Author: David

Fourteen days ago on the Iron Outlaw Facebook Page it was announced that the IO Website would be 20 years old in “exactly two weeks” – which is Today! Its a remarkable achievement  for any Internet site to have lasted that long – and it has become an extensive and useful repository –  some might […]

When I saw the image of Ned Kelly on the cover of a glossy magazine prominently displayed at the Newsagent the other day, I picked it up thinking to myself  “Oh no, here we go again, more nonsense about Ned Kelly”. The Magazine was titled “Australia The story of Us” and is apparently being issued […]

Another piece of Kelly mythology that needs to be put to bed is the idea that the trial Judges death not very many days after he had sentenced Ned Kelly to death, was the result of some sort of curse or a kind of Prophesy made by Ned Kelly. In fact, there is a little […]

The idea that Ned Kelly didn’t get a fair trial is a core belief of Kelly fanatics, who maintain that he shouldn’t have been hanged for the killing of Lonigan at Stringybark Creek because Kelly shot him in self defence; it was Kill or be Killed! The Fanatics claim Ned Kellys problem was that he […]

I think we can take it from its title, that in writing this book Doug Morrissey was taking aim first and foremost at the work of Ian Jones, a man Morrissey describes somewhat patronisingly I feel as “the best known of the myth-makers….despite his lack of academic credentials” The titles of these two authors major […]

In the Comments following the Police Blogpost, I wrote this: “… its slowly dawning on me that there aren’t that many people with an ACTIVE interest in Ned Kelly. They have views about him but as with most things these are opinions based on little or no serious study or reflection. The NKF Key Master […]

 “Tom Roberts – Bailed up – Google Art Project” by Tom Roberts  McQuiltons 1979 book “The Kelly Outbreak” is subtitled “The geographical Dimension of Social Banditry” and it’s a truly fascinating book to read. He attempts not only to describe what happened in the Outbreak – as others had already done before – but also […]

There are a  couple of things going on in the News at present which keep reminding me of the Kelly Story, and I wonder if other people think about these parallels too. The first is the imminent execution of two Australians who have been in prison in Indonesia for about ten years. It seems their […]

Constable Thomas Longans grave at Mansfield. A central  feature of Kelly mythology is a belief that began in the mind of Ned Kelly that the Kelly outbreak occurred because the Police of the time were profoundly corrupt, vengeful, immoral, lazy and untrustworthy. As a result, he and his family were unfairly targeted and persecuted and he […]

“Captain Frederick Hare didn’t know it, but the Kelly gang was in town, and holding up the Bank around the corner. He looked out past the faded orange calico curtains of his  2 room Police Cottage at  Greta and decided it was time for a cup of tea.  “English breakfast or Chinese Green?”  he wondered […]