2003 FILM

Ned Kelly Film.

Why ruin a fantastic story?
That is the question I ask when I watch the 2003 Kelly movie.
I did in fact enjoy the film, however I could not help but notice all the factual errors.
The director Mr. Gregor Jordan said “I think a lot of Australian’s don’t know the detail of this story”,

Well mate you have not helped them learn one single thing in this whole movie! You only taught me that you were either ignorant of the facts or thought your fictional
version would rate better.

I know that they all do it, but that is no excuse.
The story of Ned Kelly is one of the greatest stories in Australian history, why bugger it up and water it down with the introduction of fictional characters and events?
Peter Carey did the same thing, the only plus being more people are now aware of the Kelly story. (for that I guess we should be grateful)
The film begins with a young Ned Kelly saving an equally young Richard Shelton from drowning.
This did happen, however the river appears to be a little deeper than Hughes Creek actually is.
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The scene is set in 1871. Ned wakes from his bush slumber to find a saddled horse grazing nearby. He rides this horse into town and has Jane Jones (daughter of
the landlady of the Glenrowan Inn) on the back.
The horse depicted was one Isaiah 'Wild" Wright had 'borrowed' from the Post Master. Isaiah had been visiting the Kelly home and his horse had strayed. He asked to
borrow a Kelly horse and told Ned he could ride the missing one when found.
Unfortunately, Ned had no idea it was a 'borrowed' horse. He rode up and down the main street before Constable Hall spotted him.
In the movie Ned looks a bit unkept, in reality he was finely dressed for his ride into town.
Jane Jones was about 15 in 1880 and therefore could not have been the same age in 1871.
Senior Constable Hall hauls Ned off the horse and the horse runs away. Ned tries to go after the horse and Hall shakingly fires a pistol shot at him.
Ned takes the pistol off Hall and knocks him off his feet.
Hall tried many times to fire at Ned (at point blank range) but the pistol refused to fire. Had it done so, Ned would have been killed.
Ned never took the pistol from Hall as shown, however Ned did ride Hall like a 'goanna'. Hall used the butt of the pistol to bash Ned severely. In the film he hits Ned
twice before being stopped, in reality he was not stopped.
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Ned comes out of prison, there to greet him is Joe Byrne and Aaron Sherritt.
The trio walk along the road trying to hitch a lift when Anton Wicks drives past.
Joe & Aaron were not there to meet Ned and Anton does not feature in the real story until he is used by Joe to get Aaron to open his door so Joe can shoot him.
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Ned arrives home to find his mother with a baby in her arms, she says the father is long gone.
Mrs Kelly had a baby at the time, but did not re-marry until Ned came home. In fact the union produced 2 further offspring.
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The fictional Julia enters the story. There was no such person.
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Fitzpatrick comes calling on Kate.
He came to arrest Dan Kelly for horse stealing.
Says he has a warrant for both Ned and Dan.
There is a warrant for Dan not Ned, but Fitzpatrick is not carrying it at the time.
It is not known if Ned was at the house or not when Fitzpatrick
arrived, however he was definitely not at 'Julia's'.
The shootout at SBC, Lonigan stands and fires at Ned, Ned returns fire shooting Lonigan in the eye.
Lonigan was in the act of running and firing when Ned's shot hit him in the eye.
Sgt Kennedy is wounded, pleading for his life he states that he has 2 children.
Kennedy had 5 children.
Ned says "I don't know why I took his watch. It was something to do with him not needing it.
In fact the gang rifled the pockets of all the police and stole the rings as well.
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Ned shoots the dying Kennedy with a pistol.
Ned shot Kennedy at point blank range with a shotgun.
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Ned steals a silver watch off the body of Kennedy.
Ned stole a 'gold' watch
The watch was gold and would not be recovered until 1893.
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While robbing the bank at Euroa there is some flirtation between Mrs
Scott (the bank manager's wife) and Joe Byrne.
Whilst Mrs Scott did not detest the gang as much as her husband, is in
untrue to say she had any kind of liaison with Joe.
Mrs Scott says to Joe Byrne " they had you married to a Spanish
housemaid in Deniliquin with the exotic name of Madela"
The writer has his facts confused again, Ned Kelly was said to have
been married to a woman named Madela. (never proved) and during the
Euroa robbery Joe stayed behind at Faithfull's Creek homestead to
guard prisoners.
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The police set fire to the bush in order to flush out the gang.

This is pure fiction.
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After the bushfire lit by the police has died down a pocket watch is found, it was said to be Kennedy's.

Fiction.
Whilst on the run and in need of fluids the gang slit the throats of horses and drank the blood.

Absolute rubbish.
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Aaron Sherritt is shown locked up in a cell suffering from a recent bashing by police.

Aaron was treated very well by the police in exchange for information.
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During the bank robbery at Jerilderie the members of the public who Ned has taken prisoner laughingly assist Ned to write the Jerilderie letter.

Ned and Joe wrote the letter prior to their visit and the reason for going to Jerilderie was because the town had both a bank and a printer.
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Ned sets up Aaron to see if he is a spy by giving him information that the gang intend robbing the Beechworth bank. We see police ride in numbers into Beechworth
and the gang are now convinced Aaron is a spy.

This event never happened, in fact it can be argued that Aaron never gave any worthwhile information to the police.
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Aaron is called out from his hut where three police are staying with him. Joe Byrne is outside calling Aaron to come out, Joe is wearing a dress. Ned is waiting with
Joe outside the hut.

Joe did not call Aaron out, he knew the police (there were 4) were inside so he bailed up a neighbour named Anton Wicks and forced him to call Aaron. Aaron did not walk
outside, he was shot inside the hut. Joe was not dressed in womens clothing and it was Dan who was with Joe not Ned.
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Inspector Hare addresses a large contingent of Police prior to heading for Glenrowan.

Hare only took a handful of men, this is pure fiction.
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The gang test armour by all firing at it with various pistols.

The armour was 'tested' using a Martini Henry rifle.
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A circus is in town and is bailed up by Ned, they end up involved in the siege.
A circus is reported to have passed close by to Glenrowan, however they never stopped. Hence all the scenes involving stray circus animals and such was fiction.
It is also worth noting that the Glenrowan Inn depicted looked nothing like the original.
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Jane Jones points one of Ned's pistols at him. Ned takes no real notice.
During the siege Jane was given a pistol by Ned to watch over the prisoners.
Jane Jones reminds Ned about the time she was on the back of the horse he was riding and received the subsequent 3 years in prison.

As mentioned previously, Jane was only 6 at the time. (shown at the same age both times in the film)
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Thomas Curnow the schoolmaster has escaped from the Inn and alerted the police.
The police train has stopped at the place where the rails were lifted.
Curnow had been allowed to go home after gaining Ned's trust. Once home he ran down the line and alerted the police train. The train stopped
prior to the station before slowly moving up to the station
proper. The train did not go to where the rails were lifted.
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There appears to be over 100 uniformed police arriving on the first train to Glenrowan.
Police are seen riding horses off the train.
Curnow is talking to Hare whilst the police get ready.
Initially there were only a handful of police (none in uniform) who arrived at Glenrowan.
Horses were not ridden off the train.
Curnow ran away after notifying the pilot engine of the gang being in town.
Curnow did not speak to Hare at this stage.
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The town of Glenrowan as shown in the film is far from accurate.
The railway station was much smaller in reality as was the Glenrowan Inn. There was no 'Emporium', in fact there was row of buildings between
the station and the Inn.
The railway station-master was not at the station when the gang rode in to Glenrowan. (the gang came in two at a time at different times also)
The gang did not arrive in day-time, hence people coming out of businesses such as Ann Jones are incorrect.
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The gang put on their armour in front of the prisoners.

The armour was put on in a back room of the Glenrowan Inn.
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It was raining during the siege.

It was misty, not raining.
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A large number of police get ready behind giant logs.
The police (led by Hare) ran up to the Inn without protection as they did not realise the gang were already there. The gang had come to the front of the inn
and fired at the police.

The police set off large rockets (fireworks)

The rockets were an idea of Ned's and fired by sympathisers, not the police.

Someone yells out "hold your fire, there are women and children in
here". Then they start to come out.
Prisoners did not try to escape at this stage of the siege.

Police shoot at the prisoners and kill one outright.
Sgt Steele who does not appear to be in the movie was the policeman who wounded and shot at prisoners as they tried to make there escape later in proceedings.

After the prisoners run back inside the gang start to fire.
As mentioned the gang started firing as soon as the first handful of police arrived at the front of the inn.

The gang are fired at by hundreds of rounds and only receive slight wounds.
The gang await the end of the police barrage and then return fire.
They shoot many policemen.
The gang shot first, Ned was badly wounded. The only policeman shot during the siege was Hare who was shot in the first volley and had to retire.

Ned collapses after leaving the inn, he drops his pistol.
When Ned collapsed from loss of blood he left behind a skull cap and his Colt revolving rifle which was later found by the police.

Ned lays on the ground thinking about the time he was a hero and awarded the silk sash.
This is a very moving and well presented part of the film.

It is one of the few times in the film that appears to be accurate from what we know.

Ned awakes to find the inn has almost burned to the ground.
Ned awoke to begin his famous 'Last Stand' around 7am. The inn was not fired until around 3pm.

Dan and Steve realise they have no hope and commit suicide via a pistol.
We have no idea how these two men died, however eyewitnesses claimed there were no bullet wounds visable.

Ned begins his last Stand, it is over in seconds.
The real Last Stand went for up to 30 minutes.

Ned was not wearing the belt with OXO ammunition tin etc that he was known to be wearing when captured.

Ned removes his own helmet after collapsing.
When Ned was captured he still had his helmet, until police removed it they were not certain who it was.

It has always been accepted as fact that Sgt Steele brought Ned down with shots to the legs.
This action was not part of the film.

Jane Jones is amongst the police looking over a wounded Ned as he lay on the ground.
Jane was wounded in the forehead during the siege, her brother was dead and she was traumatised. She was not standing over Ned as he was captured.

The doctor removes the silk sash from Ned's waist and in walks Superintendent Hare. Hare asks for it (do you mind if I have this?, Ned looks at him quizzically)
and takes the sash.
Hare was long gone by this stage due to his wounds and it was the doctor who stole Ned's sash.

At the end Ned is seen leaving on the train and says 'such is life'.
This famous phrase was said to be the last words Ned uttered on the scaffold

Thanks to Sharon Hollingsworth for her editing.

http://www.filmballarathepburnandbeyond.com.au/filming/feature/film/ned-kelly