Anyone who doubts that the Kelly Legend is on its death bed only needs to look back at two things to be convinced that it is: the first is the fascinating 1968 publication “Ned Kelly: Man and Myth” edited by Colin Cave. This book contains the proceedings of a Kelly Symposium held in Wangaratta over the Easter weekend of 1967, to which many very serious academics came to give prepared talks and take questions from the floor about Ned. There was also a display of related relics and writings and even a bus tour of Kelly Country.
The audience was treated to a lecture by the famous Australian historian, Professor Manning Clark and to another by Monash University Law Professor, Louis Waller, and another by Melbourne University Historian Dr Weston Bate. Ian Jones was there too, of course, and it was the place he first publically described his now debunked theory about a Kelly Republic of North East Victoria. In 1993 in Beechworth a second symposium was held to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first one : this time lectures were delivered by Victorian Chief Justice John Phillips, Professor John McQuilton and Keith McMenomy…and Ian Jones! It was claimed by Marian Matta that because of the interest in Kelly that the first symposium created “It would be safe to say that Ned is no longer viewed as Colin Cave’s “bearded, braggart, brawling Irishman; horse-thief, bank robber, bushranger and murderer; the loud- mouthed, law-breaking, swaggering son of an Irish convict” but as a complex and extraordinary man whose ethical standards and moral courage eclipse his relatively minor criminal tendencies.” Wow…there’s a point of view that has not aged well!
The second phenomenon to observe, looking back, was the long series of annual Beechworth ‘Ned Kelly’ weekends. An entire weekend of lectures from invited experts, of outdoor activities, re-enactments of Court sessions, local tours and exhibitions beginning Friday night would be booked out months in advance. In 2008, for example, for $15 you could go to a Lecture in the Courthouse given by Grahame Fricke, the author of just released book “Neds Nemesis”.
The important point being made here is that back then there was genuine academic interest in the Kelly phenomenon, the “experts’ were genuine academic heavyweights, people with powerful enquiring minds and intellect, people who understood logic and the rules of academic debate and what were reasoned arguments.
But now, 30 years later, the genuine academics who once defended Kelly have all died or moved on, and nobody has replaced them. These days, academics and writers with an interest in the Outbreak have abandoned the 1993 notion that Kelly was a man “whose ethical standards and moral courage eclipse his relatively minor criminal tendencies” . The spotlight that was turned on Kelly and on his extended family exposed truths about it all that made it impossible to go on pretending his criminal tendencies were ‘relatively minor’. Even Ian Jones admitted that if what was planned for Glenrowan wasn’t about establishing a republic, it would have been a criminal atrocity on a monstrous scale, so, unsurprisingly he clung to the Republic theory to the end in order to preserve his belief that Kellys criminal tendencies were ‘minor’.
So instead of the academics being on the side of Kelly myths promoted by Jones and still clung to by fanatical sympathisers on various pro-Kelly Facebook pages, academic works written about Kelly are now about the true story that the myths tried to conceal, and it all started with the sympathisers nemesis, Ian MacFarlane. Since then we’ve had brilliant writing and research publications from Dawson (several ), Morrissey (Three), Kieza (two), Kennedy, Dufty, Strahan, Cormick, Newman…the combined result being a huge roll-back of mythology and a huge exposure of the historical realities of what actually happened. Books still to be written will no doubt include the results of discoveries made on this blog such as the myth of the Boxing match, the myth about the green sash being a reward for the rescue of a boy from Hughes creek, the appreciation of what Lonigan’s thigh wound proves about his murder at SBC….And on the pro-Kelly side? Total Publications: NIL. Silence. Dumb looks. Rants on Facebook.
In 2025, instead of heavyweights of academia, the only ‘experts’ defending Kelly are the deplorable lightweight conspiracy theorists and fanatics like Steve Jager and Stuart Rowsell who claim to be historians and ‘researchers’, the modern experts. “I have always called myself a historian and ONE of Australia’s leading Ned Kelly experts, because I am!” says Jager, the paranoid guy who claims to know where Ned Kellys skull is …. but it’s a secret! Recently when I asked Joanne Griffiths about the skull , this woman, who is a Kelly descendant who parades herself as a keeper of the Kelly flame avoided answering the question and asked my what my favourite pancake topping was! Stuart Rowsell is the perpetually confused conspiracy theorist who believes Lonigan was shot twice but McIntyre didn’t see the two flashes and clouds of smoke because he had his eyes closed! GOOD GOD -thats the best he can do, this self proclaimed Kelly historian and researcher? This week, he created yet another conspiracy theory to explain away another of the many facts he doesn’t like: that Kelly was the person who injured Metcalf at Glenrowan : his theory is that the people who testified that it was Kelly were all paid off. And this is the guy who declared “Anyone can have an opinion … i just want to see that opinion backed with evidence – i am sick of opinions dressed as facts. I always try and attach my opinion with evidence – but others don’t – they just say ‘trust me’ … i am sick of that BS …. i get you we have discussed this 1000 times – how many more times do we discuss this shit!!???? All i want is the discussion backed with verifiable evidence and not a ‘trust me’ bollocks”. Needless to say not one of these clever dicks has ever published anything – all they’ve done is post delusional rants on various Facebook pages, rants which rapidly disappear down the list as posts about man Caves and Benalla in the 1980s and other irrelevancies quickly replace them.
The abysmal standard of thier ‘research’ and writing in defense of the crumbling Kelly mythology is worse than an intelligent schoolkid could easily manage. Its embarrassingly amateurish and pathetic : conspiracy theory, misquotes, ad hominem attacks, straw man arguments – every invalid form of argument is on display every time they put pen to paper. Compare that to a lecture from Professor Luis Waller or Manning Clark – something substantial and authoritative vs flimsy lightweight and worthless word salads. No wonder one of thier crap ever gets published…or even quoted by anyone other than themselves.
And in place of the Ned Kelly Weekend at Beechworth ? This year, in June there will be beers and a pub meal in Wangaratta for two or three dozen members of the Mark Perry and Ned Kelly Admiration Society. I believe they are going to re-enact the last stand, get drunk and all fall down.
A delusional bunch of misfits.
Hi David, I think you are right that this blog is going to be referenced by future writers about the Kelly story because it does have a lot of ground breaking myth busting content, and this blog has in fact been referenced in a few recent serious Kelly books written by well qualified people.
The exploration and debunking of the Green Sash tale is one of the highlights from last year; as is the challenge to Ned’s claimed status as an expert boxer. In many posts on various topics there have been great discussions and points made by contributors resulting in “go-to” articles for anyone interested in the topic in question.
Yesterday I wanted to revisit the question of why Ned’s trial was moved from Beechworth to Melbourne and sure enough, there is an article on the blog that started with me discussing something in Fricke’s book ‘Ned’s Nemesis’ which became a new post about the trial being moved, with a whole bunch of comments getting into the details. Then there are a whole pile of source references by me and others grabbed quickly at the time which I am looking forward to revisiting. Great stuff!
The Kellyheads are totally kicking our asses in the Facebook Ranting stakes !
“We must not allow a Rants on Farcebook GAP to open!” – Someone Famous… (make it Gandhi so it sounds better)
Hi Tomas, I gather there are lots of Kelly lunatics on Fakebook but I don’t have it, partly because Zuckerbucks sells everyone’s data, partly because there have been at least 3 major data theft breaches in the past 3 years that I heard of, and partly because for what they tell me it is mostly occupied by aging lunatics 🤪. A couple of people occasionally send me screenshots of something exceptionally idiotic, but I don’t have time to set up Facebook just to argue with crackpots. 😂
Hi David. We must catch up next time you are in Melbourne.
In my book on Wallace I have acknowledged you and your blog as having played an important role in correcting mistruths about the Kelly story. I have also acknowledged the great work done by Stuart Dawson and Ian McFarlane in correcting some of the misinformation that has been generated over the years about the Kellys.
As you know though, I am now also posting on the BBM facebook page. I have to say that I have had some very good interactions with many others who post on that site, including Steve Jager and Stuart Roswell. I have also through BBM been in touch with a number of Kelly descendants and people in Kelly country whose families have been there for multi-generations. I don’t share their views on Ned, but despite this some of them have gone out of their way to provide me with information and to take me to Kelly-related sites, for which I am really grateful. It is a pity that all this mud-slinging between the different groups has to continue. At the end of the day we all have something in common – an interest in the Kelly outbreak.
Hi Peter
Thanks for your kind words about the Blog. Yes, I know these FB wars distress you and it seems childish and stupid a lot of the time. Also, I am sure you’re right to recognise Jagers interest in identifying the purported actual locations of gang hideouts and so-on. Not everything these fanatics believe or claim to know is erroneous…however I think its a mistake to think we have something in common…
My interest – and I think yours too – is in understanding accurately what I call ‘the true story’, the historical reality of the Kelly outbreak – whereas their interest is in preserving the Kelly mythology at any cost – and you will have seen the absurd lengths they go to, to do so, the verbal gymnastics, the tortuous irrational argumentative word salads and misquoting, distorting and misinterpreting of facts and evidence, the legion of Rowsells insane conspiracy theories, the verbal assaults and hateful bigoted disrespectful attacks on everyone who disagrees with them….you copped an earful from one of them at the very beginning…Ive been getting it for over a decade, as have Stuart and Ian MacFarlane …
In fact, I would say our interests are diametrically opposed to each other, at least in respect of the people with whom we have open disagreement. At its most fundamental I think its about a commitment to allowing the facts and evidence to lead us to rational conclusions as opposed to finding ways to reinterpret facts and evidence to justify predetermined beliefs.
There are a few exceptions of course but very few of those people participate in the discussions on FB…bullying and disparagement has taught them its better to keep a low profile. Have you seen the disgusting abuse heaped on Dave White by several of them for daring to post to my Page? Have you seen the list of vile epithets I documented that Mark Perry directed at me? I have saved a long string of unsolicited abusive text messages that Jager sent me over a year or two…he and others have made clear reference on more than one occasion to their desire to physically assault me…he and his pals regularly make disparaging and mocking reference to me and my family, to my profession, to my Kiwi background, to my honesty and integrity.…etc etc.
I am pretty sure I have almost nothing in common with these people…but if they are going to parade themselves as ‘experts’ on the kelly story, they are going to have to continue to contend with me exposing them as dodgy fanatics and their claims about Kelly history to often be false.
As Trump would say “There are some very fine people on both sides”. (although there was nothing good about the people he was referencing on that occasion). Honestly though, there are many contributors both on your blog and on BBM who have some very interesting stories to tell and who are willing to direct me to some interesting Kelly-related sites. I’ve been trying to locate some areas within Woolshed that were mentioned by James Wallace, and Steve Jager is being pretty helpful in that regard. As for all the conspiracy theories and abusive stuff, I just flick through it all to be honest.
It’s funny, I was thinking that writing that James Wallace book would put an end to my Kelly obsession, but it has had the opposite affect – I’ve been putting notes together about a possible book on Captain Standish, but now I’m starting to become more interested in collecting stories from people in Kelly country (a bit like Eugenie Navarre) and documenting places (like Kevin Passey). It amazes me that people in the north-east (Kelly country) are so passionate about it all after some 140 plus years have passed. I am meeting some “pro-Kelly” descendants this Thursday, and then on Sunday I am meeting with the descendants of a family whose lives were severely impacted by the Kellys. I am keen to hear both sides.
Yes I imagine Jager COULD be helpful….but I would need to verify anything he told me from an independent source. I noticed today he made a completely wrong comment on Facebook about what Craig McCormicks book reported about handwriting analysis. I cant tell if he just doesn’t understand what was written, or he deliberately misquoted it, but for whatever reason he was wrong and now has misinformed anyone who reads it….and of course nobody there is bright enough to notice and to correct him.
Meeting with pro-Kelly descendants will be an interesting experience I would imagine. I am not sure what you might hope to get from them, other than recitations of mythology about St Ned : most if not all will have grown up during the ‘Jones’ years so I daresay will be well versed in the Jones version – if I could call it that – and I would guess thats what they will claim is what their ancestors handed down to them….even things we know Jones invented, like the Republic. And none of them will be interested in learning the true story – their minds will be closed to anything but the kelly cult doctrines .
I think your time would be much better spent writing the book about Standish. Now that WOULD be interesting!
Hi Peter, I’d love to see a book about Detective Ward one day! Sounds like a fascinating character.
Hi Peter ! What a splendid modern equivalent of the evolution of the Kelly mythmaking you’ve picked there ! Because what Trump actually said next was “…I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists. They should be condemned totally.” To this day, many media cold-bloodedly misrepresent what he said. This time, we got to see the dark clouds of mythmaking gathering in real time !
I went to Kelly Country in July last, and yep, there sure are some people who are still passionate about the Kelly Outbreak 140 + years later – I had one quite disturbing encounter in the Benalla Cemetery, for example. More amusingly, in an 1870s pub in Beechworth, some young folks told me about a pub band who performed in Mansfield recently, thinking it would be rampant Kelly faithful all the way…. and were appalled at the audience reception when they played “Poor Ned” !! I so-o-o-o wanted a longer stay in Kelly Country 🙁 Cheers Peter!
Hi Tomas, Mansfield is probably not the best place for a band to play ‘Poor Ned’ given its central monument to the murdered police 😂. It’s the only town in the Ned Kelly Touring Route where locals broadly take a dim view of the Kelly gang; the rest are persevering in trying to milk the tale for tourist dollars with little connection to facts. Fact 1 being it’s pretty stupid to glorify a multiple murderer and expect everyone to celebrate.
Our Australian media was just as witless and malicious as the American mainstream media in pushing the Charlottesville hoax narrative; the same way they told the world that Trump said to drink bleach for COVID when he was talking about medical light treatment research, and they said that Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation, etc. Scott Adams has listed nearly 30 anti-Trump hoaxes pushed by the MSM. Our media recycles them uncritically and the result is that most people including our politicians have absolutely no idea about Trump’s policies and present them as crazy and chaotic, instead of a consistent platform that he went on the road campaigning with for the last four years and which won him the popular vote in all states plus the House and Senate as well as the Presidency. It’s a direct product of our fake news, especially the ABC but most of our media is pretty dopey like that. For example most of the commentators only listened to the clips of the last 8 minutes of the 40 minute Trump-Zelensky meeting and had no clue how it went bad as a direct result of Zelensky’s attitude and arrogant demands. He FAFO.
Back to Ned. In a recent jaunt through Kelly Country I noticed that Glenrowan no longer has a Kelly helmet tourist sign on the Hume; that the replica Ann Jones Inn sign has been restored with a new replica after the old replica one was apparently stolen (I like the sign, the same as I like the Sovereign Hill buildings regardless that they’re mostly replicas); and the old grey metal Glenrowan tourist information posts scattered around the place still contain the old Jones myths about a Kelly republic and sympathiser army that I mythbusted in 2018 and told the shire about. They said they had no budget to fix them up. Any excuse for misinforming tourists will do, I suppose, when you’ve built a house of cards…
We are NOT going to start a conversation here about US Politics. There are a zillion other places where that can happen…
Stephen Jager’s research ability is nothing more than amateurish.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=2009894595990621
Stephen Jager expert Kelly historian. Listen to how Stephen for 36 seconds destroys any credibility he had left. Watch closely the body language of Holmes and Phelan as he interrupts Phelan.
Start at 7 minutes 20 seconds through to 7 minutes 56 seconds
Wow, that stood out like a whore in a nunnery !! I think Aidan Phelan (whose middle name is presumably “Andabettina”??) is dying inside after hearing Mr Jagger say the siege was on “the 28th of July” …? Sure AP dips his gaze a second or two before that embarrassing own-goal (following so hot on the heels of much declaration that WE will be sticking to THE FACTS) but then, he may have started out thinking “Aarrgghh he’s gonna strut around the stage now pouting with one fist on one hip in subcutaneous pants, I just KNOW it !!”) as well…?
Hilarious. I wet my pants when I heard Jager say the 28th July. Jager is a fucking disgrace to society. The expert historian that Jager would like us to believe, has informed us that it was Melvin the reporter; who climbed up the pole and connected the telegraph device. Jager is no expert and should continue sucking on the toad’s toes.
Hi David, OK, no more about the US from me on this blog. As I mentioned a few days ago I’m reviewing what various Kelly authors wrote about why Ned’s trial was moved to Melbourne. Three things stand out among the various contributions about it on the blog.
First, shifting the trial venue from the Beechworth Assize to the Melbourne Central Criminal Court was perfectly legal under the law as legal eagle Fricke pointed out in his Ned’s Nemesis. The Crown did nothing at all legally questionable or dodgy.
Second, the reason that the Crown applied to have the trial moved was a genuine concern that fear of vengeance by Kelly relatives or sympathisers would be likely to intimidate members of a Beechworth jury such that they might vote Ned not guilty regardless of demonstrated facts in evidence. For example, threats had been made to Judge Cope who it was thought at one point might have heard the case in Beechworth. Other threats were made in the district such that an atmosphere of terror existed. This is shown in the points in the affidavit which Crown Solicitor Gurner drew up to support Crown Prosecutor Smyth’s application to have the trial moved.
Third, Ned was given the opportunity through his solicitor to object to the trial being moved, and his counsel Gaunson was granted an extension of time to consult his client and lodge a counter-affidavit, but did not do so, and no counter-affidavit was lodged.
In the absence of any counter-affidavit by the defence Judge Barry had no option but to follow the law, attend to the content of the Crown’s affidavit, and determine the course of action that would ensure a fair and impartial trial under the law. Given the content of the affidavit, Barry determined that the circumstances set out demanded the change of venue applied for, and it was changed to Melbourne. Everything was done by the book.
Where it gets interesting is the endeavours by pro-Kelly authors including highly qualified legal experts to try and find ulterior motives behind the application to move the trial location, such as Barry being keen to hang Kelly (Castles and others), r Jones twisting his partial quotation of Barry’s words from those printed in a newspaper of the day to suggest that a deliberate bias against Ned in Barry led him to move the trial location for motives other than those demonstrated, being an impartial trial. It is unfortunate that Barry’s character has been wrongly maligned by Kelly enthusiasts and I will have more to say on this down the line. For now the objective is to get the steps laid out clearly.
I love that these guys are filming at 0720 on the 28th June – I went to great pains (that’s what being out of bed at that hour should be called) to film the changing light conditions (admitttedly two weeks later on the 14th July) at the time of Ned’s Last Stand, which left me entirely convinced that he was – despite some writers – fully visible to anyone looking around, as he plodded into his date with destiny. These guys have well and truly beaten me to SHOWING the film though !!!
Originally that same crowd was going to make a film of the entire story, and embarked on an ambitious Fund Raiser for it…but fell quite a long way short.So then they decided to just doing Glenrowan but that also didnt get off the ground…so Aidan wrote his ‘historical novel’ and self published. They always said it was going to be as accurate as it could possibly be and not contain myths legends and fables but be based on the evidence…. a very good idea! It was popular among the Kelly crowd even though it made no mention of the Republic, because by then Stuart had debunked it. It also made the Gang out to be drunken louts and larrikins…
Did you see Matthew Holmes ben Hall movie ? I loved it!
Yes David, I found “The Legend of Ben Hall” on DVD a few years ago at an Inanity outlet, and it is an example to all !!! Excellent resemblances to the historical figures – even that strange sketch we have to go on for John Dunn did not defeat their talent scouting ability ! The Hall killing scene was a real show-stopper, far more accurate than the other one in the 1975 tv series (I had the privilege of sleeping the night in the spot where Ben Hall slept his last). I read that they accomplished his with just $160,000 of crowdfunding…?! Yet it’s far more authentic than most hundred million dollar movies these days!
Although I’ve never finished reading it, I very much enjoyed Phelan’s novel “Glenrowan.” Standout images stuck in my mind include one of the Gang growling about that windbag getting up and giving ANOTHER friggin’ speech! and Tom Lloyd trying to force himself to be optimistic (at the McDonnell’s) that SURELY the Gang must have cut and run by now, what with the train stopping, surely, right…? And Joe Byrne unselfconsciously unravelling psychologically as the cold hard reality of being trapped and doomed without Ned seeps through to him, and as he takes opium in showy bravado…!
The Glenrowan movie had some fairly promising breeding behind it (and, also, Steve Jager…), and I suspect the logistics of it got them to drop it, what with around 50 cops, 62 hostages, 500+ spectators (you COULD recycle extras through these roles though), and the need for the theatrical armourer to give functioning guns to ALL of that army of cops, blazing away copiously, would be enough to make major studios shudder….
Hi Tomas and David, the Ben Hall movie is outstandingly good entertainment except for a small boy who can’t act and looks very wooden in most of his appearances, which unfortunately are fairly frequent. I assume he’s one of the other actor’s kids. That one character apart, the whole thing is impressive and the pub bush dance scene is probably the best such scene I’ve seen in any movie, far better than any American western I’ve seen. The cast obviously had a ball doing it and I have recommended the DVD to many people including on this blog.
Hi Tomas, as per footnote 340 in my Republic Myth book, dawn (Civil Twilight) at Glenrowan on 28 June 1880 was 6:59 am, http://www.ga.gov.au/bin/geodesy/run/sunrisenset
So it’s not enough to say something happened at 7:20am on 28 June 1880!! The issue is when is dawn (Civil Twilight) on 28 June on teh day that one wants to film. Perhaps dawn on 28 June 2024 or 2025 ior whatever s not the same clock moment as ir was in 1880…
The filming would have to try for the parallel moment in sunrise time; although there may be other unmatcahable factors like mist…
Still, a valiant film making effort that is great for conversation!
First folks, I beat the cyclone ! I figured Alfred was a wimp…! (I’ll totally fabricate a 20-round bareknuckle epic about it after morning coffee stares are over…)
Hi Stuart, it’s an interesting thought whether moving the trial to former Batmania gave Ned a worse catchment of jurors to face… or a BETTER ? None of the folks down in Melbourne had suffered any inconvenience from the depredations of the Kelly Gang, such as might have predisposed them to vote “Flog him, hang him, and write him bad cheques!”… but his peers in Kelly Country HAD endured years of being grazed upon by the Greta Mob and similar parasites, so maybe the sudden disconnect was something Gaunson should be thankful for…?
And as for the Crown, who could afford to disregard that frightening business when unruly men made loud noises about jailbreaking Ned a couple of years earlier, in, I believe, Beechworth…?
Hi Tomas, an issue seems to have been that Gaunson argued that Ned should be tried before a Beechworth jury in the neighbourhood where he had been known for years where he could object to jurors he might think were prejudiced against him, versus a Melbourne jury where he would not know the jury pool and be unable to effectively challenge the selection. Gaunson contended that it was unlikely that a local jury would consist of sympathiser with the prisoner. Crown Prosecutor Smyth responded that the Crown did not think that for a moment; but they may be in terror of the sympathisers, Ballarat Courier 23 Septembert 1880, p. 2.
And yes, the addition of the iron gates to the Beechworth Gaol was also indicative of concern.
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Mr Rowan.
Oh how we are all looking forward to your nuanced reimagining of the photos from the forthcoming BBM dinner in June. No doubt there will be many attendees and many tables ‘reserved’.
As you prepare your white-hot branding iron can you please ensure the Scarlett Woman is branded appropriately?
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The Donald Trump and JD Vance of the Kelly world.
God help us all.
LOL!!!!!!!!!!! These photos are GOLD!