Ned Kelly - social banditry, criminal outlaws, folk devils, PDF

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social banditry, criminal outlaws, folk devils,

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CRIM 303 Capturing Crime Dr Oluwagbenga

Penelope Elliott

Student Number 220155531

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Abstract

Interpretive discussion in this paper will develop an insightful literature review and analysis on Ned Kelly’s character which was portrayed through the news media in the 1800s. Historical Sources will be used to support the reliability and validity of historical accuracy throughout this narrative. Sociological perspectives from peer-reviewed academic research will provide valued criminological opinion on social banditry seen in folk devil heroism; Juxtaposed with investigative news journalism in the 1800s regarding the notorious Kelly gang as criminal outlaws.

Keywords: social banditry, criminal outlaws, folk devils,

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Folklore representation of the Kelly family thrives through a somewhat whitewash of political covariance of criminological heroism. Deakin University’s research on post-colonial nostalgia portrays Kelly’s legacy within Australian culture as an idealised figure. A national symbol, characteristic of a “true-blue Aussie”. Antiquated as the independent and forthright bushman, paradoxical to the convict underdog who cleverly outsmarted law and order in colonial Victoria.

The historical and archival records that Bradford critically discusses at depth provides the audience with the evidence they need evaluate his character. Wilkinson's Black Snake concludes as follows: Historians still sift through the evidence and debate the unanswered questions. Did Ned shoot Fitzpatrick? What were his plans at Glenrowan? Was he a bad man or a saint? People will go on talking about Ned Kelly for a long time to come (Wilkinson

2002, cited in Bradford 2012).

Recent research by Bradford suggests that the documents and texts discussed offer an array of paratextual features including historical notes, timelines, reference lists, glossaries and maps. In this form of representation, they make truth claims, calling upon ideologies of accuracy and historicity. The question here, however, is not the extent to which their accounts of Kelly’s life are accurate, but rather their imaginings of Ned Kelly and the uses they make of him. Criminologists who have studied the handwritten document known as the ‘Jerilderie Letter’ dictated by Australian bushranger Ned Kelly have agreed with Wilkinson; [The Jerilderie Letter] is now owned by the State Library of Victoria. A transcript of the letter is on the library's website for the world to read. At last, Ned can defend himself. Thousands and thousands of people have read the letter across Australia and around the world. Many of them agree that Ned suffered injustice (Wilkinson, 2002).

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The “At last” in the third sentence suggests that the Jerilderie Letter can now be readily comprehensible as Kelly’s defence against the charges laid against him. This view builds on the severity of the historical commentary which accompanies Wilkinson’s version of the Letter and the way she has reorganised it. Her claim about the powerful effect of the letter on '' many" of those who have read it. The post-colonial nostalgia visible in this text promises what Walder describes as a '' desire for origins, for unmediated experience" transparent in Wilkinson's inference that her version of the Jerilderie Letter offers a "real" and unmediated tactile experience of Ned Kelly. Paradoxically, on the 12 August 1880, before his trial, The Argus accused Kelly of being a “habitual liar”i: He left a manuscript at Jerilderie, a copy of which came into the possession of The Argus, and we found it to be entirely unfit for publication because it was of the character stated. And, moreover, the trick of maligning the police on some side issue, and of posing as the victim of persecution, is common to all habitual criminals, male or female, as every attendant at the courts of justice knows … It is notorious that the habitual criminal has a dogged hatred of the police and a morbid vanity as he regards himself, and, above all, that he is incapable of telling a true story (Cited in Scott, & Macfarlane 2014).

Qualitative research undertaken by the University of Tasmania utilises a specific set of questions commissioned for a national survey, seeking to demonstrate the symbolic importance of a 19th-century outlaw for contemporary Australians, suggesting that colonial bush myths remain salient for many citizens of a multicultural society. Their research attempts to establish why this long-dead outlaw is still relevant in the 21st century by operationalising recurring themes from the literature and media at the time of these outlaws and social bandits. Extrapolating theoretical discourses from literature, media print and folklore (Tranter & Donoghue 2010).

Hobsbawm developed the notion of ‘social bandits’ to describe a particular type of heroic rural outlaw. For Hobsbawm, social bandits were more than deviants; idolised by the community, particularly by the impoverished.

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The relationship between peasants and bandits was also reciprocal, as bandits relied upon the support of local people in order to evade capture (Hobsbawm cited in Tranter& Donoghue 2010). Hobsbawm considered Social Bandits as the heroes of peasant-based social movements, protests and rebellions. Fellow academic peer studies reiterate this sentiment, it is not ‘just the manner of the Robin Hood archetype that transforms criminals and outlaws into social bandits. It is the way they intended to defy rules and capture through daring and cunning plans’ (West cited in Tranter & Donoghue 2010). Social banditry specifies that outlaws use their criminal skills in the service of acceptable deeds. In fact, the social banditry code makes Ned Kelly a more compelling subject of inquiry from the standpoint of both histories (why are outlaws depicted as heroic?) and tradition (how are social bandits different from criminal outlaws?) (Gaunson 2010).

Historically, Ned Kelly had been a subject of international fascination. During the bushranger’s historic outbreak of 1878–1880 he was regularly reported in London newspapers, while in the United States he became the popular subject of a weekly penny dime novel series entitled The Iron Outlaw ( Gaunson 2010). In a contemporary context, some Australian journalists labelled Kelly a terrorist. In ‘Ned Kelly: Terrorist’ (2003) Bantick writes: No single figure divides Australians more strongly than Ned Kelly. Feelings oscillate between him being a hero of the Irish Catholic poor, oppressed by ... colonial authorities, or a murderous outlaw. The reality is that Ned Kelly was something else. He was a terrorist. Kelly and his gang used the tools of terror to keep a significant proportion of the struggling farmers in northeast Victoria intimidated and fearful for their safety.

Bantick even goes so far as to purport, ‘he had planned for Glenrowan a Balitype massacre’. During his outlawry, Kelly was accused of terrorism by the allpowerful press, and under the Felons Apprehension Act brought into capture Kelly. Many of Kelly’s civil liberties were rescinded by the British colony of Victoria. The notion of Ned as a terrorist has come full circle, and journalists currently writing are profiteering from it as much today as newspaper owners did in the newly market-driven press of the mid-late 1890s.

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Ned Kelly's final encounter with police at Glenrowan in 1880 was considered by journalistic experts at the time to be of major significance and newsworthiness. The four Melbourne journalists who travelled on the police train to Glenrowan to cover the intended capture of the Kelly gang that would later lead to Kelly’s hanging., Thomas Carrington (The Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil), John McWhirter (The Age), J. D. Melvin (Argus) and George Allen (Melbourne Daily Telegraph). Their participation, as Mcdonald & Davies (2015) describes as a pivotal moment in media commentary. During events of ‘The Last Stand’, the reporters watched on, recorded and retold the story to their audience of readers.

Three out of the four journalists filed thousands of words via telegraph from the siege scene, having written their stories first with pencil and notebook. Their articles were a mixture of excellent narrative storytelling, short updates, and transcribed interviews collated by their papers for the total coverage of the event. The longer sections of their stories carried their uniqueness and styles of the authors, detailed descriptive passages, figures of speech and literary turns of phrase. The newspaper extracts demonstrated a sharp narrative sequence, along with a strong sense of immediacy based on the journalist’s involvement in the events of the siege. The collated reports carried interviews that interspersed with extended stories and updates. They were sometimes structured to include dialogue, including interviews and statements. The collated reports demonstrate changes of scenes, shifts in opinion and selected reporting bias. Both Mcdonald & Davies debate fiercely if these articles and collated reports are a manifestation of colonial Australian literary journalism?

A meticulous analysis of Thomas Carrington’s published work was conducted to help answer these claims. Carrington was the artist who drew for the Australasian Sketcher with pen and pencil and was the fourth journalist who

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witnessed and wrote about the siege at Glenrowan. His prose “Catching the Kellys: the personal narrative of one who went in the special train", was first published in the Australasian on Saturday, 3 July 1880, nearly a week after the siege. Both Mcdonald & Davies felt the recount was a little more reflective than other reports. It possesses a conversational style, strong narration and includes direct speech in the body of his eye witness account and detailed description of scenes. Unlike his peers, Carrington was not under the pressure of time like so many other journalists who had to submit their work via the telegraph, his work more of literal acclaim and a great legacy in the world of journalism in the 1800s. The journalist’s involvement in the police action at Glenrowan questions the issue of “press freedom”, suggesting the presence of an inherent bias that must inevitably have clouded the reporting. As English and Scottish free settlers, most likely of Protestant background, they were unlikely to side with the Kelly gang on religious or socio-political grounds (McDonald, Avieson & Davies cited in Mcdonald & Davies, 2015). They were under immediate threat of violence at the hands of the Kelly Gang – both on their way to, and at, the siege – and could not be expected to be sympathetic to the bushrangers. Nevertheless, all four men were experienced journalists. Allen, McWhirter and Melvin reported on the events for their readers, while Carrington was there as an artist and illustrator. They completed their assignments with courage, resourcefulness and, fairness in their reporting, most likely because of their professionalism and attitude.

In October 2013, a detailed eye witness account of the siege was discovered in a letter by Scottish immigrant and bank teller Donald Sutherland. Sutherland was one of many that attended the scene in the late afternoon of Monday, 28 June 1880. The letter is useful in confirming sections of the factual accounts written by the journalists; for example, concerning Ned Kelly's demeanour after his capture; the condition of the burnt bodies of Dan Kelly and Steve Hart; and the attendance by the Kelly sisters (Mcdonald & Davies, 2015). Sutherland was not at Glenrowan through most of the siege. His account includes earlier material

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that was gathered from the newspaper reports, including some of the commentaries. For example, he refers to Ned Kelly's "mouth being the only wicked portion of his face", which mirrors Carrington's description of the bushranger as "a fine figure of a man, the only bad part about his face being his mouth, which is a wicked and cruel one" (3 July 1880).

The press coverage of Glenrowan saw the inclusion of interviews in published form, thought to be the first seen in the history of interviewing in Australian and British journalism. In the case of the Kelly Gang coverage, the newspapers had been running the “narratives” of eyewitnesses at least as far back as the Euroa bank robbery in December 1878ii.

This common practice was continuing in

the Glenrowan reporting. The stories filed by the journalists included information and detail collated from people at the scene, including Ned Kelly. After the armour removal, Ned was escorted to the stationmaster’s office where the journalists had access to him, asking an assortment of questions and attending to his wounds. Kelly had lost a great deal of blood and was suffering from pain and shock. McWhirter cut away his boots, and two of the reporters fetched hot water to warm Ned’s injured feet. After a doctor assessed the outlaw’s extensive wounds, the police began to question him, allowing the reporters to join in and ask questions of their own. Carrington ’s notes stated he had several conversations with the bushranger (3 July 1880, p. 18)iii. The papers reporting on Glenrowan ran special editions to cover the updates that were arriving by telegraph. On the Monday of the siege, business was almost suspended while crowds blocked the streets outside the offices of Melbourne's four daily newspapers, stopping traffic. According to the Melbourne Daily Telegraph which was quoted in 2015 by Mcdonald & Davies; Immediately upon the news being posted, the footway and far into the street was the scene of a heaving, struggling mass of people, all clamorous for slips containing the news … The ordinary run of business was almost entirely suspended throughout the day … The city literally gave itself up to the discussion of the deeds and doings of the Kellys and the police… Nor did the excitement cease with dusk. Eager readers – those who had only just broke loose from the counting-house, the shop, or the factory – were to be seen in groups underneath the street lamps, and at shop windows, scanning the extras; and some men, still more anxious for news, were to be seen with

8 lighted matches endeavouring to gather at a glance the slips posted in front of the newspaper offices. (29 June 1880, p. 3).

During the siege, The Age and Argus both published special additions that came out every two to three hours throughout the afternoon and into the night. At that time, the Argus cost threepence and had a daily circulation of 20,000; the Age, which cost a penny, had a circulation of 30,000; The interest in the Kelly Gang’s capture was so immense that over 100,000 copies of the special editions were sold in addition to the newspaper’s normal circulation. To put this in perspective, Melbourne’s entire population at the time was only 250,000 (Shaw, 2012, pp. 261-263 cited in Mcdonald & Davies, 2015).

This discussion was persuasive in its review and analysis on Ned Kelly's portrayal through the news media in the 1800s. Historical sources were used to support reliability and validity of historical accuracy throughout this narrative. While sociological perspectives from peer-reviewed academic research were theorized to provide criminological opinion and support through the collocation of ‘social banditry’ and ‘criminal outlaws’ in news journalism in the 1800s.

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References

Bantick C (2003) Ned Kelly: Terrorist. Herald Sun, 25 February. Bradford, C. (2012). Instilling post-colonial nostalgias: Ned Kelly narratives for children. Journal of Australian Studies, 36(2), 191-206. Clarke-Birch, Melissa. (2010). A widow's son outlawed: Ned Kelly [Teaching the history of Ned Kelly. Paper in: Modern History.]. Agora, 45(1), 30-32,4143. Gaunson, S 2010, Ned Kelly and the movies 1906-2003: representation, social banditry and history, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Media and Communication, RMIT University. Gaunson, S (2010) ‘International outlaws’: Tony Richardson, Mick Jagger and Ned Kelly, Studies in Australasian Cinema, 4:3, 255-265, Hobsbawm, E. (2000) Bandits. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. Mcdonald, Willa, & Davies, Kerrie. (2015). Creating history: Literary journalism and Ned Kelly's last stand. Australian Journalism Review, 37(2), 3349. McDonald, W., Avieson, B., & Davies, K. (2015). Australian colonial literary journalism database. Centre for Media History: Macquarie University. Retrieved 24 September, 2015, from http://www.auslitjourn.info/ Silvester, C. (Ed). (1993). The Penguin book of interviews: an anthology from 1859 to the present day. London: Viking. Scott, R., & Macfarlane, I. (2014). Ned Kelly - Stock Thief, Bank Robber, Murderer - Psychopath. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 21(5), 716-746. Shaw, I. W. (2012). Glenrowan: the legend of Ned Kelly and the siege that shaped a nation. Sydney: Pan Macmillan. Tranter, B., & Donoghue, J. (2010). Ned Kelly: Armoured icon. Journal of Sociology, 46(2), 187-205. THE TRIAL OF NED KELLY. (1880, 14 August). South Australian Chronicle and Weekly Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1868 - 1881), p. 1 (SUPPLEMENT TO THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN CHRONICLE). Retrieved 11 December, 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article94754030supreme court Sydney$$$PHDxGaunsonfunding Walder, Post-colonial Nostalgias, 9. West, B. (2001) ‘Crime, Suicide, and the Anti-hero: “Waltzing Matilda” in Australia’, Journal of Popular Culture 35(3): 127–41.

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Wilkinson, Carole. Ned Kelly’s Jerilderie Letter, ill. Dean Jones (Fitzroy Vic: Black Dog Books, 2007), 54 Wilkinson, C. (2002) Black Snake: The Daring of Ned Kelly (Fitzroy Vic: Black Dog Books, The Argus at KellyGang 12/8/1880 (3) - KellyGang. http://www.kellygang.asn.au/wiki/The_Argus_at_KellyGang_12/8/1880_(3) The Melbourne Daily Telegragh - KellyGang. http://www.kellygang.asn.au/wiki/The_Melbourne_Daily_Telegragh Ned Kelly: Australian Icon. http://ecite.utas.edu.au/54999/1/Donoghue-JedSession-10-PDF.pdf Instilling postcolonial nostalgias: Ned Kelly narratives .... https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14443058.2012.674545 The Argus at KellyGang 16/8/1880 (2) - KellyGang. http://www.kellygang.asn.au/wiki/The_Argus_at_KellyGang_16/8/1880_(2)

Notes i

THE TRIAL OF NED KELLY. (1880, 14 August). South Australian Chronicle and Weekly Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1868 - 1881), p. 1 (SUPPLEMENT TO THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN CHRONICLE). Retrieved 11 December 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article94754030 ii THE POLICE MURDERS. (1878, 14 December). Alexandra and Yea Standard, Gobur, Thornton and Acheron Express (Vic. : 1877 - 1908), p. 2. Retrieved 11 December 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article57048468

THE FIGHT AT GLENROWAN AND ANNIHILATION OF THE GANG. (1880, 3 July). The Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil (Melbourne, Vic. : 1873 - 1889), p. 150. Retrieved 11 December 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60623634 iii

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