num_pages: 848
description: Love him or loathe him Ned Kelly has been at the heart of Australian culture and identity since he and his gang were tracked down in bushland by the Victorian police and came out fighting dressed in bulletproof iron armour made from farmers' ploughs.Historians still disagree over virtually every aspect of the eldest Kelly boy's brushes with the law. Did he or did he not shoot Constable Fitzpatrick at their family home? Was he a lawless thug or a noble Robin Hood a remorseless killer or a crusader against oppression and discrimination? Was he even a political revolutionary an Australian republican channelling the spirit of Eureka?Peter FitzSimons bestselling chronicler of many of the great defining moments and people of this nation's history is the perfect person to tell this most iconic of all Australian stories. From Kelly's early days in Beveridge Victoria in the mid-1800s to the Felons' Apprehension Act which made it possible for anyone to shoot the Kelly gang to Ned's appearance in his now-famous armour prompting the shocked and bewildered police to exclaim He is the devil!' and He is the bunyip!' FitzSimons brings the history of Ned Kelly and his gang exuberantly to life weighing in on all of the myths legends and controversies generated by this compelling and divisive Irish-Australian rebel. - See more at: http://www.randomhouse.com.au/books/p...
language: English
title: Ned Kelly: The Story of Australia's Most Notorious Legend
publisher: Penguin Random House Australia