Jerilderie Letter

Common card · No. 482101

The Jerilderie Letter is a handwritten document composed by Australian bushranger and outlaw Ned Kelly in 1879. Described as "part autobiography, part manifesto", it is traditionally understood to have been dictated by Kelly to fellow gang member Joe Byrne, who may also have contributed to its composition. The letter is named after the town of Jerilderie, New South Wales, where the Kelly gang carried out an armed bank robbery in February 1879 and where Kelly tried to have the document published as a pamphlet. The letter comprises 56 pages and roughly 7,400 words. In it, Kelly traces his path to outlawry and justifies his actions, including the killings of three policemen at Stringybark Creek in October 1878, which he portrays as an act of self-defence. Expressing hostility towards the police throughout the letter, Kelly alleges corruption, perjury and mistreatment of his family and other poor rural settlers in north-eastern Victoria, while also attacking wealthy landholders, the Victorian...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Adam Huthnance, CC BY-SA 2.0