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Hey, Aussies: Ned Kelly's in teh news again!

Gagglegnash

Graduate Poster
Gagglegnash
Joined
Jan 17, 2008
Messages
1,445
Hi

I guess the title says it all. Reading about Ned Kelly was my first introduction to anything Australian, and looking at his last stand from different angles (he was both a hero and villain at the same time) helped me understand people a little better.

Kelly's story divides modern Australians, says the BBC's Phil Mercer in Sydney. Some see him as a folk hero, who fought the colonial British establishment, others simply as a violent criminal.

Either way, the Irish convict's son's daring bank robberies and escapes made him a legend.
Click to expand...


Well, they're bangin' orf 'is sholders an' they're slammin' orf 'iss 'ead,
They've foired a hunnerd rounds at 'im, 'e should be lyin' dead,
But th' Devil's chest is iron and th' Devil's face is steel,
...and the Kellys keep a'comin'
...THE KELLYS KEEP A'COMIN'!

:D Oh, MAN! ONLY in Australia!! :D
 
I didn't know Kelly's story still "divides modern Australians". Just as well the BBC keeps us informed.

From what I saw on the news last night the archaeologists weren't sure they'd be able to identify Kelly's remains from the others in the mass grave.
 
I'm a modern Australia, and....I don't feel divided... [looks at self in mirror..turns around]


Seriously, they have yet to verify that a particular grave is that of Ned Kelly. Incidentally, Kelly was held in roughly the same awe as people like Ronnie and Reggie Kray in London: famous and larger than life, but violent gangsters nonetheless. Also, lots of other poor Irishmen and their descendants who lived then and there did not go about killing people and holding up banks.
 
I can't remember hearing about him in the media since that last film was made about him.
 
When Lalor was not busy bringing democracy, he was out robbing banks. Sadly, 19th Century forensics prevents me from proving my point.
 
humber said:
When Lalor was not busy bringing democracy, he was out robbing banks. Sadly, 19th Century forensics prevents me from proving my point.
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Actually he was inciting rebellion in the Goldfields, so he was being traitorous to the Crown. So he didn't need to rob banks because all the money he needed was in the ground.
 
I did a report on Australia in ninth grade that figured Ned Kellly as one of the folk heroes.

A few years later, Mick Jagger starred in a film (apparently it did not do to well) that starred him as Ned Kelly.

DR
 
"Divides modern Australians".

Gotta love journalists.

Most modern Australians have probably barely heard of him. :rolleyes:
 
Everyone knows about mailbox-head-man. They probably don't know his name but they know what he looks like.
 
Well the North Hollywood shootout reminds me of the tactics used by Ned Kelly at Glenrowan.
 
Gagglegnash said:
:D Oh, MAN! ONLY in Australia!! :D
Click to expand...


Oh, hardly. It's actually a fairly common theme in Western culture. Ned Kelly, Robin Hood, Pretty Boy Floyd, Jesse James, Eamonn O Riain, Pancho Villa...The legendary-outlaw-cum-folk-hero myth has repeated itself often.
 
Obviously he is not so well-known in the States, and I'd never heard of him until we visited the Melbourne Gaol this past summer. Given the story I heard, it reminded me more or less of Jesse James (or maybe, given the grave issue, Billy the Kid is more appropriate?). I don't know how appropriate the comparison is, but that was my impression (and the wifey agreed).
 
Cleon said:
Oh, hardly. It's actually a fairly common theme in Western culture. Ned Kelly, Robin Hood, Pretty Boy Floyd, Jesse James, Eamonn O Riain, Pancho Villa...The legendary-outlaw-cum-folk-hero myth has repeated itself often.
Click to expand...

Check out "Sam Bass" in Texas...
 
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