Michael Ball's Experience at the "Roast Lamb, Peas and Claret" Commemorative Dinner [Sharon Hollingsworth]

Today we have a guest blogger, Michael Ball, who gives us a glimpse into his trip to Kelly country for the "Roast Lamb, Peas and Claret" dinner at the Old Melbourne Gaol and the John Barry Memorial Lecture by Peter Norden at Melbourne University entitled "Ned Kelly, John Barry and the Role of Social Activism on Criminal Justice Reform." 

 

Michael Ball writes:




An advertisement for a recent event at the Old Melbourne Gaol appealed to me even though I lived in Sydney. It was for the 130th Anniversary of Ned Kelly’s execution or more precisely the 130th anniversary of Ned’s last supper of “Roast Lamb, Peas and Claret” to be held on the eve of his execution, the 10th November.  I took the opportunity to take my son and a friend down there passing through Kelly Country on the way there and back to show them some of places that formed part of the Kelly saga.  These places took a good deal of time by car so we were all amazed at the distance that the Gang travelled by horse and in the speed that they covered the distances.

But back to the anniversary dinner. They opened the doors at 6:30 and we were able to select any of the seats along the long table on the ground floor of the cells. There were 60 people, some in period costume and the tables were set with white tablecloths and were lit by 5 candle candelabras. The setting was truly both spectacular and memorable.

On arrival we were offered either beer or champagne and then after a brief welcome we were offered some pre-dinner nibbles after which claret was served with the main course of roast lamb, peas and other vegetables. The food was well prepared and tasty and the claret kept flowing so everybody was in fine form when the “Such a Life” performance was announced. The group moved up to underneath the scaffold and the two actors did their performance, one playing Ned, the other playing the parts of Ellen Kelly, Kate, and Ann Jones, using the language that they were reported to have used at the time. A few of the guests were also enlisted to act as some of the lesser characters. It was very well done and even for someone not knowing Ned’s story it got his story across very well.
 

Also there was an exhibition that had only been completed that day depicting what happened to Ned’s remains and his skull which was stolen from the Old Melbourne Gaol in 1978. This exhibition is to remain open for a few months and hopefully it will include the final chapter when the DNA evidence is analysed.
Coincidentally we were sitting along side Tom Baxter who is well familiar with this story. Also in attendance were some of the Hart/Lloyd family.



A truly memorable evening.

The following evening we attended the John Barry Memorial Lecture by Peter Norden at Melbourne University entitled "Ned Kelly, John Barry and the Role of Social Activism on Criminal Justice Reform."  I was hopeful of more on Ned but he may well have only been included as it was the anniversary of his execution but more could have been made of it as John Barry toured the Kelly Country in the 1950's with the aim of writing a book on the trial of Ned Kelly and it was John Barry who was the author of Ned's entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.



 

Pictured: Michael Ball (AKA Outback Santa), mates Phil and Paul and son Nick. Tom Baxter is barely visible  in the shadows at the upper left of the photo.