A few weeks ago, a Kelly sympathiser wrote a Comment that began like this : “I know you won’t publish this because you are nothing but a gutless turd , but I will write it anyway…” and then the anonymous Sympathisers rant proceeded to accuse me of being sick twisted and biased, and of having an “anti Ned agenda” before finally […]
In Discussion
Why Another Kelly Museum?
The Big News this week has been the announcement by a Kelly descendant of plans to set up a Ned Kelly Museum. According to a spokesperson for “the family” who says Ned Kelly was her great great Uncle, and another elderly relative who says Ned Kelly “was a rascal but also a bit of a […]
The Execution of Edward Kelly : As Announced in The Argus November 12th 1880
This Newspaper report is a mostly accurate recounting of the story of the Kelly Gang, and of Neds execution 135 years ago today. Kelly sympathisers are busily posting their “RIP Ned”s on Facebook today, not realising that the person hanged was not the one they adulate in their imaginations. The real Ned Kelly was hanged, […]
One Hundred Posts about Kelly Mythology
With this commentary, we have now reached the milestone of 100 Posts, close to 58,000 visits, and 1342 Comments, as good a place as any to reflect what the Blog has achieved in its 18 month existence, on what I have learned, and to contemplate the future of Kelly mythology. Survival has been the first […]
Ned Kellys Letters reveal the pathetic truth about him
On November 3rd, 5thand 10th 1880 in the Condemned Cell at Melbourne Gaol, Ned Kelly dictated three more letters, his last. They were addressed to the Governor of Victoria and contain Kelly’s final attempts at defending his actions and pleading his case. In the first, dated November 3rd, he mostly concentrates on the Fitzpatrick affair, […]
Ned Kelly’s Words: mightier than Guns and Steel
One of the main reasons Ned Kelly stands apart from all the other bushrangers and outlaws is not just that he wrote letters, but that nine of them have survived to the present day. Just about everything the Gang did – rob banks, take hostages and shout them Beer and dances, pay off their network of […]
The Fabrication of Kelly History
Watching and reviewing ‘The Last Outlaw‘ TV miniseries from 1980 was an amazing eye-opener for me. I had often seen the glowing references to it in the Kelly Online world, and I recall reading somewhere that so desperate were Kelly sympathisers to get their hands on it that they started a Petition to try to […]
The end of The Last Outlaw
John Jarratt in Wolf Creek : was he closer to the real Ned in this role than when he played him in TLO? Ive now watched the rest of The Last Outlaw, Episodes 3 and 4, which detail what happened after the Police murders at SBC, shown at the end of Episode 2, and ending […]
TLO Part Two : the Vilification of George King
The “poverty stricken” Kellys and George King I described Part one of this 4 part 1980 TV Miniseries on the life of Ned Kelly as “choloform on film” because it was so slow and it portrayed Ned Kelly to be a gormless goody–goody, an obvious misrepresentation of the truth of who he really was, even […]
Kelly Fanatics are on the Nose even in Beechworth
A couple of weeks ago the Beechworth Historical Re-enactment Group announced they were looking for a new “Ned”. The person who grew a big bushy beard and played this central role in the recent Ned Kelly Weekend had decided he didn’t want to do it again, so they were advertising for a new volunteer to […]