jerliderie letter

Ned Kelly Australian Manuscripts Collection

1879

Only two original documents by Ned Kelly are known to have survived. The most significant of these is the Jerilderie Letter, dictated by Ned Kelly to Joe Byrne in February 1879. It is the only document providing a direct link to the Kelly Gang and the events with which they were associated.

Approximately 8000 words long, this letter has been described as Ned Kelly’s ‘manifesto’. It passionately articulates his pleas of innocence and desire for justice for both his family and the poor Irish selectors of Victoria's north-east.

Donated to the State Library in 2000, the Jerilderie Letter brings Ned Kelly's distinctive voice to life, and offers readers a unique insight into the man behind the legend.

What's in the letter?

The Jerilderie Letter provides a detailed account of Ned Kelly's troubled relations with the police and offers his version of the events at Stringybark Creek where three policemen were killed in October 1878. The letter also clearly reveals the intensity of his antagonism towards the police, and his sense of injustice about the police's treatment of his family.

When was it written?

The Jerilderie Letter was written some time before the Kelly Gang's raid on the Riverina town of Jerilderie in February 1879. Kelly took the letter to Jerilderie with the intention of having it published as a pamphlet for public distribution.

After holding up the Bank of New South Wales and stealing more than 2000 pounds, the gang took over the town for several days. During that time Kelly sought out Samuel Gill, the editor of the Jerilderie Gazette, with the specific demand that the letter be published.

Gill could not be found but the bank's accountant, Edwin Living, offered to accept the letter and pass it on to Gill. Kelly gave it to him saying 'mind you get it printed, or you'll have me to reckon with next time we meet'. Undeterred, Living did not have the document printed.

What happened to the letter?

Once the Kelly Gang had left Jerilderie, Living and the Bank Manager travelled to Melbourne where they delivered the letter to the office of the Bank of New South Wales. It was then temporarily loaned to the police in July 1880 and copied for use in Kelly's trial. This copy was lodged at the Public Record Office and the original was returned to Living after Kelly's execution. The letter remained in private hands until it was generously donated to the Library.

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This letter was first published in the 1948 edition of “Australian Son”. Introducing it, Max Brown said, ‘Following is an 8,300 word statement I have called The Jerilderie Letter. This is the document Kelly handed to Living. The text is from a copy of the original letter made in 1879 or 1880 by a government clerk, and is printed here with such spelling, punctuation, etc, as the clerk or Kelly and Byrne, or all three possessed. Nevertheless, it is one of the most powerful and extraordinary of Australian historical documents, and represents over half of Kelly’s extant writings and by far his best single written statement.

last paragraph from The Iron Outlaw