A companion guide to the Ned Kelly display at State Library Victoria. Features physical and digital items in our collections and links to external sites.
The Kelly story captured the imagination of many visual artists, including some notable Australian artists. Explore some of the most well-known Kelly artwork and the artists behind them using the Library collection.
Norman Lindsay created stage designs and character studies for Douglas Stewart's play Ned Kelly, performed in 1944. These pen, ink and wash drawings are part of our Papers of Dolia & Rosa Ribush collection, named after the production company The Dolia Ribush Players.
Australian artist Sidney Nolan's 26 paintings of Ned Kelly (1946-47) are renowned the world over for their depictions of Kelly, as well as their evocative reimagining of the Australian landscape.
Sidney Nolan's Ned Kelly : the Ned Kelly paintings in the National Gallery of Australia by 
Sidney Nolan by 
Meet-- Sidney Nolan by 'The series began with a rather whimsical impulse to parody the Kelly series of my good friend Sidney Nolan. But due, no doubt, to the interchangeability of our common stock of cultural images - and their cross fertilization - they took on a separate life of their own' (cited in Albert Tucker: Paintings 1945-1960, exhibition catalogue Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne, 1982).
Albert Tucker by 
Albert Tucker by The Library holds a vast collection of books on Ned Kelly and the Kelly Gang. You can search for these using our Library catalogue. You might start your search with these subject headings:
You can also browse Ned Kelly-related titles in our collection by searching the catalogue using the following tags:
ned kelly children's books
This list includes juvenile fiction and non-fiction with materials mainly for primary school aged children, with some titles for secondary school aged children.
When searching our catalogue, select "Find on shelf" to limit your search results to books available on the shelf of one of our reading rooms.
For example:
The Ned Kelly encyclopaedia by What They Said about Ned! by When searching our catalogue, select "Online" or "eBooks" to limit your search results to items you can view online anywhere, anytime. For example:
eBook results for the subject heading search "Kelly, Ned, 1855-1880"
eBook results for the subject heading search "Bushrangers -- Victoria"
Some of our online books about Ned Kelly are digitisations of 19th and early 20th century pamphlets and novels. For example:
Notably, the Library holds the papers of Australian author Peter Carey in our Manuscripts Collection. This includes the draft, notes and other related archival material for his novel, True history of the Kelly gang (2000). This title won the 2001 Booker Prize and the 2001 Commonwealth Writers Prize.
As another point of interest, its 2019 film adaptation features a scene in the domed La Trobe Reading Room at our Library.
True history of the Kelly gang by Ned Kelly and his armour have featured in many exhibitions at the Library. Revisit highlights from some of our past exhibitions with these videos, catalogue books, archived websites and other resources.
You can find a list of most other (but not all) Library Exhibitions in the State Library Victoria - history research guide.
Exhibition dates: 28 February - 25 May 2003
Revisit our 2003 exhibition, Kelly Culture: reconstructing Ned Kelly, which explored the enduring impact of Ned Kelly's story in the Australian cultural psyche. Showcasing Kelly-related literature, pictures, music, film and more, this exhibition is a great place to begin your journey into "Kellyana".
Exhibition dates: October 2019 - July 2020
Velvet, Iron, Ashes presented a new way of seeing Victoria's history by drawing threads between people, places and events that were not immediately apparent, and which prompted viewers to make surprising connections and discoveries of their own.
About the video, The critical connection between Ned Kelly, The Ashes and Janet Lady Clarke
Senior curator Carolyn Fraser reveals how two enduring items of Australian history – Ned Kelly's armour and The Ashes 'sacred soot' – are linked together by one person: Janet Lady Clarke, an influential woman whose engagement in social justice causes led to the foundation of the Women's Hospital and the Australian Women's National League.
First published on July 27th, 2020 on the State Library Victoria website.
Exhibition dates: 2010 to 13 May 2021 to 6 February 2022
The changing face of Victoria was a long-running exhibition held in Level 5 of the Dome Galleries. Drawing on iconic and less well-known pieces from the Library collection, the exhibition brought stories of everyday Melbourne and Victoria to life. Of the many stories exhibited over the years, the Kelly story remained a highlight, evoked through Kelly's armour.
In its final year, the exhibition explored the spirit of activism and invention, and its impact on modern Victoria, through four everyday themes: water, workers’ rights, camping and coffee. The Ned Kelly (image right) and the Kelly story featured in the Law & order gallery of the exhibition.
On showcase were more than 150 objects, artworks and photographs that revealed the large and small ways we can all make a difference in shaping our world. 90 per cent of these collection items had never been exhibited before.
Image credit: Ned Kelly in chains (1880) MS9298/6/PHO1
There have been many other Kelly-related exhibitions and Kelly's armour has been a popular display. You can find more information on past loans of Kelly's armour to external exhibitions and festivals by searching our Library blog. Search our catalogue for materials from these exhibitions, such as the exhibition book from Ned: the Exhibition (2001-2002) held at the Old Melbourne Gaol.
The Kelly story has been told and retold in film, even inspiring the first full-length narrative feature film. Here is a selection of iconic Kelly films.
Directed by Charles Tait, The Story of the Kelly Gang was the first full-length narrative feature film produced anywhere in the world. It premiered on Boxing Day eve at the Athenaeum Hall in Melbourne. The Library holds a copy of the handbill advertising the three-night season at the Empire Theatre in Easington, County Durham.
The film’s sympathetic portrayal of the bushrangers drew the ire of authorities who reportedly banned the film in the “Kelly country” of northeastern Victoria. Several years later, in April 1912, the film was banned in Melbourne.
Though no copy of the film in full survives, parts of the film have been preserved by the Australian National Film & Sound Archive, and segments of the film can be viewed online through the Internet Archive. It is listed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.
Learn moreImage credits:
The Glenrowan Affair (1951)The role of Ned Kelly was played by Bob Chitty, whose previous performances had all been on the football field. Chitty was an Australian Rules hard man who had captained Carlton's 1945 premiership side.
The reception for the film in Benalla, where numbers of Kelly descendants attended, was hostile. The reviews were unkind. "Puerile script, deplorable acting and stodgy direction", wrote the Sydney Sun reviewer.
Image credit: The Glenrowan Affair (1951) National Film and Sound Archive
Ned Kelly (1970)For his 1970 film, notable English director Tony Richardson cast Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger in the lead role, much to the chagrin of locals. The film had a mixed reception; read a review from the New York Times 8 October 1970, p.62.
The Library holds a copy of the soundtrack (view the catalogue record) and a collection of images from the film shoot can be viewed online.
Image credit: [Mick Jagger as Ned Kelly] (1969-1970) H2007.126/40
Ned Kelly (2003)The 2003 production of the Ned Kelly story is based on the 1991 novel Our sunshine by Robert Drewe (republished by Penguin Books under the title Ned Kelly in 2003 as a movie tie-in).
Directed by Gregor Jordan and starring Heath Ledger in the title role, the film also included Orlando Bloom as Joe Byrne, Naomi Watts as Julia Cook (an entirely fictional character created for the film), Geoffrey Rush as Superintendent Francis Hare and Joel Edgerton as Aaron Sherritt.
According to David Stratton, reviewing the film in Variety (Vol. 390, Issue 7, Mar. 31, 2003), this version features a "dark tone" that's "frequently grim", singling out Heath Ledger for delivering an "imposing performance".
The film was a joint production between Universal Pictures, StudioCanal and Working Title Films, representing the first title produced by the Australian division of the latter. Filmed on location in Victoria with a reported budget of US$30 million, the movie disappointed at the box office, only managed to earn around US$6.5 million during its theatrical run.
Image credit: Ned Kelly: Costume Continuity Polaroid (2003) National Film and Sound Archive
True History of the Kelly Gang (2019)Based on the 2000 novel of the same name by Peter Carey, the latest cinematic treatment of Ned debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival on 11 September 2019. The film was directed by Justin Kurzel from a script written by Shaun Grant.
The official synopsis by distributor Transmission Films states:
Inspired by Peter Carey’s Man Booker prize winning novel of the same name, Justin Kurzel’s True History of the Kelly Gang shatters the mythology of the notorious icon to reveal the essence behind the life of Ned Kelly and force a country to stare back into the ashes of its brutal past.
The film starred George MacKay as Ned, Russell Crowe as bushranger Harry Power, Nicholas Hoult as Constable Fitzpatrick, Essie Davis as Ellen Kelly (Ned's mother), Sean Keenan as Joe Byrne and Charlie Hunnam as Sergeant O'Neill.
The movie was given a limited release in Australian theatres in January 2020, and was subsequently release on the streaming platform Stan on Australia Day, 26 January 2020.
Despite receiving an R rating by the Motion Picture Association of America, the film was No. 1 at the US box office on its release weekend in April 2020, however, this was one of the earliest weekends during the COVID-19 pandemic and many theatres across the United States were closed.
Image credit: True History of the Kelly Gang poster (2019), Transmission Films
Kelly's story has inspired a number of theatrical productions, including musicals. Explore materials from some of these productions held at the Library.
Front cover and list of cast page of programme for Ned Kelly (1944) MS 9298, BOX 1001/9
Written by Douglas Stewart, this story was originally scripted for the stage, then adapted for radio and television, though it premiered on radio.
There are many other theatrical and musical productions that reimagine or touch on the Kelly story. You can find some related materials from these productions in the Library collection.
Use the Library collection to research Australian theatre history:
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What is behind the enduring fascination with Ned Kelly in Australian culture? Explore this question with our past exhibition Kelly Culture, featuring Kelly-related art, film, literature and more popular culture artefacts. Visit the archived exhibition website and dive into Kellyana.
Discover more of Ned Kelly's story as portrayed in film at the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA). Beyond detailing this film history, NFSA offers overviews of each film, a short history of the Kelly armour, a 360-degree view of Kelly's helmet and more.
