2024 was a great year for anyone interested in discovering the true story of Ned Kelly, but for people interested in propping up myths about Ned Kelly, it was a year much like several preceding it, a rotten one, with one setback after another…
Last year was a great one for people with a genuine interest in the true history of the Kelly outbreak, because on this Blog more of this fascinating true story was revealed, and more of the myths promoted and attached to the true story by Kelly sympathisers were exposed and set aside. Twenty-four posts were published over the year on a diverse and fascinating range of topics as we celebrated our tenth anniversary, a milestone that our foes in the Sympathiser camp never wanted to see.
The most popular post, and perhaps the most fascinating and the biggest myth-bust in 2024 was “The Incredible True Story of Boxing Ned”. Thomas Whiteside revealed the outcome of his meticulous research into the legend that says Ned Kelly became the unofficial Boxing champion of the North-East when he defeated Wild Wright in a 20 round Boxing match in Glenrowan on August 8th 1874. This research was triggered by a very simple observation: in the famous picture of Ned Kelly posing in boxing attire, his shorts and his face are perfectly clean and unblemished. Clearly it wasn’t taken after the fight, so was it the fight or the photo that happened on August 8th? The Legend is that the fight was an impromptu event after a chance encounter between the two in a pub, so how come Kelly was dressed up like a professional? Please read this absorbing Post again and follow the argument to its inevitable conclusion: there is no evidence supporting the claim that there was a fight, and the Photo of Ned Kelly posing as a boxer was taken in a mobile Photographic studio, a vanity project of Ned Kellys that cost him 17s6d! Read it all again here.
Almost as popular as the Boxing Ned discussions, and an equally important myth-bust were the three Blog posts that explored another famous Legend, the one about Kelly being rewarded with a green sash for saving the life of six year old Dick Shelton, by rescuing him from drowning in the Hughes Creek. This a beloved and dramatic tale : but did you know Ned Kelly never mentioned it, neither did anyone in his family, and neither did family friend J.J.Kenneally in his famous 1928 Kelly book ‘The Complete Inner History of the Kelly gang’ ? That book was enthusiastically endorsed by Ned Kellys own brother Jim Kelly, and yet it makes no mention of a rescue or a reward, an event that modern Kelly sympathisers believe defined Ned Kellys youth and provided him with his most prized possession. The idea that modern Kelly sympathisers know stuff about Ned Kellys life that Ned Kelly never mentioned once and that Jim Kelly hadn’t heard of is absurd. In fact, what is made clear in those three Blog posts and a lot of discussion that followed about the rescuse and the sash, is that this story is a modern fabrication cobbled together almost a century after it was supposed to have happened from a half remembered possibly apocryphal tale of a rescue by some kids, one of whom might have been Ned Kelly. As for the sash, it was never mentioned by Ned Kelly, and it wasn’t ever something the Shelton’s included in their stories; all we know for certain about it is that it was worn by Ned Kelly at Glenrowan. Kelly fans are desperate to attribute to the sash some special significance, especially because its green, but at Stringybark creek he wore a red one, so it seems he had a fondness for wearing a colourful sash, and that may well be the sum total of its significance. READ IT AGAIN HERE
We talked a lot about books in 2024, the very first Post being a review of Jim Haynes history book “Great Furphies of Australian History” . It was good to see things we talk a lot about on FB pages and this blog being noted by history writers and incorporated into mainstream publications. Haynes drew readers attention to several important myths and had this to say about the Kelly Republic “It is a furphy that Ned Kelly had an Irish rebel heritage or any notion of leading an uprising to form a Republic in North East Victoria.” READ THAT POST AGAIN HERE
The last Post for 2024 was also a book review : Peter Newmans “James Wallace; the Kelly Gang Sympathiser”. This work, the result of several years research, has been widely acclaimed, as it opened up a discussion about the place in the story of someone who had previously been mostly ignored. Wallace may have been the tactical mastermind behind many of the Kelly Gangs activities, not just in the writing of letters but in formulating strategy.READ IT AGAIN HERE AND IF YOU HAVENT READ THE BOOK YET GET A COPY
In between those two book reviews there were TEN posts addressing various components of Bill Denhelds controversial 2024 publication “A Certain Truth”. There was a post about his suggestion that Ned Kelly might have been adopted, there was a post about his claim that Ned Kelly was ‘dudded’ by Thomas MacIntyre, and there are separate posts about Bills views about the Republic, about Sympathiser numbers, about Kellys reputed political connections and ambitions, about Fitzpatrick, about the ‘ambush’ at SBC, and of course one backing up Bills main claim to fame, to have identified the site where the police camped and two of them were murdered at Stringybark Creek. START READING ALL THOSE DISCUSSIONS HERE
In a complete change of pace there’s a very satisfying piece from Stuart Dawson in which he outlines his investigations that showed that the Kelly chiildren didnt ever go to the Avenel Common School, as was always thought and is proclaimed on a NK Touring route sign in Avenel to this day. The Kellys had left the area when the Common school first opened in 1867 – their school was its predecessor, known by the name of its first teacher as the Richardson school, at a different but nearby site. ENJOY READING IT AGAIN HERE
There were also two posts about the two rockets that were reported to have been seen during the Glenrowan siege, a minor, almost insignificant topic that is STILL obsessively occupying the minds of Kelly fanatics on Facebook. Many of us find it surprising that only one person ever reported seeing them, a fact that gave rise to a suggestion the ‘rockets’ could have been an emission of sparks from the train waiting at the very place from which the observer said the ‘rockets’ had come from. A few noisy Kelly fanatics on Facebook refuse to acknowledge the oddity of rockets being fired near a crowd of onlookers but only one person reporting seeing them, and their tedious jeering and mockery of a quite reasonable suggestion to explain that oddity eventually compelled me to write a couple of Blog posts on the subject. Their response was just more childish sniggering. READ THE TWO OF THEM AGAIN STARTING HERE
Lastly, in a somewhat tangentially related post to the one about rockets, I wrote a critique of the 2003 Lecture given by former Chief Justice of Victoria John Harber Phillips in which he outlined why he believed it was reasonable to believe Ned Kelly had a plan to declare the North East of Victoria a Republic. READ IT AGAIN HERE .
This subject is related to the rockets not only by also being about the siege at Glenrowan, but also because like the rocket claim, its one that has been integral to the Kelly legend for decades and is a claim that Kelly sympathisers are clinging to desperately. They cling to it desperately and are defending it in all kinds of absurd ways, because they’re in denial about what Ian Jones said himself, that without a political aim, such as establishing a republic, what Kelly planned and attempted to carry out at Glenrowan would have been a criminal atrocity on a monstrous scale. This is the reality Kelly sympathisers everywhere still refuse to face, long after the Republic idea has been consigned to the dustbin of history, that what’s left of the Kelly legend after the Republic has gone is only violent murderous criminality. Instead they cling desperately to things like the rockets and like Phillips support for the Republic concept in 2003, never letting on, as I show in the Blog post, that many of the things Phillips based his claim on have been dropped, disproved and debunked. All the pillars supporting Phillips argument have been kicked out from under it, and so the argument has collapsed.
Its a shame but this post about Phillips and the arguments advanced in the other 23 Blog posts this year will change the minds of almost no Kelly sympathisers. In the ten years the Blog has been operating I’ve seen how firmly their minds are made up and how closed their minds are to new ideas. They will continue to defend their beliefs like the members of a cult, with jeering and mockery, with lies and blind hostility and paranoia directed at me and at anyone else who dares challenge them. The Kelly sympathiser pages will just keep doing what they’ve always done: repeating the same old thing, saying the same old thing, pretending to be ‘academics’ and Kelly historians and ‘researchers’ while posting incoherent rambling paragraphs that the gullible misinterpret as coherent argument, displaying the same old images and repeating the same old stories from the same old outdated books in defence of a version of outbreak history that was mostly invented almost a century after it all happened. And that’s their right. Flat earth theory still has its devotees and so does the Legend of Ned Kelly, the hard done by revolutionary peoples hero : theres no law that requires people to only believe things that the evidence supports. They aren’t going to change, least of all after reading anything posted by their nemesis, Dee!
But my hope is that people who are open minded and have an enquiring mind, people who are fascinated by history, people who like a good crime story and the challenge of separating myth from reality, of separating truth from fiction – my hope is that these people will read these pages and find much that’s interesting, informative and entertaining, and they will go away better informed.
In the year ahead, 2025 we will continue to do what we have always done, maintaining our enthusiasm for telling it like it is, for correcting the record where we think its mistaken, for challenging the details both big and small, and providing a platform for the exchange of ideas and insights into what continues to be the fascinating story of the Kelly Outbreak.
I wish everyone all the very best for 2025.
Big year when you tally it all up! Happy New Year David and thanks for all the work you do keeping this little but fascinating blog going. Here’s to more mythbusting in 2025!
Hi David, happy New Year to you also, and to the other readers who have contributed comments and discussion on this blog. It’s been a great list of topics covered through 2024; I did not realise offhand quite how wide it had ranged until I read your summary, but several more Kelly myths have been shown the door despite determined resistance by a handful of quarrelsome nutters.
I fully expect some more disturbance in the forcefield as we cruise into 2025. The Ned Kelly Touring Route still has some way to go to ditch some of its sillier signage, especially around Jerilderie which I raided camera in hand a few months ago. The Victoria Police Museum got a detailed critique of its Kelly showcases from me in early 2024. I have not yet returned to see if they have fixed a few clangers in the display text, but will get there sometime in the next couple of months and see if they have rectified the errors or need another rev.
As we know, it’s difficult to change erroneous well established views, partly from institutional inertia, partly from a fear of controversy in making changes, and partly because of discourse controllers being stuck in obsolete world views; but 2024 shows that substantial changes are possible, it just takes time. And we have plenty of time!
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Happy New Year everyone !! And yeah – it is breathtaking just what feet of clay underpin one of our most cherished national sagas !! It has, however, residual value as a humdinger of a crime drama (close to perfect !! ) and as a ball-tearer of a bullies-get-the-tables-turned-on them story ! Cheers to one and all !!
Hello
Congratulations on your blogs content in 2024. I discovered this blog in 2024 and have found it engrossing from the moment I started reading the posts. I have meant to post a bit more myself but with work and family never found the time. I’m now recovering from some unplanned surgery over the new year, so I now have a bit of time to offer a couple of thoughts and ask some questions. This seems like the perfect post to do it.
Let me start by saying I’m new to this and not claiming to be an expert on any of it, more than happy to be corrected on all of it! Hopefully I’m not to long in my points below.
1 -We certainly can’t know this, and it may be a bit of a stretch, but I think it possible NKs interest in boxing and fondness for wearing brightly coloured sashes are related.
Up until the early 1900’s boxers didn’t identify themselves with trunks – they wore brightly coloured sashes tied around their waists. See link below. The photo attached shows what a boxer from around the time of NK would have dressed like. Google boxer 1870’s and they all look like that – they have brightly coloured sashes tied around their waists.
He clearly had an interest in the sport, and a possible reason he tied brightly coloured sashes around his waist is that he was simply trying to look like a boxer.
https://www.boxingscene.com/forums/boxing-forums/boxing-history/30851925-the-colors-thread
This kind of provides a bit more evidence that the boxing photo of NK was a vanity shot. There aren’t any images (that I can find) of boxers from anywhere near that period dressed as he is. They’re all bare chested, sashes around their waists, and boots. The outfit NK is wearing doesn’t look like them at all, more like one of my kids in the dress up box if I’m honest.
2- The forensic analysis of the stringybark shoot out has been fascinating. I have not been able find a forensic description on the death of Scanlon on the blog. I have kind of found him a slightly forgotten person from stringybark.
Based upon my reading of how the fight took place – Scanlon was quite a distance behind Kennedy when the shooting started, and he was seen to have been shot under his right armpit. Does this indicate that the shot came from his right? As far as I can tell, directly to his right when shot was the tent – where Steve Hart was hiding. I would think that this would make SH a likely initial shooter of Scanlon. It may explain why he was so quickly killed in the context of the SB fight, which I have found strange when you consider he was so far from where the initial conflict started. He may have been very suddenly shot by SH within very close proximity, with Scanlon completely unaware of his presence beforehand.
Was an autopsy like the ones described on Lonigan and Kennedy carried out on Scanlon? This may provide some idea of exactly what happened to Scanlon, and considering he paid as big a price as anyone that day, I think it would be great to know exactly what happened to him.
3- The Glenrowan siege posts have also been very eye-opening. One commenter or post, which I frustratingly can’t find now mentioned that during the siege a rumour started in the police cordon that Joe Byrne was dead. I found the existence of this rumour interesting, because it seems to have been completely accurate. It must raise the possibility that the police in the cordon and the captives inside were talking to each other during the siege. I can’t think of another way that so accurate a rumour could have started.
This might not be significant or surprising, when there were reports of hearing exact conversations from within the hotel by witnesses. For me it is another piece of evidence that the suggestion NK passed back and for the through the cordon is extremely unlikely. If the police could conversate with people on the other side of a (thin) wall some distance away they would have been able hear a man walking around in armour. The police may have also been much more aware in real time of what was going on inside the hotel – who was and wasn’t in there for example- than what is realised.
Congratulations again on your excellent blog – and I am really looking forward to everything that you post in 2025. As to everything I’ve written above, I’m very curious as to anyone’s thoughts – good or bad. I’ve certainly appreciated being able to write while recovering in bed, it killed some time and taken the mind off the pain :).
Happy new year to everyone.
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Hi Steve, the only eye witness account of Scanlan’s death is Thomas McIntyre’s True Narrative of the Kelly Gang, which can be downloaded as a PDF in 7 sections from the Victoria Police Museum website, https://www.policemuseum.vic.gov.au/collections#constable-thomas-mcintyre%E2%80%99s-manuscript
An autopsy was carried out on Scanlan but I don’t have a newspaper reference handy. Generally I have a look in either Grantlee Kieza’s Mrs Kelly or Peter Fitzsimons’ Ned Kelly when initially chasing source references. Both use the VPRO reference numbers or give good newspaper references that can be found in Trove. Kieza’s is by far the better book, but Fitzsimons narrates in sections in chronological order even if his narrative is somewhat “creative”, so either are handy guided to source documents, if not to their interpretation.
Because Kelly was convicted of murdering Lonigan he was not then tried for the murder of Scanlan; which left Scanlan’s family berefit at not receiving the satisfaction of judicial justice.
If I had to nominate one book as a good and well referenced overview of the Kelly saga it would be Kieza’s, although I think he is far too undeservedly sympathetic to Mrs Kelly.
There is no way Kelly passed through the police cordon at Glenrowan as Ian Jones maintained wrongly since 1968 onwards. It’s hogwash, and discussed in detail in a section in my Republic Myth book that can be downloaded from the top of this blog page if you haven’t already.
Good post. Since this is the latest one I just wanted to also say how good it is to see the likes of the BBM Brigade embarrassing themselves as much already this year as they did all of last year.
Perrys most recent fake apologies and invites to various people have been hilarious and sickening at the same time. I think more and more people are FINALLY starting to see him for what he really is (if they only knew the half of it) , but of course there will be a few dropkicks at BBM who will continue to prop him up and give him his much needed sympathy cuddles when needed. It’s getting closer and closer to him being booted from BBM just like he was at the NKS, and I’m hoping it happens. The BBM deserves to be taken over fully by Rowsell (who Perry calls ‘the know it all prick’ behind his back) and Barton. Then it can be the full on cesspool it’s meant to be, only without all the tedious jam tin/Australiana posts and Perry’s ‘hey look how long I’VE been interested in the Kelly’s’ photos from the good old days. My favourite Perry moment so far this year has been when he told a ‘friend’ that after he croaks he wants his ‘friends’ to scatter his ashes in Kelly Country. LOL !
The best comedy relief so far has been a tie between Bob McG’s latest ‘poor me’ moment and Steve ‘Hollywood’ Jager’s two part cringe fest of his ‘deliberate’ date mix up to take the heat off his ‘friends’ for a while. Yeah right Steve, if anyone seriously believes that was ‘deliberate’ and not just a brain melt from the dill / ultimate ‘researcher’ , then they must also believe that Dan Kelly and Steve Hart escaped to QLD. His next hilariously bad post to try and expose David / Dee for being a big meanie to Ian Jones was a cracker. Anyone who knew Ian Jones can vouch that he never needed, or wanted, people to defend him. He could hold his own, he also couldn’t stand Steve Jager. Now THAT is a fact. I hear Jager is also hoping for the lead role in Johnny Rotten Jnr’s supposedly upcoming doco. Sorry, but that will likely go to the Movie World (cunning) stunt man himself. Though he might have a cameo for Jager as one of the saplings in the background of the Stringybark Creek scenes, it’s about all his acting ‘range’ can handle anyhow.
Putrid old tough guy wannabe Bob McG said there will be ‘no statement’ on the BBM about why he left. FFS! Is he serious! After Perry, he’s the most full of himself person there is. Who would even know or care that he left? What has he EVER contributed to any page all these years? Nothing, that’s what. Except for his his racist comments, bullying to women, BS ‘good guy’ comments he makes just to get a few ‘good on ya’ comments from his ‘mates’, and his pathetic need to prove he’s related to the Kelly’s. Who cares Bob. Go away and stay away, but of course everyone knows you’ll be back like the bad smell you are. When trying to defend the ‘decent bloke’ Jager Bob said ‘Things are really bad and sad when Mick Beattie and Laura Nelson also have to beg not to mention Dolittle and what he does and says .’ Nice try Bob, .
I hope Perry will be booted from his BBM before his ‘Annual Siege Dinner’ happens. Come on Rowsell and Barton! You can do it! 😀
p.s. Just don’t make Jager an admin, he not so secretly hates you both, and wants the top job too. *wink*
I get the impression, reading between he lines youre not all that keen on Perry! Hope you wont mind but I did something I rarely do and removed a couple of sentences that were a bit too white-hot even for me!
I’m just one of MANY who look forward to that cretin Perry getting his comeuppance. As for my ‘white hot’ comments, I didn’t really expect one of them to get through, even though it’s all true and was in the papers at the time. I was just showing the character of some of these particular people and how worthless their opinions are, especially after the deluded old hypocrite Bob McG described them as being ‘Two of the most respected folk in our Kelly history’
Poor Bob ,he really believes he’s important and relevant in the online Kelly world, but the only thing he’s ever been any good for is laughs.
Though I must admit to being disappointed (and surprised) that you took out the part about what I think should be done with Perry’s ashes, I thought that was priceless.
As for Bob McG, check out his latest ramblings to his new favourite bogan Barton. I like how he thinks I’m you, it just shows his stupidity, and the need he obviously has to desperately believe there’s only a couple of people who see him for what he is. It also shows how obsessed he is with you and the blog, he trawls it every day hoping to find something he can report back to his leaders. Glad I could help Bob. Thanks for another big laugh. Now go have a lie down old fella, that big steaming pile of drivel you just posted must have badly hurt what’s left of your brain. Please don’t ever change. We all count on you for comedy relief.
Hey JT, in reviewing the early developments in this shiny new year of 2025 you forgot to mention another mile stone: the 10th anniversary of the Ned Kelly Centre (‘NKC’).
Can somebody please remind us all as to why they are celebrating?
Why indeed. When the ‘NKC’ first started years ago, one of Kelly’s decent relatives told me that it will be nothing more than a ‘personal vanity project’ for Jo Griffiths. How right they were.
All they seem to do over there is try and show that they’re more ‘Oirish’ than a leprechaun. *insert green heart and clover emoji’s*
It’s a registered charity! Unbelievable.
The congratulatory messages on the No Kelly Centre’s post all relate to ten years of a Facebook page. NKC hasn’t mentioned their original vision for a very very long time which says everything. The Ned Kelly Discovery Hub is up and running and doing very well alongside improved versions of Kellyland & Kate’s Cottage. Followers of NKC have accepted it will only ever exist as a FB page on Irish culture and North East Vic history that is all very worthy and worth celebrating. Their recent claim that the true Kelly story will be realised must refer to a book or something.
A facebook page is fine, but they should change the name. I very highly doubt they will ever produce a book, or anything else. It’s all BS and has been from the start. A Kelly relative told me the NKC uses Ned Kelly’s name for ‘donation purposes’, which of course go nowhere near any made up Ned Kelly ‘Centre’ .I thought cashing in on Kelly was a big No No to descendants, obviously not to a certain branch or two of the tree.
Lucky for Ned that Jo Griffiths wasn’t around in his day, she would of had no problem putting him in for the eight thousand pound reward. He just equals dollar signs for the NKC.
Mark Perry goes on and on about the ‘secrets’ in the Kelly World. But Mark Perry has a very intimate secret of his own.
Mark Perry claims there’s ‘something much more insidious going on here’. Mark Perry is right. Aren’t you, Mark?
Mark Perry can’t keep secrets.
WINK!
‘Jangles Tallywhacker’ reporting –
The brand new ‘Ned Kelly Discussion Group’ is off to a great start! 😀
Bogan Barton was very proud of his very first post regarding Kelly’s rifle ‘Betty’, so proud that he didn’t even know it’s not the one on display with Kelly’s armour at the SLV like his post said. LMAO! Now the post seems to be deleted completely and replaced with a less embarrassing one. Excellent start boys. With Barton, Rowsell and Jager as admins, they can easily hide all their mistakes by deleting them before too many get to see them. This new page is sure to provide many laughs. But don’t worry lads, Perry is standing by to help out with his old photos, jam tin ads and other random crap. He’s also already having a sook about not being made an admin. So sad. 🙁
p.s. credit for the new nickname goes to the Kelly Country Groper himself *wink* Mark ‘I don’t take no for an answer’ Perry. Thanks Perry, I actually like it.
Yes that Post was the one where Noeleen Lloyd slapped him down with some facts – so, to save face he deleted the entire thing.
It was a good moment, glad we got to see it before it was conveniently swept under the rug. Makes you wonder what other embarrassing ‘research’ has disappeared. Rowsell, Barton and Jager are like a bogan Bermuda Triangle, things disappear there all the time too. The morons should just stick to trying to decipher Kelly’s colonial text message on his rifle, you know the one that actually is on display at the SLV and not the one he supposedly named ‘Betty’. LOL!
GRAB A KLEENEX !
Just when you think he couldn’t be any more pathetic, check out Bob McG’s latest ‘good bye’ post on the NK Unmasking page. It’s been 4 hours already yet he only has 4 comments and 5 reactions! Where’s all the love for Bob? ! He desperately needs people to tell him to stay and how important he’s been to the Kelly world! LMAO! He’s having a sook about the new ‘Outbreak’ page. One of his ‘so called friends’ has let him down and it’s ‘the last straw for me’ says B.McG. Get over yourself Bob. You’re the biggest hypocrite there is. Calling your ‘friends’ and yourself ‘good decent’ people who don’t want to ‘trash talk’. Who are you kidding? It’s all you’ve EVER done, and what your whole page is for. Just a group of lonely old bitching bitches doing what you do best. Rack off Bob. No one cares. I really hope you mean it this time, you are a waste of space.
Rowsell’s comment to B.McG is interesting. It shows how desperate they are for any discussions on the ‘discussion’ page now that TTS has been kicked off. Bob will love to agree with Rowsell, Barton and Jager, he’s their #1 arse lick. He’ll be there, we all know B.McG can’t stop gossiping and bitching to score some ‘good on ya mate’ comments from the bogans and other assorted clueless plebs.
The ‘discussion’ page is already boring as hell now that it’s pretty much just down to the 3 Stooges posting their crap and salivating over each other. The heated comments between Jager and Joey Shogun were looking promising for a while, but of course Jager slunk off like the piss weak jerk he is. He knows Joey Shogun would annihilate him, with words or fists. Jager made a ‘poor me’ post himself, telling how he turned to drugs for his ‘PTSD’, all that proved was what a weak joke he is, turning to drugs instead of toughing it out like most have to. All the sympathy he rightly got in return was a laugh emoji from Joey Shogun. Jager and McGarrigle must be related. Both nothing but pathetic, tough talking nothings.
I hope Joey Shogun doesn’t let up on him, as Jager has been making some VERY interesting comments about him to some ‘friends’ already. *wink*
Hey J.T., whatever you do, please DON’T cut back on the espresso – this thread is GREAT !!
You’ve made me morbidly curious to meet this “Jager” guy, demand he explain whether he has EVER played Ned Kelly in a dire fake western flick, and then flick the back of his neck while he’s earnestly trying to remember., and then scamper away like a sympathiser from a gunfight…!
HA! I like the sound of that Tomas. The only good acting job Jager has ever done is to convince people into believing he’s a ‘good bloke’. He might still have a couple of morons at the BBM fooled, but anyone else who has had dealings (*wink*) with him soon sees him for what he really is, a back stabbing turd. The hilarious sight of him in his replica suit of armour that he often wears in Glenrowan and other places makes people cringe and quickly head to the other side of the street. It must be made of cardboard for the scrawny old man to stand up in it. ‘The Bushranger’, as he calls himself, is the biggest embarrassment on the Kelly scene, and has been since he first made himself known. Even ol’ Jonesy thought he was a mug.
At times I sort of feel sorry for Jager. Hes very earnest in his fanatical Kelly enthusiasm, but is totally deluded about his abilities as a thinker and researcher, and he embarrasses himself often without realising it. On the other hand there is a very definite streak of viciousness and subliminal violence in the way he defends his beliefs against threats from people like me. I love the way he and Rowsell and Barton have a kind of mutual admiration society set up, like three men in a tub, slapping one another heartily on the back and congratulating each other on what wonderful researchers they are.
Have you seen the photo of him shirtless atop Power’s Lookout? It’s his best yet. Feather in his hat and everything. Jager at his best.
HAHA! I was hoping a slight breeze would have blown the brainless twig off there.
“Like a sympathiser from a gunfight” – love that!
It really is amazing to remember they believe Kelly had thousands – or was it millions and millions ? – of supporters, but they were too chicken to take on a couple of dozen cops….They preferred to stand back and stand down….and watch their wounded hero stumble around in the dark and eventually get carted off by the police.
I guess they realised he wasnt going to be funnelling any more stolen cash their way so why bother..
I breezed through Beechworth this week and saw the Beechworth Courthouse has a new (to me anyway) 20 minute video about trials that were held there back in the day, with most of it featuring our hero Ned. The video is projected very large on three walls of the courtroom as you sit facing front, with the main story on the front srceen and related illustrations on the side walls.
A few clangers in the narration are worth a mention. First, it says that Ned got three years for receviing a a stolen horse while Wild Wright only got one and a half years for stealing it. This eternally bungling popular commentary fails to understand that the three years was not for receiving but for feloniously receiving, that is, receiving the horse knowing that it was stolen. They are two different offences, with feloniously recieving the more serious. This has been pointed out to the Beechworth tourism people a few times but their researchers or writers just can’t grasp it.
Second, the video gives Ellen Kelly’s version of the Fitzpatrick incident including Ned’s comment that he was 40 miles away when it happened, and procedes to downgrade Fitzpatrick’s version. Both the Beechworth tourist people and the Burke Museum people must know this is nonsense as they have had copies of my Redeeming Fitztpatrick article sitting there since it was published in 2015.
Third, it says that after Stringybark Creek “new laws allowed the outlaws to be lawfully shot without a trial”. This is factually wrong and it is clear that they haven’t bothered to read my attached 2021 Outlawry Act article in Australia’s leading legal history journal which I sent to them at the time and get their narration right.
Lastl the narration mentions George Metcalf being “fatally wounded at Glenrowan”, completely ignoring that Metcalf was shot in the face by Ned Kelly before the seige, not by a police bullet. This was discussed in 2017 in my free article “Ned Kelly’s shooting of George Metcalf, Labourer”. It would be great if the researchers at Beechworth get up to speed and fix the video narration to be historically correct.
Attachment Ned-Kelly-Outlawed-Dawson-corrected-FINAL.pdf
Hi Stuart,
When I went there I recorded the sound track and was going to transcribe it and then critique it…one of those projects I never got around to but listening to it at the time, the clangers were obvious to me but wouldn’t have been to the average visitor dropping in.
Are you thinking of dropping them a line?
Hi David, I suppose I should but I didn’t take meny notes so I haven’t got much more to say that what I posted above. Here’s a photo of some nonsense from the Beechworth Court House video. It says that some saw Ned “as a fighter against colonial authority”. There aren’t too many left who think that as the Jones myths fall apart at the seams, but they seem to have gathered in Beechworth Tourism for a Kelly fantasy srciptwriting week when thsi was made. The only fights Kelly had against colonial authority were when he was in court for various offences, entirely motivated by greed and self interest. Plus when he was on the run, of course, but he never gathered any supporters to take on the police or anyone else from the government.
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You’ve missed the point again. Many do still see Kelly as a fighter against colonial authority. Have you not read the thousands of comments on Facebook? I’m not saying they are right. Far from it. But there are thousands who think it.
Maybe, but not anyone sensible or up to speed 😂
Where on/in earth is Ned? Somewhere in the Greta Cemetery in an unmarked grave according to a sign at the gate. I’m not sure why the grave isn’t marked. Maybe its location is a secret known only to serious Kelly enthusiasts? It can hardly be to prevent vandals or grave robbing souveneir hunters as his head went missing decades ago and isn’t buried with him, and a slab of concrete was appaerently poured over the casket at the burial and then covered up with earth. Now it is somewhere in the cemetery with nothing to distinguish the place from any other bit of level ground. What if people want to do a Jim Morrisson or Bon Scott and have a beer with Ned? Would it be a public service to narrow the location down a bit?
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yes youre correct Stuart, I have it direct from the horses mouth, Joanne Griffiths, who told me a long time ago that the entire casket is encased in concrete. And I agree, what would be wrong with having a headstone? The guy was a notorious killer but still a notable character in the annals of Australian criminal history . Maybe she’s afraid too many people would try to smash the bloody thing to bits, because I would guess the huge majority of Australians dont like the idea than an arsehole like kelly should be commemorated.
Hi Stuart! I went there in July, but first I bought the full colour, clumsy to hold, guidebook at Kate’s Cottage, $40 well spent, which showed a photo of the exact patch of green in which Ned and his mother rest. I wouldn’t bother with the claimed (by some persons, not by the said book) patch of ground with Dan Kelly and The Other One in it, since the claim that they were buried on a selection’s creek bank competes with it…! I can get that photo of the Ellen and Headless Ned patch of ground after I get home….
Hi Tomas, there is a photo of someone at Ned’s gravesite pouring a beer on it in an article about the burial in the Age here, https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/in-a-dusty-country-cemetery-ned-kelly-finally-granted-his-dying-wish-20130120-2d1ce.html
If you enlarge the photo you can see the Uniting Church in the distance and a large central headstone in mid-picture, and see how that photo lines up with the attached picture I took up there.
There is also a photo on Instagram identifying which of the five mounds of earth that were dug, as the Age article says, to confuse people, is the Ned mound, https://au.pinterest.com/pin/australia–504332858269609792/
With the various bits of information it might indeed be possible to have a beer with Ned! A Bon Scott moment? Like in the Bogan Hunters TV series?
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Hi Stuart, that appears to align nicely with the attached pic, from “A Journey Through Kelly Country,” the $40 book I mentioned. Looks like I’ll have to do two uploads here, moment moment….
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Hi Thomas, being a cheapskate I checked out the $40 book at the Wangaratta library but couldn’t see enough in it to go and buy it. I copied about 6 pages; I already had enough on the rest of the content, but I think it would be a good buy for someone with a new interest in seeing the Kelly country landmarks. It covers a lot more sites than the Ned Kelly Touring Route.
Well, when you can plunge headlong into Deepest Darkest Victoria only once in about a generation, the book is indispensable for avoiding wasting precious time (which I did anyway, but I’m convinced the theory is sound). Only after I’d bought it did I learn that I had slipped right past the Sherritt murder hut (after making a video “tactical breakdown” of that !!! ) and Peechelba Station, site of the most exemplary act of Morgan removal ever !! Oh well, I guess I could be tempted back….
Oh dear, more crap https://emilygale.substack.com/p/finding-kate-kelly
“You’ve just turned fifteen. Your mother has been sent to gaol and you’re left holding a clutch of young siblings. Of your two older sisters, one died the day after she had a baby who was possibly fathered by a policeman, while another is left with two children and two unproductive plots of land after her husband is wrongly imprisoned for six years. Of your three older brothers, two are on the run with a price on their heads and the other is on his third gaol sentence. What dreams could you allow yourself? How far might you go to protect your family? Outlaw Girls is the story of a modern girl going back in time to befriend Kate Kelly, sister of Ned.”
Go girls! Girl power! Grrrrl pwr!
There’s a fraction to much fiction…
“…while another is left with two children and two unproductive plots of land after her husband is wrongly imprisoned for six years, AND SEIZES THE OPPORTUNITY TO SHACK UP WITH HER FIRST COUSIN, A NOTORIOUS RAPIST, AND TOTALLY CUCK SAID HUSBAND, AND PUMP OUT 11 CHILDREN…” There, I fixed it for her !!!!
Hi David, I just noticed this in Gerald Stanley’s Introduction to JJ Kenneally’s Inner History of the Kelly Gang:
“Whilst they were prepared to engage the police and their agents in open warfare, they were determined not to sully their names with any crime against their civilian neighbours. … The Kellys were merely in revolt against persecution, not against Society, as reflected by the laws of the State.”
Another blow to the Kelly Republic Myth, from before it even started!