Ned Kelly
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Wear and tear with damage
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: dj - small tear repaired with tape.
Few outlaws in the annals of history have captured the imagination of a nation quite like Ned Kelly — bushranger, folk hero, and outlaw — whose audacious defiance of colonial authority in 1870s Victoria cemented his place as Australia's most iconic and controversial figure. This gripping account chronicles the dramatic life of Kelly, from his impoverished Irish-Australian upbringing in the rugged northeast Victorian bush, through his escalating clashes with the colonial police force, to his legendary last stand at Glenrowan clad in his famous homemade iron armour. The narrative reconstructs the social and political tensions of colonial Australia, presenting Kelly not merely as a criminal, but as a product of systemic inequality, police corruption, and class conflict that defined the era. Rich in historical detail and written with the urgency of a frontier saga, this work argues that the Kelly story is inseparable from Australia's broader national identity — a symbol of resistance against oppression that continues to resonate in the cultural consciousness. The author draws on contemporaneous records, letters, and eyewitness accounts to paint a vivid portrait of a man who was simultaneously a cold-blooded killer and a self-styled champion of the poor. Whether Kelly was villain or hero remains the great unanswered question, and it is precisely this moral ambiguity that makes his story as compelling today as it was over a century ago.
Author: Keith Mcmenomy
Format: Hardback
Published: 2001, Hardie Grant Books
Genre: Australian history
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Wear and tear with damage
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: dj - small tear repaired with tape.
Few outlaws in the annals of history have captured the imagination of a nation quite like Ned Kelly — bushranger, folk hero, and outlaw — whose audacious defiance of colonial authority in 1870s Victoria cemented his place as Australia's most iconic and controversial figure. This gripping account chronicles the dramatic life of Kelly, from his impoverished Irish-Australian upbringing in the rugged northeast Victorian bush, through his escalating clashes with the colonial police force, to his legendary last stand at Glenrowan clad in his famous homemade iron armour. The narrative reconstructs the social and political tensions of colonial Australia, presenting Kelly not merely as a criminal, but as a product of systemic inequality, police corruption, and class conflict that defined the era. Rich in historical detail and written with the urgency of a frontier saga, this work argues that the Kelly story is inseparable from Australia's broader national identity — a symbol of resistance against oppression that continues to resonate in the cultural consciousness. The author draws on contemporaneous records, letters, and eyewitness accounts to paint a vivid portrait of a man who was simultaneously a cold-blooded killer and a self-styled champion of the poor. Whether Kelly was villain or hero remains the great unanswered question, and it is precisely this moral ambiguity that makes his story as compelling today as it was over a century ago.