Doug Morrissey’s acclaimed book Ned Kelly: A Lawless Life (2015) was short listed for the prestigious Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Australian History in 2016. This his second book in a trilogy of historical works dealing with Ned’s life and times, shines a much needed light on the bushranger’s pioneer community. The lives of selectors, squatters, and stock thieves are examined revealing a complex community, significantly different from the Kelly myth fiction of squatter tyranny, police oppression and selector poverty and despair. Morrissey’s book holds the key to understanding the Kelly Outbreak, Ned and his Sympathisers and the neglected ‘silent’ majority of respectable, law abiding residents. It reveals the collaborative fulcrum on which community life turned, based on cooperation not conflict. Settling the land is discussed as a successful pioneering endeavor rather than the usual depressing tale of woe. Cultural beliefs, shared values, community goals and how people conducted and expressed themselves in their daily lives, are at the center of this groundbreaking book. Those writing about the bushranger’s life and times from now on, will need to reference Morrissey’s evidence based research or their writings will not be taken seriously.

Contents:
INTRODUCTION
Doug Morrissey’s acclaimed book ‘Ned Kelly: A Lawless Life’ (2015) was short listed for the prestigious Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Australian History in 2016. This his second book in a trilogy of historical works dealing with Ned’s life and times, shines a much-needed light on the bushranger’s pioneer community. The lives of selectors, squatters, and stock thieves are examined revealing a complex community, significantly different from the Kelly myth fiction of squatter tyranny, police oppression and selector poverty and despair. Morrissey’s book holds the key to understanding the Kelly Outbreak, Ned and his sympathisers and the neglected ‘silent’ majority of respectable, law abiding residents. It reveals the collaborative fulcrum on which community life turned, based on cooperation not conflict. Settling the land is discussed as a successful pioneering endeavour rather than the usual depressing tale of woe. Cultural beliefs, shared values, community goals and how people conducted and expressed themselves in their daily lives, are at the centre of this ground-breaking book. Those writing about the bushranger’s life and times from now on, will need to reference Morrissey’s evidence-based research or their writings will not be taken seriously.

CONTENTS:
Acknowledgements xi. In Memoriam [to John Hirst] xv. Ned and me xix. Preface xxi.

Part one: Social order and authority. 1. Britishness and the Irish p1. 2 Catholics and Protestants p21. 3 Respectable people and the shanty culture p37. 4 School teachers and policemen p65.

Part two: Land settlement. 5 Settling the land p87. 6 Squatters and selectors p127. 7 Storekeepers, millers and farmers p153. 8 Selection in Kelly country: success or failure? p173.

Part three: Crime and policing. 9 Stock thieves and stock theft p199. 10 Law and law enforcement p245. 11 Kelly sympathisers and the North East reign of terror p289. Conclusion p323.

Appendices: 1 Whitty and Byrne: the Irish connection p333. 2 Ned Kelly’s land file application p336. 3 The Kellys, Quinns and Lloyds criminal history 1841-1881 p338. 4 Greta police officers 1869-1880 p348. 5 Kelly sympathisers detained under provisions of the ‘Felon’s Apprehension Act’ (1878) p352. Index p353.

SURNAMES / FAMILY NAMES from the index:
Acock. Ainge. Allwood. Archdeacon. Arthur. Ashmead. Babington. Barbour. Barnett. Barry (Sir Redmond). Bartley. Batchelor. Baumgarten. Bell. Bellew. Berry (Graham). Bindon. Blackwood. Boger. Booth. Bourke. Bowen (Sir George). Bracken. Brennan. Brien. Brodie. Brooke Smith. Brown. Bryson. Buckmaster. Burke. Butler. Butt. Byrne. Cain. Cameron. Campbell. Carey. Carmichael. Cass. Castieau. Chandler. Cherry. Clancy. Clarton. Coleman. Coles. Cook. Cooke. Couglan. Cowan. Cox. Culph. Cunningham. Curnow. Currie. Curry. Delaney. Delloro. Dennett. Devine. Dinning. Dixon. Doig. Donaghy. Doran. Douge. Downs. Dudley. Duross. Dwyer. Dyson. Egan. Ellis. English. Evans. Faithfull. Farrell. Fitzjohn. Fitzpatrick. Fitzsimons. Flood. Foley. Forge. Foster. Frost. Galen. Gaunson. Gibbs. Gibney. Gilbert. Glass (Hugh). Goodman. Goold. Gould. Graham. Graves. Gray. Green. Gunn. Hall. Hamilton. Hancock. Haney. Hanson. Hare. Hart. Harty. Heach. Hennessy. Hughes. Izard. Jeffrey. Johnson. Johnston. Jones. Kearney. Kelly. Kennedy. Kenny. Kershaw. Kiernan. King. Kirby. Krafft. Lalor (Peter). Lambert. Larkin. Lazarus. Lewis. Lloyd. Lonigan. Lowry. Lydeker. Maginness. Maguire. Manly. Mannix (Archbishop). Margery. Mason. McAuliffe. McBean. McCormick. McDonald. McDonnell. McElroy. McInnis. McIntosh. McIntyre. McMonigle. McVean. Miller. Moloney. Montfort. Moore. Morgan (Dan). Morton. Mueller. Mullane. Murdoch / Murdock. Murphy. Newbury. Nicolas. Nicolson. Nolan. Nyberg. O’Brien. O’Connell. O’Doherty. O’Farrell. O’Leary. O’Loghlen. Orr. O’Shannassy (Sir John). Page. Parlin / Parnell. Patterson. Peard. Perkins. Peterson. Petty. Porter. Power (Harry). Prendergast. Quick. Quinn. Rain. Rankin. Reagan. Redmond. Reilly. Reynolds. Ryan. Sadleir. Scanlan. Scholes. Shanley. Shelton. Sherritt. Shields. Shoebridge. Short. Simson. Singleton. Skehan. Skelton. Skillion / Skilling. Slater. Smith. Standish. Steele. Sterck. Stewart. Strahan. Strickland. Studders. Sullivan. Tanner. Tennant. Thom. Thompson. Tighe. Toke. Tremayne. Trigger. Trimble. Vane. Vincent. Wagner. Walkden. Wallace. Ward. Watson. West. Whelan. Whitty. Williams. Williamson. Wilson. Winter. Witt. Woods. Woodyard. Wright. Wyatt. Yelland. Zincke.

FULL INDEX available on library computers: Electronic resources \ Indexes \ Ned Kelly

FROM THE INDEX (Place names, institutions, etc.):
‘Advocate’ (Catholic newspaper). Agrarian crime. Agriculture. Alcohol consumption. Alexander I, Czar of Russia. Allotments (land). Armour. Arson. Australian Infantry Forces enlistments. Ballarat. Bank robberies. Banks. ‘Battle of Vinegar Hill’, Castle Hill. Beechworth. Begary Station.

Benalla: general; acres selected (1870s); Broken River Hotel; Common; larrikins; Police Barrack; railway line to Wangaratta; Salvation Army meetings; Methodist Circuit; Council; Police Temperance and Harmonic Society; Shire Council.

Black trackers. Bogong Jack Gang. Boosey. Borrowing of horses. Bribing Confederacy of the White Hart. British colonies in Australia. British values and identity. Broken River Hotel, Benalla. Bushrangers. Business: see Commerce. Cameron Letter. Capital punishment, protest against. Castle Hill convict rebellion. ‘Catalpa’ whaling ship rescue. Catholic Church. Catholic community. Catholic-Protestant marriage. Cattle: see Stock. Cattle duffing: see Stock theft. Chiltern. Churches. Class conflict. Cockatoos (small acreage farmers). Colonial officials, Irish. Commerce. Commission agents. Commons. Community leadership. Community life. Conscription referendums. Convicts. Crime, agrarian. Criminal code of ethics. Criminal families. Crops: see Agriculture. Crown Lands. Crown Lands bailiff role. Crown Lands Commission (Victoria). Dalgety, Blackwood Pastoral Company. Debt. Decency: see Respectability. Department of Crown Lands and Survey (Victoria). Diseased Stock (police informer pseudonym). Dog harassment of stock. Drunkenness. Duffers: see Stock theft. Duffy Certificates. Duffy Land Act (1862). Dummying. Easter Rebellion, Ireland. Emerald Hill Artillery Band. Emu Station. Entwistle Gang. Eureka Rebellion. Euroa bank robbery. Fairness, notion of. Faithfull’s Creek homestead robbery. Family ties: see Kinship ties. Farmers: see Selectors. Farmers Commons: see Commons. Farmers Union. Farming: see Agriculture. Felons Apprehension Act (1878). Fencing (land improvement). Fenianism: see also Irish nationalism. Fifteen Mile Creek Run. Finance: see Mortgages. Fires: see Arson. Flashness. Glenmore Police Station. Glenmore Run.

Glenrowan (town): general; hotels; Police Station; schools. Glenrowan siege. Glenrowan train wreck plan. Glenrowan (parish): general; Dennis Kelly selection; selector freehold title achievement rate; settlement.

Godparenthood as social bond. Goldfields. Goldfields Commons: see Commons. Governors, symbolic importance. Grant Acts (amending, consolidating Acts 1865, 1869). Greenvale Run.

Greta: general; churches; community characteristics; community commitment to war effort; livestock theft by Greta Mob; pattern of religion settlement; school teachers; schools; selector success; settlement; township in 1880; Victoria Hotel (O’Brien’s). Greta Mob: Kelly Gang sympathisers; larrikin behaviour; members; mistreatment of horses; stock theft.

Grog shanties: see Shanty pubs (sly grog shanties). Hanson (Greta South) School. Hanson Common (Greta). Hollow Station. Holy Cross Church, Moyhu. Home Rule (Ireland). Homesteads. Horse racing. Horse stealing: see Stock theft. Hotels. Housing: see Homesteads. Hurdle Creek Pound. Hurdle Creek School. Illegitimate children. Impounding of grazing animals. Intimidation of community by Kelly Gang and sympathisers. Intoxication: see Drunkenness. Irish community in Australia. Irish Free State. Irish Land League. Irish nationalism. Irish Republican Brotherhood. Irish standard of living (in Ireland). Irish traditions of livestock theft. Irishmen in British Army. Jerilderie bank robbery. Jerilderie Letter. Kelly Gang. Kelly myth. Kelly Outbreak. Kelly Republic. Kelly Reward Board. Kelly sympathisers. Kilfera Run. Killawarra Run. Kinship ties.

Laceby: pattern of religion settlement; selector success; settlement. Laceby Run. Laceby South School.

Land Acts (Victoria). Land Boards. Land denial policy. Land speculation. Land tenure. Lands Department. Larrikin behaviour. Lima Station. Livestock: see Stock. Longmore Commission: see Royal Commission into the Police Force (1881). Longmore Land Act (1878).

Lurg: Kelly selection; selector success and failure; settlement. Lurg School.

Marriage alliances: see Kinship ties. Matrimonial disputes. Melbourne: illegitimate births; Protestant and Catholic population; St Patrick’s Cathedral. Melbourne Cup. Merchants. Methodists: see Primitive Methodists. Mixed marriages (Catholic-Protestant). Morality. Mortgages.

Moyhu: churches; Common; community causes, contributions to; conscription voting results; hotels; livestock theft by Greta Mob; Police Station; properties and settlement; representatives at opening of railway line; selector freehold title achievement rate. Moyhu Ladies’ Land League. Moyhu Racing Club. Moyhu Stock Protection League.

Myrrhee Run. National Reform League. Nicholson Land Act (1860). North East Victoria map. North Eastern Stock Protection League. O’Brien’s Hotel (Victoria Hotel), Greta. Occupations of selectors. Outlaws. Ovens River mining population.

Oxley (town). Oxley Pound. Oxley Road Board. Oxley Shire: commitment to war effort; Protestant and Catholic population; settlement. Oxley Shire Council: councillors; poundage fees; Union Bank rates arrears.

Pastoral licences. Pastoral properties: see Selection of land; Squatting runs. Pasture fees for grazing on Commons. Peacocking. Petition to save Ned Kelly’s life. Pig transportation anecdote. Ploughing matches. Police Commission: see Royal Commission into the Police Force (1881). Police districts. Police informers. Police relations with criminal community. Police stations. Policemen. Population. Pounds: see Impounding of grazing animals. Poverty and hardship: see under Selectors. Primitive Methodists. Prison sentences, criminals’ attitude to. Property investment: see Land speculation. Prostitution. Protestant community. Racehorses. Racial and religious tolerance. Rack rents. Railway Tavern, Glenrowan. Railways. Religious cooperation. Religious enclaves. Religious indifference. Religion press. Republic, planned establishment of by Ned Kelly (alleged). Reserves (land). Respectability. Roads, Melbourne to Sydney. Rose, Thistle and Shamrock Hotel, Moyhu. Royal Commission into the Police Force (1881). Royal Irish Constabulary. Russian Czar’s horse stud. Rutherglen. Sabbath-breaking. Salvation Army. ‘Saxon yoke’ rhetoric. School picnics. School teachers. Schools. Selection of land. Selectors. Selector-squatter relations. Settlement. Shanty culture. Shanty pubs (sly grog shanties). Shearers and shearing. Sheep, number of. Shepparton district farming. Shopkeeping: see Commerce. Social banditry. Social bonds: see Kinship ties. Springs B Station. Squatters. Squatting Runs. St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne, donations for. Stations: see Squatting Runs. Stock. Stock Protection Leagues. Stock routes. Stock theft. Storekeepers: see Merchants. Stringybark Creek fight. Table Top Run. Tasmanian convicts. Tatong Run. Temperance. Tithes, opposition to. Tobacco growing. Tom Groggin Station. Train wreck plan. Union Bank. United Irish League in Australia. Victoria (colony). Victoria Association. Victorian Humane Society. Victorian Native Ladies’ Land League. Victorian Police Force.

Wangaratta: commercial centre; larrikins; railway line opening. Wangaratta Hibernian Society.

War service. Wheat crops. Whiteboys (Irish agrarian secret society). Whitfield Station. Winton. Winton Common. Winton School. Womenfolk. Woodstock. World War One.