Ned Kelly and the True History of the Kelly Gang

‘Do not applaud me. It is not I who speaks to you, but history which speaks through my mouth.’ This quote clarifies history is not just based upon the facts and evidence that remain; but of the memories that individuals, historians, and authors construct from these evidence to create this history itself, the history that we come to believe in today. While time progresses and culture changes the enthrallment with the Kelly story remains. Edward Ned Kelly, through his trademark iron helmet and his passionate expression, has an extraordinary ability to hold our attention. The Kelly story has been told and re-told, elaborated and argued again and again conveying that the memories of history can be uncertain. It is what the authors and directors show to convince you of what is true and what is false, but in the end it is up to that audience to believe these perspectives that are being set out in front of them. In my belief, Ned Kelly was a hero. Long after his death, Ned Kelly lives on in Australian culture through various media. In this presentation I will exemplify the way different texts skilfully show the man behind the mask.
Peter Carey’s novel, True History of the Kelly Gang is a sympathetic account of Ned Kelly’s life from Ned’s perspective. This novel is written entirely in Kelly's voice, the lyrical and largely unpunctuated narrative is presented as a series of letters addressed to an unborn fictional daughter whom he will never see. Australian director Gregor Jordan's “Ned Kelly” film adaptation of the novel, Our Sunshine, remains true to much of the historical detail, while giving a sympathetic portrayal of the outlaw. It exposes Kelly as an honorable man driven to misdeeds by circumstances and false accusations. Sidney Nolan’s ‘Ned Kelly’ series, one of the greatest sequences of Australian paintings simplified depiction of Kelly in his armor, becoming an iconic Australian image. These series became the setting for the artist’s meditations upon universal...