Ned Kelly and the Myth of a Republic of North-Eastern Victoria

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Ned Kelly and the Myth of a Republic of North-Eastern Victoria Ned Kelly and the Myth of a Republic of North-Eastern Victoria Stuart E. Dawson Department of History, Monash University Ned Kelly and the Myth of a Republic of North-Eastern Victoria Dr. Stuart E. Dawson Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Published by Dr. Stuart E. Dawson, Adjunct Research Fellow, Department of History, School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, 3800. Published June 2018. ISBN registered to Primedia E-launch LLC, Dallas TX, USA. Copyright © Stuart Dawson 2018. The moral right of the author has been asserted. Author contact: [email protected] ISBN: 978-1-64316-500-4 Keywords: Australian History Kelly, Ned, 1855-1880 Kelly Gang Republic of North-Eastern Victoria Bushrangers - Australia This book is an open peer-reviewed publication. Reviewers are acknowledged in the Preface. Inaugural document download host: www.ironicon.com.au Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs This book is a free, open-access publication, and is published under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence. Users including libraries and schools may make the work available for free distribution, circulation and copying, including re-sharing, without restriction, but the work cannot be changed in any way or resold commercially. All users may share the work by printed copies and/or directly by email, and/or hosting it on a website, server or other system, provided no cost whatsoever is charged. Just print and bind your PDF copy at a local print shop! (Spiral-bound copies with clear covers are available in Australia only by print-on-demand for $199.00 per copy, including registered post. Payment is strictly by bank deposit in advance. Email the author for details and order information including pro-forma invoice.) Donate! Adjuncts are unpaid researchers. This book has cost around $2400 in books and resources, travel, photocopying, phone calls, and numerous draft printings over several years. Anyone wishing to support the author’s research in 2018-19 may gift a non-refundable direct deposit to BSB 013355, Acc. 507593247. Donations will be used to support ongoing research into Kelly history as above and are not tax-deductable. Disclaimer: URL references to third party websites are provided in good faith and for information purposes only. No responsibility can be accepted for the content of any third party website referenced in this work. Cover illustration: “A SEARCH PARTY IN THE WOMBAT RANGES”. Engraving by Samuel Calvert, from The Illustrated Australian News (Melbourne: David Syme & Co.), 21 February 1879. Source: State Library Victoria. The design layout of this book is intended to facilitate comb or spiral binding of PDF copies. iv Contents Preface vii Introduction: Ned Kelly and the myth of a Republic of North-Eastern Victoria . 1 The legend of a declaration document . 2 Kelly’s letters during his outlawry . 6 The “Euroa letter” to Donald Cameron, December 1878 . 6 Kelly’s letter to the Acting Chief Secretary, January 1879 . 7 The “Jerilderie letter”, February 1879 . 7 Kelly’s letter to NSW Premier Parkes, March 1879 . 10 The lost letter to the Herald of July 1879 . 10 Kelly’s reported statements . 11 The theory of disaffected selectors and social unrest . 12 The theory of Irish rebels . 14 Misrepresentations of Kelly’s sympathisers and the police . 17 The myth of “Kelly country” . 18 The Kelly gang’s intimidation of the North-Eastern District . 19 The arrest and remand of Kelly sympathisers . 20 The theory of blacklisted selector rebels . 22 Oral tradition and the “Kelly republic” . 24 Kelly ballads and folk songs . 26 Claims of secret republican meetings . 26 Legal colonial regional separation movements . 29 The showdown at Glenrowan . 29 Kelly’s alleged meeting with a sympathiser army . 31 The problematic Glenrowan siege timeline . 31 The timeline after Kelly’s escape from the Inn . 34 Did Kelly return to the Inn during the siege? . 35 The claim of a phantom army . 38 Could the Kelly gang have equipped a rebel army? . 42 Sympathisers inside the Glenrowan Inn . 43 The end of the Glenrowan siege . 44 Reality check . 46 The historical causes of sympathiser unrest . 47 Kelly’s interviews, statements and letters after capture . 50 The manufactured “interview” with Kelly in the Beechworth gaol . 51 Kelly’s courtroom defence and post-sentencing dialogue . 51 Kelly’s Condemned Cell letters . 52 Why did the republic theory gain credence? . 54 The mythologising of Edward “Ned” Kelly . 55 Conclusion: The fall of the Kelly republic . 57 Bibliography . 60 Appendix to pp. 32-34: Approximate Glenrowan siege timeline to finding Kelly’s rifle and cap 64 Index and Addendum: a visual colour comparison of the Euroa and Jerilderie letters . 65 v Preface This is not another retelling of the Kelly gang story. It is a close examination of a longstanding claim, first made and promoted by influential Kelly historian Ian Jones from 1967 onwards, and furthered by many since, that Ned Kelly and his gang had planned to establish a republic in north-eastern Victoria, with the active support of a large number of selector farmers. Although the claim has permeated much popular and academic work on Kelly since the 1980s, it has no historical evidence to support it, and much to contradict it. It has nevertheless managed to find its way into a significant number of Australian historical works virtually unchallenged, and to worm its way into material supporting Australian history curricula. This investigation set out to comprehensively review the claim, which it definitively rejects. It traces and reveals the origin and construction of the Kelly republic myth. The claim is exposed as a complex historical fiction. The story provides a fascinating insight into how large numbers of people are willing to accept uncritically what they think (or wish) might have been true, or to accept dubious propositions, with no evidence, about what was “undoubtedly” the case, in a similar way to that in which we willingly lose ourselves in a good fiction story, based on the seeming plausibility of its narrative. The context of the Republic myth The Kelly outbreak was triggered in April 1878 by the attempt of Constable Fitzpatrick to arrest Ned Kelly’s brother Dan at their mother’s house for horse stealing. Fitzpatrick was wounded in the subsequent affray, and warrants were urgently sworn against Ned, for attempted murder, and against Dan, Mrs Kelly, and two associates, Bill Skillion and “Bricky” Williamson, for abetting. Ned and Dan fled for the bush the same night. The others were arrested over the following night and remanded for trial. On 9 October 1878 they were sentenced and gaoled. On 26 October Ned and Dan with two others, Joe Byrne and Steve Hart – the “Kelly gang” – ambushed a police search party at Stringybark Creek, killing three troopers – Michael Kennedy, Thomas Lonigan, and Michael Scanlan – while a fourth, Thomas McIntyre, escaped to tell the tale. Wanted for murder and outlawed, in December 1878 the gang held up the National Bank in Euroa, and, in February 1879, the Bank of NSW in Jerilderie. In both cases the gang rounded up numerous locals and held them prisoner during the raids, threatening them with dire retribution should they assist the police in their enquiries. On both occasions Kelly wrote letters – now infamous – protesting his and other’s past innocence, and demanding the release of his mother and friends. Hard to catch in the vast, sparsely populated ranges, the gang were assisted with supplies and information by a considerable number of “sympathiser” families, mostly related by marriage and often at odds with the law. In early January 1879 the police arrested and held 23 men thought to be actively aiding the outlaws, nine of whom were held for nearly three months, until increasing protests that their ongoing remand violated the principle of Habeas Corpus caused their release. The police also implemented a policy of blacklisting known sympathisers from acquiring land principally in parts of the north-east likely to facilitate cross-border horse theft, a policy that was well received by the majority of law-abiding selectors. Kelly enthusiasts have argued to the contrary, that the remanding and blacklisting swung a large body of north-east selectors to side with and support the outlaws against the authorities. As many were of Irish extraction, it has been held that Kelly himself had a republican heart, and planned to lead a republican selector rebellion triggered by the wrecking of a police train at Glenrowan in June 1880 and the massacre of any survivors. Then he and his followers would live fearless, free and bold in their Republic of vii North-Eastern Victoria; as Jones put it, “proclaiming that the law of Queen Victoria no longer held sway in the north-east”.1 As will be seen, many have fallen down the same rabbit hole. Historical myths are remarkably common, and die hard. Think of the legend of the mahogany ship, for example.2 I hope you enjoy the journey of historical myth-busting to which the Kelly republic theory is subject here. I have addressed some other widespread Kelly myths elsewhere, in academic papers on the Fitzpatrick incident, Ned Kelly’s last words, and Kelly’s accidental shooting of a labourer before the Glenrowan siege. These articles are listed in the bibliography, and are available free from the internet. Readers interested in Kelly history may also enjoy a free PDF transcription of the text of G.W. Hall’s rare 1879 book, The Kelly Gang, or The Outlaws of the Wombat Ranges, with original pagination, available online from www.ironicon.com.au Free, open access to research output is still limited, but has rich potential. Most commercially published books, including academic books, end up remaindered or pulped within a year, their content rarely seen outside the limited confines of a few university libraries.
Recommended publications
  • Ned Kelly and the Kelly Gang
    Ned Kelly and the Kelly Gang Use the words below to fill in the missing information. Glenrowan Inn life armour Ellen Quinn banks legend bushranger bravery unprotected outlawed surviving letter friends hanged awarded Australia’s most famous is Ned Kelly. Edward ‘Ned’ Kelly was born in Beveridge, Victoria in 1855. Ned’s mother was and his father was John ‘Red’ Kelly, an ex-convict. He was their eldest son of eight children. As a child, Ned rescued another boy from drowning. The boy’s family him a green silk sash in recognition of his . Red Kelly died when Ned was young and Ned was left to provide for the family. He worked cutting timber, breaking in horses, mustering cattle and fencing. During his teenage years, Ned got in trouble with the police. In 1878, Ned felt that his mother was put in prison wrongfully and he was being harassed by the police, so he went into the bush to hide. Together with his brother Dan and two others, Joe Byrne and Steve Hart, they became the Kelly Gang. The Gang was after killing three policemen at Stringybark Creek. This meant that they could be shot on sight by anybody at any time. For two years, the Gang robbed and avoided being captured. At the Jerilderie Bank robbery in 1879, with the help of Joe, Ned wrote a famous telling his side of the story. Many struggling small farmers of north-east Victoria felt they understood the Gang’s actions. It has been said that most of the takings from his famous bank robberies went to help his supporters, so many say Ned was an Australian Robin Hood.
    [Show full text]
  • Ghosts of Ned Kelly: Peter Carey’S True History and the Myths That Haunt Us
    Ghosts of Ned Kelly: Peter Carey’s True History and the myths that haunt us Marija Pericic Master of Arts School of Communication and Cultural Studies Faculty of Arts The University of Melbourne November 2011 Submitted in total fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts (by Thesis Only). Abstract Ned Kelly has been an emblem of Australian national identity for over 130 years. This thesis examines Peter Carey’s reimagination of the Kelly myth in True History of the Kelly Gang (2000). It considers our continued investment in Ned Kelly and what our interpretations of him reveal about Australian identity. The paper explores how Carey’s departure from the traditional Kelly reveals the underlying anxieties about Australianness and masculinity that existed at the time of the novel’s publication, a time during which Australia was reassessing its colonial history. The first chapter of the paper examines True History’s complication of cultural memory. It argues that by problematising Kelly’s Irish cultural memory, our own cultural memory of Kelly is similarly challenged. The second chapter examines Carey’s construction of Kelly’s Irishness more deeply. It argues that Carey’s Kelly is not the emblem of politicised Irishness based on resistance to imperial Britain common to Kelly narratives. Instead, he is less politically aware and also claims a transnational identity. The third chapter explores how Carey’s Kelly diverges from key aspects of the Australian heroic ideal he is used to represent: hetero-masculinity, mateship and heroic failure. Carey’s most striking divergence comes from his unsettling of gender and sexual codes.
    [Show full text]
  • Sidney Nolan's Ned Kelly
    Sidney Nolan's Ned Kelly The Ned Kelly paintings in the National Gallery of Australia With essays by Murray Bail and Andrew Sayers City Gallery_JWELLINGTON australia Te \Vliare Toi ■ national gallery of 7 © National Gallery of Australia 2002 Cataloguing-in-publication data This publication accompanies the exhibition Copyright of texts remains SIDNEY NOLAN'S NED KELLY SERIES with the authors Nolan, Sidney, Sir, 1917-1992. City Gallery Wellington, New Zealand Sidney Nolan's Ned Kelly: the Ned Kelly 22 February-19 May 2002 All rights reserved. No part of this publication paintings in the National Gallery of Australia. Part of the New Zealand Festival 2002 may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or Bibliography. mechanical, including photocopying, ISBN O 642 54195 7. Presented by recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission 1. Kelly, Ned, 1855-1880 - Portraits - Exhibitions. in writing from the publisher. 2. Nolan, Sidney, Sir, 1917-1992 - Exhibitions. EllERNST & YOUNG 3. National Gallery of Australia - Exhibitions. Co-published by the 4. Painting, Modern - 20th century - National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Australia - Exhibitions. 5. Painting, RUSSELL M�VEAGH and City Gallery Wellington, New Zealand Australian - 20th century - Exhibitions. I. Bail, Murray, 1941- . II. Sayers, Andrew. Produced by the Publications Department III. National Gallery of Australia. IV. Title. of the National Gallery of Australia Tele�erm NEW ZEALAND Designer Kirsty Morrison 759.994 Editor Karen
    [Show full text]
  • THOTKG Production Notes Final REVISED FINAL
    SCREEN AUSTRALIA, LA CINEFACTURE and FILM4 Present In association with FILM VICTORIA ASIA FILM INVESTMENT GROUP and MEMENTO FILMS INTERNATIONAL A PORCHLIGHT FILMS and DAYBREAK PICTURES production true history of the Kelly Gang. GEORGE MACKAY ESSIE DAVIS NICHOLAS HOULT ORLANDO SCHWERDT THOMASIN MCKENZIE SEAN KEENAN EARL CAVE MARLON WILLIAMS LOUIS HEWISON with CHARLIE HUNNAM and RUSSELL CROWE Directed by JUSTIN KURZEL Produced by HAL VOGEL, LIZ WATTS JUSTN KURZEL, PAUL RANFORD Screenplay by SHAUN GRANT Based on the Novel by PETER CAREY Executive Producers DAVID AUKIN, VINCENT SHEEHAN, PETER CAREY, DANIEL BATTSEK, SUE BRUCE-SMITH, SAMLAVENDER, EMILIE GEORGES, NAIMA ABED, RAPHAËL PERCHET, BRAD FEINSTEIN, DAVID GROSS, SHAUN GRANT Director of Photography ARI WEGNER ACS Editor NICK FENTON Production Designer KAREN MURPHY Composer JED KURZEL Costume Designer ALICE BABIDGE Sound Designer FRANK LIPSON M.P.S.E. Hair and Make-up Designer KIRSTEN VEYSEY Casting Director NIKKI BARRETT CSA, CGA SHORT SYNOPSIS Inspired by Peter Carey’s Man Booker prize winning novel, Justin Kurzel’s TRUE HISTORY OF THE KELLY GANG shatters the mythology of the notorious icon to reveal the essence behind the Life of Ned KeLLy and force a country to stare back into the ashes of its brutal past. Spanning the younger years of Ned’s Life to the time Leading up to his death, the fiLm expLores the bLurred boundaries between what is bad and what is good, and the motivations for the demise of its hero. Youth and tragedy colLide in the KeLLy Gang, and at the beating heart of this tale is the fractured and powerful Love story between a mother and a son.
    [Show full text]
  • Reluctant Lawyer, Reluctant Politician
    Alfred Deakin (1856–1919) Australia’s 2nd Prime Minister Terms of office 24 September 1903 to 27 April 1904 • 5 July 1905 to 13 November 1908 • 2 June 1909 to 29 April 1910 Reluctant lawyer, reluctant politician Deakin first met David Syme, the Scottish-born owner of The Age newspaper, in May 1878, as the result of their mutual interest in spiritualism. Soon after, Syme hired the reluctant lawyer on a trial basis, and he made an immediate impression. Despite repeatedly emphasising how ‘laborious’ journalism could be, Deakin was good at it, able to churn out leaders, editorials, investigative articles and reviews as the occasion demanded. Syme wielded enormous clout, able to make and break governments in colonial Victoria and, after 1901, national governments. A staunch advocate of protection for local industry, he ‘connived’ at Deakin’s political education, converting his favourite young journalist, a free-trader, into a protectionist. As Deakin later acknowledged, ‘I crossed the fiscal Rubicon’, providing a first clear indication of his capacity for political pragmatism--his willingness to reshape his beliefs and ‘liberal’ principles if and when the circumstances required it. Radical MLA David Gaunson dismissed him as nothing more than a ‘puppet’, ‘the poodle dog of a newspaper proprietor’. Syme was the catalyst for the start of Deakin’s political career in 1879-80. After two interesting false starts, Deakin was finally elected in July 1880, during the same year that a clairvoyant predicted he would soon embark on a life-changing journey to London to participate in a ‘grand tribunal’. Deakin did not forget what he described as ‘extraordinary information’, and in 1887 he represented Victoria at the Colonial Conference in London.
    [Show full text]
  • Critical Australian Indigenous Histories
    Transgressions critical Australian Indigenous histories Transgressions critical Australian Indigenous histories Ingereth Macfarlane and Mark Hannah (editors) Published by ANU E Press and Aboriginal History Incorporated Aboriginal History Monograph 16 National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Title: Transgressions [electronic resource] : critical Australian Indigenous histories / editors, Ingereth Macfarlane ; Mark Hannah. Publisher: Acton, A.C.T. : ANU E Press, 2007. ISBN: 9781921313448 (pbk.) 9781921313431 (online) Series: Aboriginal history monograph Notes: Bibliography. Subjects: Indigenous peoples–Australia–History. Aboriginal Australians, Treatment of–History. Colonies in literature. Australia–Colonization–History. Australia–Historiography. Other Authors: Macfarlane, Ingereth. Hannah, Mark. Dewey Number: 994 Aboriginal History is administered by an Editorial Board which is responsible for all unsigned material. Views and opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily shared by Board members. The Committee of Management and the Editorial Board Peter Read (Chair), Rob Paton (Treasurer/Public Officer), Ingereth Macfarlane (Secretary/ Managing Editor), Richard Baker, Gordon Briscoe, Ann Curthoys, Brian Egloff, Geoff Gray, Niel Gunson, Christine Hansen, Luise Hercus, David Johnston, Steven Kinnane, Harold Koch, Isabel McBryde, Ann McGrath, Frances Peters- Little, Kaye Price, Deborah Bird Rose, Peter Radoll, Tiffany Shellam Editors Ingereth Macfarlane and Mark Hannah Copy Editors Geoff Hunt and Bernadette Hince Contacting Aboriginal History All correspondence should be addressed to Aboriginal History, Box 2837 GPO Canberra, 2601, Australia. Sales and orders for journals and monographs, and journal subscriptions: T Boekel, email: [email protected], tel or fax: +61 2 6230 7054 www.aboriginalhistory.org ANU E Press All correspondence should be addressed to: ANU E Press, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected], http://epress.anu.edu.au Aboriginal History Inc.
    [Show full text]
  • Copyright and Use of This Thesis This Thesis Must Be Used in Accordance with the Provisions of the Copyright Act 1968
    COPYRIGHT AND USE OF THIS THESIS This thesis must be used in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. Reproduction of material protected by copyright may be an infringement of copyright and copyright owners may be entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. Section 51 (2) of the Copyright Act permits an authorized officer of a university library or archives to provide a copy (by communication or otherwise) of an unpublished thesis kept in the library or archives, to a person who satisfies the authorized officer that he or she requires the reproduction for the purposes of research or study. The Copyright Act grants the creator of a work a number of moral rights, specifically the right of attribution, the right against false attribution and the right of integrity. You may infringe the author’s moral rights if you: - fail to acknowledge the author of this thesis if you quote sections from the work - attribute this thesis to another author - subject this thesis to derogatory treatment which may prejudice the author’s reputation For further information contact the University’s Director of Copyright Services sydney.edu.au/copyright Sound and Fury in Colonial Australia The Search for the Convict Voice, 1800-1840 ! Michael R. Wolter A Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences University of Sydney March 2014 Abstract This thesis uses an aural analysis of penal-era Australia to enliven, and unsettle, discussion of convict subjectivity within penal-era historiography. The ‘search for the convict voice’, the quest to discover something of the inner-lives of figures that have transfixed Australians for generations, is expanded as well as complicated by an analysis of the sounds of penal life.
    [Show full text]
  • December 2019 – 3Rd January 2020: End of Year Closure
    PATRON: The Hon Linda Dessau AC PRESIDENT: Mr David Zerman Governor of Victoria December Events: 12th December: Climate Extremes: Present and Future With Professor Andy Pitman AO The RSV Research Medal Lecture & End of Year Dinner 25th December 2019 – 3rd January 2020: End of Year Closure February 2020 Advance Notice: 13th February: The State Control Centre: Forecasting Victoria’s Extreme Weather 27th February: Diamonds: an Implant’s Best Friend December 2019 Newsletter Print Post Approved 100009741 The Royal Society of Victoria Inc. 8 La Trobe Street, Melbourne Victoria 3000 Tel. (03) 9663 5259 rsv.org.au December Events Climate Extremes: Present and Future Thursday, 12th December from 6:30pm Climate extremes are events such as heatwaves, extreme rainfall, cyclones and drought that affect humans, our natural environment and multiple socio-economic systems. The evidence is now unambiguous that some climate extremes are responding to increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, yet how some other extremes are responding is proving more complex. Join Professor Andy Pitman to explore the evidence for how and why climate extremes are changing, and what we can anticipate about how they will change in the future. The limits to our current capability and how climate science is trying to address those limits via new approaches to modelling will be discussed. About the speaker: Professor Andy Pitman AO is a Professor in climate science at the University of New South Wales. He is the Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes (CLEx), which brings together five Australian universities (including Monash University and the University of Melbourne) and a suite of international partner organisations to understand the behaviour of climate extremes and how they directly affect Australian natural and economic systems.
    [Show full text]
  • Volume 40, Number 1 the ADELAIDE LAW REVIEW Law.Adelaide.Edu.Au Adelaide Law Review ADVISORY BOARD
    Volume 40, Number 1 THE ADELAIDE LAW REVIEW law.adelaide.edu.au Adelaide Law Review ADVISORY BOARD The Honourable Professor Catherine Branson AC QC Deputy Chancellor, The University of Adelaide; Former President, Australian Human Rights Commission; Former Justice, Federal Court of Australia Emeritus Professor William R Cornish CMG QC Emeritus Herchel Smith Professor of Intellectual Property Law, University of Cambridge His Excellency Judge James R Crawford AC SC International Court of Justice The Honourable Professor John J Doyle AC QC Former Chief Justice, Supreme Court of South Australia Professor John V Orth William Rand Kenan Jr Professor of Law, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Professor Emerita Rosemary J Owens AO Former Dean, Adelaide Law School The Honourable Justice Melissa Perry Federal Court of Australia Emeritus Professor Ivan Shearer AM RFD Sydney Law School The Honourable Margaret White AO Former Justice, Supreme Court of Queensland Professor John M Williams Dame Roma Mitchell Chair of Law and Former Dean, Adelaide Law School ADELAIDE LAW REVIEW Editors Associate Professor Matthew Stubbs and Dr Michelle Lim Book Review and Comment Editor Dr Stacey Henderson Associate Editors Charles Hamra, Kyriaco Nikias and Azaara Perakath Student Editors Joshua Aikens Christian Andreotti Mitchell Brunker Peter Dalrymple Henry Materne-Smith Holly Nicholls Clare Nolan Eleanor Nolan Vincent Rocca India Short Christine Vu Kate Walsh Noel Williams Publications Officer Panita Hirunboot Volume 40 Issue 1 2019 The Adelaide Law Review is a double-blind peer reviewed journal that is published twice a year by the Adelaide Law School, The University of Adelaide. A guide for the submission of manuscripts is set out at the back of this issue.
    [Show full text]
  • HARRISVILLE's LINK with the KELLY GANG by ALAN QUEALE Read At
    24 HARRISVILLE'S LINK WITH THE KELLY GANG By ALAN QUEALE Read at. a meeting of the Society on 26th February 1976 Early in 1883 a young man named James Wallace was appointed to take charge of the HarrisvUle State School in Queensland. Born of respectable parents at CoUingwood in the Colony of Victoria, he was a teacher by profession, a Presbyterian by religion and had been one of sixty-two witnesses examined on oath before the Royal Commission held in 1881 to inquire into the circumstances preceding and attending the Kelly Outbreak. During the period the Kellys were being pursued, Wallace was teacher at two part-time schools, Bobinawarrah and Hurdle Creek, in the heart of the Kelly country. He travelled between the schools on horseback, and at the latter place also carried out the duties of postmaster. Nicolson, Assistant Commissioner of the Victorian Police organising the pursuit of the Kellys, had informed Wallace that the country looked to him, as a teacher and as a respectable member of society, to render all possible assistance to suppress murder and robbery. Wallace said that he would assist in the interests of society and, using six aliases, he communicated infor­ mation to Nicolson over a period of about seven months and was paid about £80, which sum he regarded by way of expenses rather than for work done or information supplied. Wallace knew Dan and Ned Kelly. He was a friend and former schoolmate of Joe Byrne and also of Aaron Sherritt who was shot dead by Joe. He claimed that, years before, he had practised mesmerism on Sherritt but did so no longer, declaring that Aaron willingly supplied him with information.
    [Show full text]
  • SFFS Library
    SFFS Release Film Title Director Stars Tags Program Synopsis year length year Amelie 2001 Jean-Pierre Audrey Tautou, Mathieu French, Comedy, 2h 2m 2016 A glorious joy ride! Jeunet Kassovitz, Rufus Romance, Blu-ray, Amelie is an innocent and naive girl in Paris with her own M sense of justice. She decides to help those around her and, along the way, discovers love. Nominated for 5 Academy Awards. Angels' Share 2012 Ken Loach Paul Brannigan, John UK, Comedy, 1h 46m 2015 Hilarious and uplifting! Henshaw, Roger Allam Drama, Crime, A visit to a whisky distillery inspires Robbie and his mates to DVD, MA15+ seek a way out of their hopeless lives. A surprisingly delightful, uplifting comedy that successfully blends a charming story of redemption with bits of dark humour and a social message. As It Is In 2004 Kay Pollack Michael Nyqvist, Frida Sweden, Music, 2h 13m 2018 A successful conductor returns to his childhood village for Heaven Hallgren, Helen Sjöholm Drama, M remedial solace, but when the local choir asks his advice he is reluctantly drawn into their lives. Through the darkness and light of their humanity he eventually finds connection and love. Babette's Feast 1987 Gabriel Axel Stephane Audran, Bodil Foreign, Drama, 1h 44m 2015 Powerful, beautiful, and incredibly memorable. Kjer, Birgitte Federspiel Blu-ray, G, A tale of a Parisian political refugee, Babette, who takes Denmark refuge in a small Danish village. She is taken in by two sisters who have forsaken their chance of romance and fame, instead choosing to take refuge in religion. Babette brings a quiet revolution to this starkly pious village, in the form of one exquisite meal.
    [Show full text]
  • Rights Review in the High Court and the Cultural Limits of Judicial Power Robert Woods
    Rights Review in the High Court and the Cultural Limits of Judicial Power Robert Woods This paper was published in the Federal Law Review, Vol. 41, No. 3, 2013 [585]-608. The paper may also be referenced [2014] UNSW 02 RIGHTS REVIEW IN THE HIGH COURT AND THE CULTURAL LIMITS OF JUDICIAL POWER Robert Woods* ABSTRACT How are we to explain the High Court's reluctance to move into stronger forms of rights protection, as evinced by the disparity between its federalism and rights-based judicial review practices? It has been suggested that the federal and 'rights' provisions of the Constitution are equally indeterminate, calling into question the notion that the legal materials themselves compel a preference for one or another type of review. And the Court's record of rendering politically consequential decisions in its federalism jurisdiction suggests that political-institutional constraints may not preclude it from expanding its rights review powers. This article contends that the disparity in the Court's review practices can be explained only by way of a theory of judicial politics that is sensitive to notions of cultural as well as political constraint. It traces the historical emergence of an Australian politico-legal culture, before examining its role in restraining the further protection of constitutional rights. I INTRODUCTION The High Court of Australia has generally been reluctant to constrain the power of government on the basis of individual rights. The Constitution contains only a few 'express guarantees' roughly analogous to traditional civil and political rights to begin with, and for the most part the Court has construed them narrowly.1 When it was called on to determine the practical scope of the s 80 requirement that trials for federal offences 'on indictment' be by jury, the Court preferred a strictly literal construction _____________________________________________________________________________________ * BEcSocSc (Hons) (Syd), JD (Hons) (UNSW); PhD Candidate, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales.
    [Show full text]