This caught my eye from the Cairns Post of October 23, 1950.
It was under a column called "Australoddities" compiled and written by Bill Beatty.
Living quietly in Victoria is 94-year-old Jim Kelly, who claims to be
the only surviving brother of the notorious bushranger, Ned. In 1933,
when in Western Australia, he narrowly escaped death while engaged in
clearing stumps. A fuse of dynamite misfired, and Jim Kelly owed his
life to a big gum tree that stood between him and the explosion. Letters
still arrive at the Glenrowan, Victoria post office addressed to Ned Kelly,
but they are forwarded on to relatives.
Ok, this is one of two things...either some very old (and incorrect) material that was recycled past the use by date or Dan Kelly and Steve Hart are not the only folks in the Kelly saga that have had imposters claiming to be them. I recall the times in print that Jim Kelly would challenge and rail against these wannabes, and Greg Young reminded me of how in Kenneally's "The Inner History of the Kelly Gang" that Jim said "I myself have been impersonated by depraved imposters."
Oddly enough, the Cairns Post had reported on Jim's death back in 1946 and said he was "over 90" at the time! Seeing as how he was born in July of 1859, that would have made him 87 at the time of passing in December of 1946.
Also, when was he ever in Western Australia blowing up stumps?
That is interesting about letters addressed to Ned Kelly still arriving at the Glenrowan post office back then! Wonder what the messages were? Is this like writing to Santa Claus at the North Pole or the letters to Juliet sent to Verona, Italy? (I wonder if the relatives replied to any?)
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Bill Beatty was a well known Australian oddity collector for many years, but I don't know that he liked to verify his stories too much. Funny that the Cairns Post thought that this was worth publishing, given that Jim's death was pretty well documented. In his correspondence with J J Keneally, Jim said that he had not left Greta for many years (his trip to Forbes to collect Kate's children excepted.)I can't imagine Jim busying himself with dynamiting in Western Australia at the age of 74!
ReplyDeleteI noticed that in Brian McDonald's "What They Said About Ned!" there are 9 entries for Bill Beatty's books as they have bits and pieces on the Kellys and bushranging in general in them.
ReplyDeleteIn Cookson (circa 1910, a couple of decades before he was in correspondence with Kenneally) Jim said that he "shall be away two or three months" as he was droving sheep (not sure how far he took them from Greta....but surely not as far as WA!!!)