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Edutainment > Tom Kristensen - Ned Kelly
Tom Kristensen, born 1962, is a young artist from Australia who works in the tradition of Japanese woodblock printmaking. On this page, he writes about his latest print "Ned Kelly".
Here is the original text written by Tom Kristensen. Text and images are copyright protected and may not be used or distributed for other than private use without the prior consignment of the author/artist.
About Ned Kelly - Australian Outlaw
Edward "Ned" Kelly was born in 1855 in rural Victoria, the state of Australia newly named in honour of the ruling English monarch. As a child of an Irish convict father and an Irish immigrant mother Ned was the first son of seven children. Ned was born into class warfare between the small "selectors" who would clear the trees to gain rights over a small selection of bushland, and the privileged "squatters" who were able to claim control over large parcels of land. The aim of clearing the bush was to graze cattle and horses, and to open the countryside to further settlement. The returns for this type of farming were slim and success depended on access to good water and pasture. The entitlement to land was always in dispute and incursions were common.
The rural economy was also fed by the wealth of the gold rushes that attracted armies of migrating gold-diggers. The roads between towns were busy with tramping men and horses, and the coaches and wagons that carried people with goods to sell and cash to spend.
At the age of twelve Ned's father Red Kelly died and Ellen Kelly moved the family to a new selection where she hoped to feed her family. Ellen may have made most of her income by selling unlicensed alcohol to the passing traffic. Ned continued to help clear the land and run livestock, but he was also stealing stock to make ends meet. As a young teenager Ned probably spent time as an apprentice bushranger learning to bail up the traveling "squattocracy" and merchants to rob them of their valuables. The Kelly family was a target for the colonial police force and they were persecuted. Many of the police charges that brought family members to court were fabricated, but there is little doubt that the Kellys were also fighting a war with the ruling class.
Ned Kelly #1
In the first print of the Kelly series Ned and his mother Ellen are shown in a blank field that represents the family on their little selection of land. The black shape is of course based on Ned Kelly's iconic helmet. The two shapes are complimentary opposites, where white and black does not necessarily signify right and wrong. Ned was not all bad and Ellen was not all good. In a historical perspective Ned Kelly is seen as both a hero and a villain.
The Fitzpatrick Incident
In October 1878 Ellen Kelly and her baby daughter were sentenced to three years with hard labour on the charge of attempting to murder Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick. Judge Redmond Barry, who would become Ned's nemesis, stated that if Ned were present in court he would "give him 15 years". Ned was condemned without a trial and his mother was imprisoned on false evidence.
The attempted murder was no more than a case of unrequited love and wounded pride. Fitzpatrick had been drinking at Ellen's place and made a drunken pass at daughter Kate Kelly who had spurned him in the past. Mother Ellen struck him in the wrist with a coal shovel and this injury was later passed off as a gunshot wound.
After having his wrist bandaged by the women Fitzpatrick returned to town to file an account of his day's work. He decided to transform his failure in love into a career success, Fitzpatrick incriminated Ellen, Ned, brother Dan and others in a conspiracy to murder. His evidence provided a pretext for the law to disband the Kelly family, but Fitzpatrick was later dismissed from the police force for his drunkenness and for perjury. It is doubtful that Ned Kelly was present at the incident that would eventually lead to the killing of ten people.
Stringybark Creek
With a reward on offer a police party of four men set out to find Ned and Dan Kelly. Into the bush they brought superior firearms and pack horses to carry out bodies. They expected to win a one-sided gun battle and instead they were ambushed. Unaware that Ned was alert to their plans the police set up camp in a clearing at Stringybark Creek and a pair left to search the bush. With the advantage of surprise Ned emerged from the trees and called for surrender, but gunfire followed. One officer was shot dead while the other surrendered. When the two searchers returned they also chose to return fire rather than surrender and they were also shot dead.
In this print Ned is seen emerging from the dark side of the trunk of a Stringybark tree, stepping into the light that would bring him infamy. No other police force in Australia has ever suffered three deaths in a day.
The Kelly Outbreak
After the Stingybark Creek killings the Kelly gang of Ned and Dan with friends Joe Byrne and Steve Hart were declared outlaws who could be shot on sight. Substantial cash rewards were offered. The gang were pursued by mounted police, but there was a lack of will to follow any fresh tracks, an armed confrontation was to be feared.
The gang were at home in the bush and they had many supporters to assist them. The police retaliated by arresting suspected sympathisers and holding them in gaol without charge. Farmers were taken away at harvest time and families were left to starve. This action only had the effect of broadening support for the gang.
In an attempt to entrap the gang the police recruited Aaron Sherritt to act as a spy. Sherritt was a close friend of the Kelly gang and Ned was happy to use him as a double agent. Sherritt was free to deliver supplies and provide information on police movements.
Our Sunshine
The gang needed funds to continue living beyond the law and rather than robbing from the highways Ned planned daring bank raids. The whole town would be taken captive and treated to the public humiliation of local police and bank staff. Bank papers were ceremonially burnt and funds were later dispersed to the Kelly sympathisers.
The flamboyant success of the robberies and the resulting largesse elevated Ned to a folk hero in the district. Some referred to Ned as "Our Sunshine" and he began to see himself as leader of a republican movement. Ned composed letters and pamphlets that set out his grievances and his aspirations, but he grew frustrated when his communiques were suppressed and he was embittered when his hopes to win a reprieve for his mother were ignored by politicians.
After 18 months of playing hide and seek with the troopers Ned devised an outrageous plan to bring an end to the standoff.
Bloody Ned Kelly
The turning point came when Ned suspected that Sherritt had become a traitor. There is no historical evidence that Sherritt had provided any useful service to the police but he was acting as an informer and living under police protection. It seems that Ned's trust had been shrewdly twisted by the police.
Sherritt would be the fourth man to die in the Kelly saga and his death was dramatically staged in an attempt to ambush the police. Sherritt was shot in the door of his home by his life-long friend Joe Byrne. As Ned had planned, the police guard did nothing but call for reinforcements and a trainload of troopers and horses was sent up from Melbourne. Ned intended to derail the train and slaughter all on board. In preparation for this military-style operation the gang had removed the railway tracks from a bend leading into the town of Glenrowan.
The battle of Glenrowan was hoped to precipitate a popular uprising and challenge colonial rule. Had Ned succeeded in his plan Australia might have entered into a war of independence like the Boer war. Instead, the train was running a day late and when it arrived the Kelly gang were carousing inside the Glenrowan Inn. The derailment failed and the police force was to take bloody vengeance on the hapless drinkers.
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