The Jerilderie Letter: Text Classics

Outlaw, murderer, self-proclaimed victim, Ned Kelly is an Australian icon. But who was he? Kelly's extraordinary achievement is to have provided his own answer to that question.

The Jerilderie Letter is his remarkable manifesto and a startling record of his voice. Kelly delivered his letter, which Joe Byrne had diligently written out, on Monday 10 February 1879, immediately after his gang had held up the Bank of New South Wales in Jerilderie. He gives an impassioned defence of his actions, ...