Editing Ned Kelly (section)

==Legacy==
===Kelly myth===
[[File:Ned Kelly letterbox.jpg|thumb|A homemade letterbox in the style of Ned Kelly's armour, [[Bullio, New South Wales|Bullio]], [[Southern Highlands (New South Wales)|Southern Highlands]], New South Wales]]
The myth surrounding Kelly pervades Australian culture, and he is one of Australia's most recognised national symbols. Academic and folklorist Graham Seal writes:

{{blockquote|Ned Kelly has progressed from outlaw to national hero in a century, and to international icon in a further 20 years. The still-enigmatic, slightly saturnine and ever-ambivalent bushranger is the undisputed, if not universally admired, national symbol of Australia.{{sfn|Seal|2011|pp=99–100}}}}

Seal argues that Kelly's story taps into the [[Robin Hood]] tradition of the outlaw hero and the myth of the [[The bush|Australian bush]] as a place of freedom from oppressive authority. For many admirers of Kelly, he embodies characteristics thought to be typically Australian such as defying authority, siding with the underdog and fighting bravely for one's beliefs.{{sfn|Seal|1980|pp=16, 28}} This view was already evident in the aftermath of his death. Reviewing an 1881 performance of the Kelly gang play ''[[Ostracised (play)|Ostracised]]'', staged at Melbourne's [[Princess Theatre (Melbourne)|Princess Theatre]], ''[[The Australasian]]'' wrote:<ref>Review dated 13 August 1881, in Stephen Torre, ed., ''The Macquarie Dictionary of Australian Quotations'', 1990, Plays and Playwrights, p. 307</ref>
{{blockquote|... judging from the way in which the applause was dealt out, it was pretty certain that the exploits of the outlaws excited admiration and prompted emulation. ... In short ''Ostracised'' will help to confirm the belief, in the young mind of Victoria, that the Kellys were martyrs and not sanguinary ruffians.}}

According to Jones, after Kelly's death, "a Robin Hood-like figure survived: good-looking, brave, a fine horseman and bushman and a crack shot, devoted to his mother and sisters, a man who treated all women with courtesy, who stole from the rich to give to the poor, who dressed himself in his enemy's uniform to outwit him. Most of all a man who stood against the police persecutors of his family and was driven to outlawry when he defended his sister against a drunken constable. Such was Ned Kelly the myth".{{sfn|Jones|1995|p=338}} Superintendent Hare wrote that Kelly "always posed as a friend of the working-man".<ref>{{cite book |last=Hare |first=Francis Augustus |url= |title=The Last of the Bushrangers: An Account of the Capture of the Kelly Gang |date=1892 |publisher=Hurst and Blackett |isbn= |location= |page=5, 148 |access-date=}}</ref> Seale argues that the gang's raids were partly public performances where they sought to live up to the romantic image of the bushranger-hero.{{sfn|Seal|2011|pp=125–26}}

By the time Kelly was outlawed, bushranging was an anachronism. Australia was highly urbanised, the telegraph and the railway were rapidly connecting the bush to the city, and Kelly was already an icon for a romanticised past.{{sfn|Seal|1980|pp=16–17}}<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|author-link=Eric Hobsbawm|last=Hobsbawn|first=E. J.|title=Bandits|publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson|year=1969|location=London|pages=112–13|url=https://archive.org/details/bandits0000eric}}</ref> Macintyre states that Kelly turning agricultural equipment into armour was an irresistible symbol of a passing era.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|last=Mcintyre|first=Stuart|title=A Concise History of Australia|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2020|isbn=978-1-108-72848-5|edition=Fifth|location=Port Melbourne|pages=107–08}}</ref> For Seal, the failure of the gang to derail the train at Glenrowan was a symbol of the triumph of modern civilisation.{{sfn|Seal|1980|pp=16–17}} The national image of Kelly, he writes, may bear "about the same resemblance" to the man as his armour does "to the plough mouldboards from which it was beaten". He concludes:

{{blockquote|He is different things to different people{{Em dash}}a murderer, an Australian Robin Hood, a [[social banditry|social bandit]], a revolutionary leader, even a commercial commodity. But to most of us he is somehow essentially Australian.{{sfn|Seal|1980|pp=174–75}}}}

===Cultural impact===
{{further|Cultural depictions of Ned Kelly}}
[[File:The Story of the Kelly Gang 1906.jpg|thumb|An actor playing Kelly in ''[[The Story of the Kelly Gang]]'' (1906), the world's first dramatic feature-length film]]
The siege at Glenrowan became a national and international media event, and reports of the armour sparked widespread fascination, cementing Kelly and his gang's lasting infamy. Songs, poems, popular entertainments, fiction, books, and newspaper and magazine articles about the Kelly gang proliferated in the decades that followed, and by 1943 Kelly was the subject of 42 major published works.{{sfn|Seal|1980|pp=19, 130–64}}

Within eight weeks of the Stringybark Creek killings, a play about the gang, ''[[Vultures of the Wombat Ranges]]'', was being staged in Melbourne. The farce ''[[Catching the Kellys]]'' debuted the following year. By 1900, Kelly gang plays were "appearing all over the continent in a remarkably successful exploitation of popular myth".<ref>{{cite book |last= |first= |editor-last1= Fotheringham |editor-first1= Richard |editor-last2= Turner |editor-first2= Angela |date=2006 |title= Australian Plays for the Colonial Stage: 1839–1899 |url= |location= |publisher= University of Queensland Press |page= 553–59 |isbn= 9780702234880}}</ref> Later plays include [[Douglas Stewart (poet)|Douglas Stewart]]'s 1942 verse drama ''[[Ned Kelly (play)|Ned Kelly]]''.{{Sfn|Corfield|2003|p=456}}

The first ballads about the Kelly gang appeared in 1878 and it quickly became a popular genre and form of social protest, despite colonial governments banning public performances.{{Sfn|Gaunson|2013|pp=367–368}} In 1939, country singer [[Tex Morton]] recorded a song about Kelly, and artists including [[Slim Dusty]], [[Smoky Dawson]] and [[Midnight Oil]] followed.{{sfn|Seal|1980|p=151}} Non-Australian artists who have recorded songs about Kelly include [[Waylon Jennings]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ned Kelly (original score)|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/ned-kelly-original-score-mw0000865387|access-date=10 September 2021|publisher=AllMusic}}</ref> and [[Johnny Cash]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Johnny Cash, A Man in Black (1971)|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/a-man-in-black-mw0000885026|access-date=10 September 2021|publisher=AllMusic}}</ref>

[[Robert Drewe]]'s novel ''[[Our Sunshine]]'' (1991) is a fictionalised account of the Glenrowan siege.{{Sfn|Corfield|2003|p=134}} [[Peter Carey (novelist)|Peter Carey]] won the 2001 [[Booker Prize]] for his novel ''[[True History of the Kelly Gang]]'', written from Kelly's perspective and in emulation of his voice in the Jerilderie Letter.<ref>{{cite book |last=Snodgrass |first=Mary Ellen |author-link= |date=2010 |title=Peter Carey: A Literary Companion |url= |location= |publisher= McFarland, Inc., Publishers |page=9 |isbn= 9780786455720}}</ref> The [[Ned Kelly Awards]] are Australia's premier prizes for crime fiction and true crime writing.{{Sfn|Corfield|2003|pp=359–60}}

Kelly has figured prominently in [[Cinema of Australia|Australian cinema]] since the 1906 release of ''[[The Story of the Kelly Gang]]'', the world's first dramatic feature-length film.<ref>Bertrand, Ina; D. Routt, William (2007). ''[https://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Picture_that_Will_Live_Forever.html?id=H-elDgAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y The Picture that Will Live Forever: The Story of the Kelly Gang]''. Australian Teachers and Media. {{ISBN|978-1-876467-16-6}}, pp. 3–19.</ref> Among those who have portrayed him on screen are [[Australian rules football]] player [[Bob Chitty]] (''[[The Glenrowan Affair]]'', 1951), rock musician [[Mick Jagger]] (''[[Ned Kelly (1970 film)|Ned Kelly]]'', 1970) and [[Heath Ledger]] (''[[Ned Kelly (2003 film)|Ned Kelly]]'', 2003).<ref>Groves, Don (9 November 2017). [https://www.if.com.au/many-ned-kelly-movies-many/ "How many Ned Kelly movies are too many?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617043737/https://www.if.com.au/many-ned-kelly-movies-many/|date=17 June 2018}}, ''[[If Magazine]]''. Retrieved 17 June 2018.</ref> A comic film, ''[[Reckless Kelly]]'' (1993), drew on the Kelly legend.{{Sfn|Corfield|2003|p=260}}

In the visual arts, [[Sidney Nolan]]'s 1946–47 Kelly series is considered "one of the greatest sequences of Australian painting of the twentieth century".<ref>[http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail.cfm?IRN=28926 Ned Kelly] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150602083432/http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail.cfm?IRN=28926|date=2 June 2015}}, [[National Gallery of Australia]]. Retrieved 15 December 2014.</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=13 August 2018|title=Sidney Nolan's Ned Kelly – in pictures|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2018/aug/13/sidney-nolans-ned-kelly-in-pictures|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180812212851/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2018/aug/13/sidney-nolans-ned-kelly-in-pictures|archive-date=12 August 2018|access-date=13 August 2018|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> His stylised depiction of Kelly's helmet has become an iconic Australian image. Hundreds of performers dressed as "Nolanesque Kellys" starred in the opening ceremony of the [[2000 Sydney Olympics]].{{Sfn|Innes|2008|p=247}}

The term "Kelly tourism" describes towns such as Glenrowan which sustain themselves economically "almost entirely through Ned's memory", while "Kellyana" refers to Kelly-themed memorabilia, merchandise, and other paraphernalia. The phrase "[[wikt:such is life|such is life]]", Kelly's probably apocryphal final words, has become "as much a part of the Kelly mythology as the famous armour".{{Sfn|Terry|2012|p=251}} "[[wikt:as game as Ned Kelly|As game as Ned Kelly]]" is an expression for bravery,<ref name="Barry 1974">{{cite encyclopedia | author=Barry, John V. | title=Kelly, Edward (Ned) (1855–1880) | chapter=Edward (Ned) Kelly (1855–1880) | encyclopedia=Australian Dictionary of Biography | volume=5 | publisher=Melbourne University Press | year=1974 | pages=6–8 | url=http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A050009b.htm | access-date=8 April 2007 | archive-date=21 March 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070321122238/http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A050009b.htm | url-status=live }}</ref> and the term "[[Ned Kelly beard]]" describes a trend in "[[hipster (contemporary subculture)|hipster]]" fashion.<ref>[http://ozwords.org/?p=6939 "Australian National Dictionary Centre's Word of the Year 2014"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215085836/http://ozwords.org/?p=6939 |date=15 December 2014 }}, Ozwords. Retrieved 15 December 2014.</ref> The rural districts of north-eastern Victoria are collectively known as "Kelly Country".{{sfn|Kenneally|1929|p=15}}

===Controversy over political legacy===
[[File:Melbourne Punch Communism.png|thumb|upright|An 1879 political cartoon titled "Our Rulers", published in ''[[Melbourne Punch]]'', depicts Kelly, Premier [[Graham Berry]], and a personification of ''[[The Age]]'' dancing around the flag of [[communism]].]]
In ''[[Bandits (book)|Bandits]]'' (1969), [[Eric Hobsbawm]] argues that Kelly was a [[social banditry|social bandit]], a type of peasant outlaw and symbol of social rebellion with significant community support.<ref name=":4" /> Expanding on this thesis, McQuilton argues that the Kelly outbreak should be seen in the context of increased poverty in north-eastern Victoria in the 1870s and a conflict over land between [[Selection (Australian history)|selectors]] (mostly small-scale farmers) and [[Squatting (Australian history)|squatters]] (mostly wealthier pastoralists with more political influence).{{Sfn|McQuilton|1987}} Jones, Molony, McQuilton and others argue that Kelly was a political rebel with considerable support among local selectors.{{Sfn|Dawson|2018|p=17-29}} Jones claims that Kelly intended to derail the train at Glenrowan to incite a rebellion of disaffected selectors and declare a "Republic of North-eastern Victoria".{{sfn|Jones|1995|pp=213, 220–25}} For Jones, a republic is foreshadowed in the Jerilderie Letter and Kelly's references to north-eastern Victoria as "our country", where politicians should not interfere.{{Sfn|Jones|1995|pp=171, 213, 220–25, 246}}

Morrissey argues that McQuilton and Jones have overstated both the economic distress and the level of support for Kelly among selectors.{{Sfn|Morrissey|2015|pp=13–18, 151–56, 181–87}} As for the alleged republican declaration or plan for a political rebellion, Dawson writes that no such document or intention appears in any records, interviews, memoirs or accounts from those connected to the gang or early historians.{{Sfn|Dawson|2018|p=1}} According to [[Mark McKenna (historian)|Mark McKenna]], Kelly's rhetoric in the Jerilderie Letter "may fit the mould of the stereotypical Republican hero", but it remains "simplistic" and "shallow".<ref>{{cite book|last=McKenna|first=Mark|author-link=Mark McKenna (historian)|year=1996|title=The Captive Republic: A History of Republicanism in Australia 1788-1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521572583|page=123}}</ref> While Kelly often complained of oppression by the police and squatters, rejected the legitimacy of the Victorian government and [[British monarchy]], and evoked [[Irish nationalism|Irish nationalist]] grievances against what he called "the tyrannism of the English yoke", his response manifested as a violent reckoning rather than a clear political program. "It is true that in the Jerilderie Letter Kelly is envisaging a new order of things in his part of the world", writes Morrissey. "Whether it should be called a republic is debateable".{{Sfn|Morrissey|2015|pp=152–58}}{{Sfn|Innes|2008|p=26}}<ref name="gelderweaver"/>

Seal states that in the Jerilderie Letter, Kelly advocates "a rebalancing of the social and economic system of the region": squatter profits will be [[redistribution of income and wealth|redistributed]] to the poor, who, in turn, will form a community guard, rendering the police unnecessary.{{Sfn|Kelly|2012|pp=81-83|ps=. "I wish those men who joined the stock protection society to withdraw their money and give it and as much more to the widows and orphans and poor of Greta district wher [sic] I spent and will again spend many a happy day fearless free and bold, as it only aids the police to procure false witnesses and go whacks with men to steal horses and lag innocent men it would suit them far better to subscribe a sum and give it to the poor of their district and there is no fear of anyone stealing their property for no man could steal their horses without the knowledge of the poor if any man was mean enough to steal their property the poor would rise out to a man and find them if they were on the face of the earth it will always pay a rich man to be liberal with the poor and make as little enemies as he can as he shall find if the poor is on his side he shall loose nothing by it. If they depend in the police they shall be drove to destruction, As they cannot and will not protect them if duffing and bushranging were abolished the police would have to cadge for their living I speak from experience as I have sold horses and cattle innumerable and yet eight head of the culls is all ever was found. I never was interefered with whilst I kept up this successful trade. I give fair warning to all those who has reason to fear me to sell out and give £10 out of every hundred towards the widow and orphan fund and do not attempt to reside in Victoria but as short a time as possible after reading this notice, ...".}}{{sfn|Seal|2011|pp=110–11}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Seal |first=Graham |title=Moral Ecologies: Histories of Conservation, Dispossession and Resistance |publisher=Springer International Publishing |year=2019 |isbn=9783030061128 |editor-last1=Griffin |editor-first1=Carl J. |pages=228–230 |chapter='Fearless, Free and Bold': The Moral Ecology of Kelly Country |editor-last2=Robertson |editor-first2=Iain J. M. |editor-last3=Jones |editor-first3=Roy}}</ref> Morrissey, however, sees the [[social justice]] element of the letter as a traditional call for the rich to help the poor, and argues that Kelly's vision for society is driven by personal vengeance and a desire to consolidate his power through violence and terror.{{Sfn|Morrissey|2015|pp=152-158}}

[[Communism|Communist]] activist [[Ted Hill (Australian communist)|Ted Hill]] states that in the decades after Kelly's execution, his legacy became linked with a "democratic rebellious spirit" that influenced both the working class and leftist intellectuals.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hill |first=Edward Fowler |author-link=Ted Hill (Australian communist) |title=Communism and Australia: Reflections and Reminiscences |publisher=[[Communist Party of Australia]] |year=1989 |isbn=9780909956226 |page=18}}</ref> More recently, some [[far-right]] groups have co-opted Kelly's image to promote their version of a "[[White Australia policy|white Australia]]".<ref>{{cite book |last=Gail |first=Mason |title=Hate Speech and Freedom of Speech in Australia |publisher=Federation Press |year=2007 |isbn=9781862876538 |editor-last1=Gelber |editor-first1=Katharine |page=49 |chapter=The Reconstruction of Hate Language |editor-last2=Stone |editor-first2=Adrienne}}</ref> Kelly has often been characterised by the press as a [[terrorism|terrorist]], particularly in his day and during the [[war on terror]].{{Sfn|Basu|2012|pp=182–187}}