Kelly Country

Will the real Ned Kelly please stand up? Is he Mick Jagger, John Jarrett or Heath Ledger? Was he a ruthless, murdering outlaw, an Aussie Robin Hood or just a naughty boy? The Kelly gang is as important in Australian folklore as Jack the Ripper is to Londoners, and the gunfight at the OK Corral to Americans. ‘As game as Ned Kelly’ is part of the language and on Remembrance Day (11 November), some people remember Ned’s last words, ’Such is life’, delivered from the gallows in Melbourne Gaol.

My view of Ned… if he was around today, he’d probably be a charismatic larrikin with a couple of petty busts to his name but, then, he was a rebel with a cause. His trademark armour helped the myth along, but there was a definite antagonism between authority and the Irish. Kelly’s sister, Kate was assaulted by a constable at the Kelly home in 1878. Beaten off by family members, the constable threatened them with charges of attempted murder. This forced Ned and Dan Kelly to flee and led to the fatal police attempt to arrest them at Stringybark Creek.