Gang story. Together, this new material has destroyed the legend and proved, by reliance on the official archival documents, that Ned and his Gang were utterly ruthless police murderers and redneck stock-theft crime bosses.
Everyone is waiting for new books from Kelly apologists answering the Macfarlane, Morrissey, Dee exposures and proving them wrong.
Don't hold your breaths. It will be a v e r y L O N G wait.
Ned is buggered!
I can understand your concerns regarding "Neducation", however I have not been on a Ned Kelly Adventure Tour (sounds exciting for a school student) but I have seen the other service advertised for schools. I find it very tangential to talk about these 'services' in the same thread as Reclaim Australia and the use of Ned Kelly as Anti Muslim propaganda (Man Harmon Monis?). In fact I don't see how they are connected at all. Ned Kelly is part of the Australian Curriculum, AusVELS, now the Victorian Curriculum. I think any educator would relish the opportunity to use such services to enhance the curriculum, teaching and learning approaches and opportunities.
I think your references to terrorism and racism are totally out of context and somewhat inappropriate here in relation to Educational services.
I am interested in how the use of Kelly symbolism has been used (in a contemporary setting) to represent new meaning – sometimes for renegade purposes/sometimes iconic statements for the incarcerated/sometimes rejoicing in Australian identity in opposition to immigration/sometimes to show the subtleties of Catholic and Protestant divisions…. etc
Renae how can you not see that Ned Kelly and Man Haron Monis are connected? They were both deluded murderous hostage taking terrorists!. In regard to the teaching of Australian history at school, no doubt the Kelly outbreak deserves passing mention, but in the big scheme of things it was a tiny blip, despite the fond imaginings of kelly supporters who think somehow every good thing in Victorian Policing and a whole lot of other things were Ned Kellys doing. Victorian colonial history ought to be taught by trained teachers committed to historical truth rather than admitted partisans, or, alternatively, equal time should be given to people like Brian Stevenson to offer the alternative view.
The peculiar thing about "Kelly symbolism" is that its values bare little resemblance to the historical figure its named after.
I would hazard a guess that if an educational institute was using a "Neducation" service then the actual teaching would be supervised and would be the responsibility of the educator in charge (the teacher). The service would be an adjunct to the lesson plan to stimulate students engagement in the historical topic of Ned Kelly.
It's possible that students could read this adult blog (which is referenced by a Ned Kelly visual comic book novelist) and it could be said they were being Neducated (without proper parental permission and without controlled teaching and supervision). So in effect you are also a "Nedecation" service.
I don't recall saying that I didn't see the connections between Ned Kelly and a terrorist act Dee. I was referring to a different discussion, but you introduced Man Haron Monis into the equation.
It's unlikely that any normal teacher in charge would have sufficient familiarity with the Kelly story to counter the inevitable inaccuracies and bias of a polished partisan Kelly promotor such as the 'Neducator'. You've missed the chance to see the sort of things he wrote about me on the now deleted Ned Kelly Forum, but suffice to say he was neither polite nor capable of conceding other points of view could be valid. In regard to the term 'neducation' yes, it could be applied to informing oneself about Ned Kelly irrespective of the means, but it was devised with a specific use in mind, which is informing children of the 'Neducators view of Kelly history. And lastly the critical distinction between 'Neducation' and the content of my Blog is that viewing and reading the Blog is an entirely voluntary and discretionary activity, whereas being sent on a School Camp or being compelled to sit through ' Neducation ' is not, and that's what makes it objectionable to me.
Sorry Dee, I wasn't aware the "Neducator" referred to someone you are having or had an issue with. I thought I was discussing education and the Ned Kelly services, and how they could benefit a history teacher to aid their lesson. Yes viewing your blog is voluntary and that is the problem, as with any adult content site unsupervised, developing brains can be stained with inaccurate information and bias. I think you actually belittle teachers with your comment.
Well we ARE discussing education and Ned Kelly education services, which was why I mentioned the caliber of one of the providers of such services. I'll mention another one: the person who took me and several other tourists on the Beechworth walking tour a month or so ago – I lost count of the actual historical errors he imparted to us about Ned Kelly and the outbreak, and I didnt even try to count the misrepresentations of the truth that were served up as Education. And in relation to your belief I belittle teachers by suggesting they would not usually have sufficient familiarity with the detail of the Kelly story to counter whatever a partisan Neducator would serve up I first of all direct you to ANY Kelly book written for children. I made an overview of all the ones in the local library last year and they were peppered with inaccuracy of FACT and laden with sentimentality and sympathetic nonsense about Ned Kelly. Secondly I refer you to the people who are PROFESSED Kelly buffs – on Facebook and elsewhere they CONSTANTLY repeat known falsehoods and historically inaccurate versions of the Kelly story. And lastly I refer you to the amusing story told by Ian Jones himself, who was challenged by a Headmistress at a dinner party and he replied rather mischievously with a wholly inaccurate story that the headmistress took to be Ned Kellys life – such as that he was born in Ireland – and demonstrated how little she actually knew about the Kelly story she was expressing outrage at. I love and respect teachers, but I KNOW very few of them would have more than a passing interest or knowledge of the Kelly story. As I said before Victorian colonial history ought to be taught by trained teachers committed to historical truth. They would not be helped by having admitted partisans pretending their heroic kelly mythology is history, any more than science teachers would be helped by having christian fundamentalists teaching kids that creationism is scientific.
I think Ned Kelly services, will vary in quality and accuracy, likewise this blog at times.
I disagree Dee, I know of some very fine history teachers that have educated views on the Kelly story and do not teach bias.
Renae I don't for one minute doubt that there ARE indeed some very fine history teachers, and I think they could make excellent use of that Study Guide issued in conjunction with the 'Man behind the Mask' . The issue is how well equipped they would be to properly recognise and respond to the mythology of the partisan Neducators.