Ned Kelly

Book Review. True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey

Ned Kelly was a bushranger who murdered three policemen. He is also Australia's outlaw legend. Ned was a currency lad, the son of a convict. Those convicts who survived their sentences went on to start families, set up businesses, and tried to make a go of it on small selections. They were called currency lads and lasses because they insisted on being paid for their labour. This was most unusual in the colony at that time because the military were paid from London and the convicts were never paid at all - the government was very fortunate to have free convict labour on hand to build the founations of the new colony.

Peter Carey has taken Ned's own words and put them together into the story of his life and what happened leading up to his death. And it is an adjectival good read.