WHERE DID

The book pages.

Where did they get that from?

In days gone by I had a website titled 'Kelly Errors'.

It was all about the errors to be found out there re the Kelly story.

That site may be history now, but my annoyance of books that get the story wrong
has never dissipated. We can all make an error here and there, I am sure I have.
What bothers me most however is that errors in history can become 'fact'.

How can a well known author/historian get facts so wrong when we have
so many source texts to learn from? Am I being too harsh? I guess it is
easier for me as I specialise on one facet of the story.

My question to these authors is, "where did they get that from?"

My comments about the text are in bold, my information has come from in most
instances, the statements of those who were there.

Titles:

Ned Kelly. (Farwell)
Australia: Moments in History. (Swain)
AUSTRALIAN RIPPING YARNS. (Taylor)
BUSHRANGING SILHOUETTES. (Cronin)
The Kelly Hunters. (Clune)
The Kelly Gang. (Hocking)

Ned Kelly Farwell G.

Page 98

"They saw Mrs Reardon run out, a child in her arms, -
in the words of the Royal Commission - 'Sgt Steele
deliberately fired at her. The ball or pellet entered his
(the child's) breast, and lodged beneath the ribs, but
did not cause death'.

Australia: Moments in History.

Swain, Victor. 2003

Page 125 Ned Kelly.

" In June 1880, the gang, hearing that a contingent of
police had left Melbourne by train to capture them, tore
up the track, then took refuge in the hotel at Glenrowan"

* The Gang planned the situation which caused the police to
pursue them, it was not the other way around.

"A school teacher managed to slip out of the hotel and
was able to stop the train before it was derailed".

** The School-teacher did not 'manage to slip out', he was
allowed to leave by Ned Kelly.

"The police then surrounded the hotel and set it on fire.
Dan Kelly, Joe Byrne and Steve Hart were burned to
death, but ..."

*** Dan and Steve were most likely dead before the Inn was fired.
Joe Byrne was shot by police early on and was already dead.

....."at dawn Ned Kelly emerged from the hotel,
his head and body clad in armour hammered into shape
by some of his bush sympathisers".

**** Ned did not emerge from the hotel, he engaged the police
from their rear.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

AUSTRALIAN RIPPING YARNS.

Taylor, Paul 2004.

Chapter: 'If only Ned's mother had been sent to the seaside'.

"In 1862, aged 11, Ned heroically saved a small boy from drowning"....

*It was actually 1865.

"he shot Aaron at the door of his home while three police".......

**There were four policemen in the hut.

"the police and their horses poured out of the train carriages and took up
positions around the hotel"......

***Initially they were only at the front of the Inn.

"a young boy and two men had also died in the siege"..............

****A young boy (Jack Jones) and one man (Martin Cherry) died in the siege.

"Ellen Kelly was cared for until her death in 1923 by her son Jim, the last of her 11 children".........

*****Jim was not the last of Ellen's children born.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

BUSHRANGING SILHOUETTES.

CRONIN AND RUSSELL. 1932.

"........Authority , however , lay low . The Kelly's fired through the windows and doors , but made
no attempt to enter........".

*Both Dan Kelly & Joe Byrne did in fact enter the hut, the police hid under the bed.

"The Kelly's then departed , and news was flashed over the wire to headquarters .
The entire police of Victoria were now thoroughly upon their mettle ."

**The police were extremely slow in getting word out, waiting hours before risking coming
out of the hut to get word out of the killing of Aaron.

"An armoured train , packed with police and troopers, was despatched from Melbourne
to Benalla , news having been received that the Kelly's were in possession of the township
of Glenrowan".

***I think the author got the armour story confused.
The police did not have an 'armoured' train.
The police did not know that the gang had held up Glenrowan, they were heading to Beechworth to track the gang after the execution of Sherritt.

"An attempt was made by the Kelly's to wreck the train by tearing up portion of the line ,
but their inhuman intention was averted by the bravery of the local schoolmaster , named
Curnow , whom , at the risk of his life , ran to meet the oncoming train , holding a lantern
behind his sisters red handkerchief".

****A common error, Curnow was holding a candle behind a scarf, he never had a 'lantern'.

.... "The police , however , were able to construct wooden bulletproof shields which were fitted on wagons, these to be used as a cover for their advance".

*****This never actually happened.

"Huge bonfires were lit in a ring around the Glenrowan Inn, throwing it into strong relief".

******This was a concept discussed but never happened as the Inn was burned instead.

"a revolver and cap , known to be the property of Ned Kelly , was discovered
about a hundred yards from the hotel".

*******It was a revolving rifle and skull-cap.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Frank Clune, The Kelly Hunters.

1954.

CLUNE. 'The definitive Ned Kelly text'.

'In the police-station, amazing to record, was only one constable, an ELDERLY married man named Bracken, who was at this time ill in bed'

*Elderly?, Hardly!

"The Glenrowan hotel, owned by Mrs. Jones, an Englishwoman, a WIDOW with THREE CHILDREN.

**She was not a widow & had 4 sons locked in a room, another son Jack, was shot & daughter Jane.

"Another hotel, MCDONALD'S"

*** McDonnell's

"As the sun came up prisoners were transferred from the gate-house to Jones's hotel. The postmaster, Mr. Reynolds, was grabbed early to prevent him from sending telegrams.

****Reynold's was not taken early, he was most likely watching over Bracken. (Ian Jones as ref here)

"All four of the outlaws got slightly fuddled as the day wore on".

*****They did not all get 'fuddled'.

".her (Mrs. Jones) ....DAUGHTERS were serving.".............

******She only had 1 daughter.

" Curnow said: "I haven't got my dancing boots on...... I'll have to go to my house to get them." Ned overheard this. "You won't go to your house," he said sternly "It is next to the police -station."

******* In fact it was not Ned who overheard Curnow ask to get his boots and state that he would pass the police barracks. Curnow's actual statement: So I said to Ned Kelly after being pressed to dance that I would do so with pleasure if he would accompany me to my home for a pair of dancing boots. He agreed quite readily to go with me, and we were getting ready when Dan Kelly interfered and said that Ned Kelly had better stay behind and let him or Byrnes (sic) accompany me. Some one else also urged Ned Kelly to stay back, and said that my house was near the Police barracks. Ned turned and asked me if it was, and I replied "Yes; we shall have to pass the barracks, I had forgotten that.

" Curnow told Ned that Stanistreet had a revolver at the gatehouse".

********Curnow's actual statement: "I told the gang in strict confidence that Mr Stanistreet possessed a loaded revolver from the Railway Department" (in his posession, not at the gate-house)

"At 10 o'clock Ned let Curnow go home".

*********No he did not, he took Curnow with him while he captured Bracken.

"At 11 o'clock Ned & Joe went to the police station".

**********It was 10:00 pm that a party of prisoners went with Ned and Joe to collect Bracken.
Source Curnow, Gary Dean & John Molony.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Geoff Hocking 'The Kelly Gang'

2004? (no date)

This author has just recently given a talk at the opening of an art exhibition in Bendigo
which used Ned as its theme, he has written many books on various historical subjects.
I have many of these titles including 'Bailup', 'Eureka Stockade', 'To The Diggings' (a very expensive book!) and many others. The layout of these books is great, the colour images superb, my worry however is the accuracy of these other books after reading just this Glenrowan section of the Kelly Gang book. In the text below I am only concerned with his text on the siege..................

"...took hostage a team of PLATELAYERS, who were camped near the line".....

* In actual fact the men in the tents near the line were navvies, the platelayers (Reardon and Sullivan) lived in the Glenrowan township about a mile towards Benalla.

"...a special train.......Sunday Morning, 28 June 1880".......

**Sunday was 27 June 1880.

"....was to carry a large number of Detectives, journalists, artists, photographers...."

*** There were no photographers on the train. They arrived later.

...."the plan was to ride to Benalla and set fire to the Court-House..."

**** Not sure where he got that info from?

..........."Ned took one his prisoners.......to get to the only policeman...."

***** Ned took several prisoners, in fact he took people who Bracken would recognise when they called him out.

Speaking of how Curnow warned the train................."which he held inside a lantern and silk handkerchief"....................

******There was neither a lantern nor red handkerchief, he used a red Llama scarf held behind a candle.

"...the police left the train and headed for Glenrowan, which still lay half a mile up the track"

******* The trains stopped where Curnow had warned them, then they were coupled together and slowly rolled into the Glenrowan Station before police disembarked.........

"Constable Bracken rushed back to the station-masters house"....

*********No, he rushed back to the railway station where the police were.

Interestingly, at the start of the gun battle, Hocking mentions Hare being shot but neglects to mention the wounding of Ned and Joe.

"as Bracken believed most inside were sympathisers anyway, the police may not have been concerned"....

********What rubbish, Bracken was in such a rush he simply forgot to tell the others about the prisoners, perhaps he assumed they would know.....if he had informed the police I doubt that they would have shot at the people just because they were sympathisers.

"There was a break in the shooting, and the people inside the hotel were allowed to leave one by one"...

***********Almost, the people were checked over by the police individually, however they ran out as one group from the inn.

"Ned turned back and began a vain attempt to defend his brother, his mates and the honour of the Kelly's, but for Dan, Steve and Joe it was already too late, they had lay dead on the floor.

*********** I wonder which text he found this incorrect stuff in?

"Just after daybreak on the morning of the 29th of June 1880"

************Yet again he is a day ahead.

"Alone, he (Ned) stepped away from the Glenrowan Hotel".........

*************No, he stepped 'toward' it. Many early texts had Ned leaving the burning Inn when in fact he attempted to return to the building from behind the police lines.