(Fitzy, this one is for you!)
From Google Alerts..
In the Age dated December 28, 2010 there is an article called "An Accent on Social Equality" by Tim Elliott in which the evolution of the Australian accent is explored.
Of course, Ned Kelly is referenced!
From the article:
And yet the myths persist. When Heath Ledger starred as Ned Kelly in the 2003 biopic, he gave the bushranger an Irish accent, as did Mick Jagger in his 1970 film, a fact that perplexed a great-niece of the Kellys, who had known Ned's brother, Jim (who died in 1946). She said Jim, just five years younger than Ned, had spoken with an Australian accent.
To read in full:
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/books/an-accent-on-social-equality-20101227-198iq.html
WELCOME TO ELEVEN MILE CREEK. Thanks for visiting us. We hope to use this blog to bring news, views, nuggets and musings, some serious, some lighthearted, but all to do with all things associated with Ned Kelly.
Come on Fitzy mate! where are you? this is your passion:) BAILUP
ReplyDeleteInteresting comment regarding the accent. With all the speculation about it, it is a wonder no one thought to ask someone who heard Jim's voice what he sounded like. OK, he died 66 years after his brother and his manner of speaking may have changed in that time, just as that of my brother and I has changed, very slightly, from both being married to Americans. A shame no one thought to ask Sidney Nolan, who asked Jim if he was Ned Kelly's brother and was told yes, and to get lost!
ReplyDeleteIn reading your blog Sharon I thought I would get the book quoted out of the library "The Story of Australian English" by Bruce Moore to learn more about our Aussie accent. He made a few points relating to Ned's accent. Firstly he said that accents are learnt from one's peer groups as opposed to your parents or other adults. He also commented on some of the sentence structures contained in the Jerilderie letter. He said that they were Irish as opposed to the usage of the day. I believe that Ned would have spoken with a soft Irish accent for a number of reasons. Firstly McIntyre when he pleaded for the lives of Kennedy and Scanlon commented "they are your countrymen" and Ned said "no I am native born". So Mac may well have thought he sounded Irish too. Also a government official commented when policeman Hall gave Ned a pistol whipping . "If the Chief Commissioner concurs I shall feel obliged it he will caution Hall about restlessly causing medical expenditure the next time he breaks the head of an Irishman" Also Tom Lloyd said that Ned " spoke like a preacher"..well in those days the majority of the priests were very Irish so that is another reason to think that Ned sounded Irish. As to a niece saying that Jim spoke with a an Australian accent over 60 years after Ned's hanging one must consider whether a child of under five would understand accents and also accents change over time. You just have to listen to immigrants and see how their accents have changed since they first got off the boat !!
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