Australian History
Book Details

Ned Kelly

New Illustrated Edition

John Molony

In this evocative recreation of the Kelly story, John Molony unravels a life over which legend has cast a spell.

Opinion

‘Eureka Stockade and Ned Kelly are surely our most potent historical symbols — not merely because they are abiding symbols of resistance to corrupt authority, but because they are such good stories.’ (The West Australian, 12 January 2002)

‘Ned Kelly is a new, illustrated edition of Molony’s classic work. Evocative and imaginative in it recreation of the story of the life and legend of one of Australia’s most infamous criminals.’ (Rostrum, December 2001)

About this Title

‘Mind you die like a Kelly, son.’ In these words of Ned Kelly’s mother, we hear the pride and despair of a dispossessed people.

The Kelly clan had hoped for a better lot in Australia than in Ireland. In the new colony, however, they found themselves once again destined to lives of poverty, rejection and powerlessness. With their dream of dignity, freedom and land denied them, some succumbed, others rebelled.

Since his death in the old Melbourne Gaol on 11 November 1880, Ned Kelly has become a part of the land and its memories. In this evocative, imaginative recreation of the Kelly story, John Molony unravels the tangled skein of a life over which legend has cast a spell.

This new, illustrated edition of Molony’s classic work will appeal to all those people who are captivated by the Kelly legend.

‘As Professor Molony has shown, the echoes can reach out across a century and grab Australians by the throat. Who among us has stood out against oppression with the courage and flair of that boy from Greta?’ Overland

‘. . . a happy combination of accurate scholarship and the telling of a story . . . goes a long way to providing the answers to two central questions: Who was Ned Kelly, and why did he become important in the history of Australia?’ Manning Clark

Table of Contents

Preface
Preface to the First Edition
Acknowledgements
Family Tree

1 The Making of a Man
2 The Gentle Years
3 Greta by the Creeks
4 Harry's Hub
5 The Passing of Boyhood
6 From Clan to Mob
7 Tea and Scones
8 A Killer
9 Wombat Hole
10 Happy Christmas
11 Wilderness of the Heart
12 Shadows in the Ranges
13 Captain of the Northeast
14 A Still, Cold Night
15 The Son of his Mother
Epilogue

Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

John Molony has been Professor of History and then Manning Clark Professor of Australian History at the Australian National University, Canberra (1975–91), Keith Cameron Professor of Australian History at University College Dublin (1991–93) and Foundation Research Professor of the Australian Catholic University (1993–96). He is currently Visiting Fellow, Australian Dictionary of Biography, at the Australian National University.

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978-0-522-85013-0