Author: David

For me, the big event on the Kelly Calendar last year was the sudden and very sad and unexpected passing of Ian MacFarlane, author of ‘The Kelly Gang Unmasked’. His book, published by Oxford University Press in 2012 will stand as a landmark in the history of Kelly literature, being the first major break with […]

This post is part two of my essay on the Kelly book I would write if I had the time.  What I would like to do is take all the best and latest insights and the research findings of the many authors who have already written books and essays and articles on the story over […]

Twenty years ago “Ned : the Exhibition”  had just opened in Melbourne, and it ran for nine months. It was the year after a flood of Ned Kelly images were broadcast around the world from the Olympic Games opening Ceremony in Sydney, and Ned Kelly had never looked so good. A souvenir booklet was published with […]

Here’s the outcome of another meticulously researched and argued investigation by Dr Stuart Dawson, which like all his others, corrects mistaken claims that have been part of the Kelly mythology for generations. This one is for people with a genuine interest in discovering and understanding the mechanics of colonial outlawry, which rules out most Kelly […]

 THE PINK GRANITE HOUSE NED KELLY IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE BUILT NEAR GLENROWAN IN 1875 ( Image from Ned : The Exhibition )     Here is another Guest Contribution from Dr Stuart Dawson, this time challenging the notion that in 1875, when he was 20 years old Ned Kelly won a contract and built […]

Thomas Newman McIntyre : A decent brave and honest man, disgracefully abused by the lies of  Kelly and his supporters past and present.     McIntyres third encounter with Kelly was two months after the meeting at Glenrowan, in the middle of winter, at Kellys Committal in Beechworth. To protect him from sympathiser attack, McIntyre […]

Sarcasm is the ‘lowest form of wit’ according to Oscar Wilde, a description that applies perfectly to the attempts at humour to be found in “A letter to Thomas” by Kelly Conspiracy Theorist and ‘Keep Ya Powder Dry’ author Alan Crichton.  Crichton’s ‘letter’ is a mocking, sarcastic and cruel attack on the character of yet another honourable […]

As is often the case on this  Blog, the Discussions are where the interesting stuff happens, but this discussion is worth a Post of its own, because, for one thing we are hoping someone out there might have the answer to the question asked – how do we know that the green sash taken from […]

There are some central facts about the Kelly story that nobody disputes such as these ones: In the short  space of twenty  months between  October 1878 and June 1880 Ned Kelly killed three policemen at Stringybark Creek and stole from their corpses, he robbed two banks of a lot of money, he sanctioned the murder […]

Until recently it was common to have the Kelly story presented as a dilemma that couldn’t be resolved.  Wherever you looked, whenever the Kelly story was mentioned, the question would almost always be asked “Ned Kelly: hero or villain?” If you wanted to believe he was a hero, you could make a case for it […]