Ned Kelly

This episode will be available to listen to for free on 3rd August 2026. You can listen to it right away by subscribing to Noiser+. Head to www.noiser.com/subscriptions for more information.

Ned Kelly, the leader of the infamous Kelly gang, has been described as Australia's only truly national hero. During a short but intense crime spree at the end of the 1870s, he led a gang of notorious outlaws who rampaged through the Australian bush, robbing banks and stealing horses as they evaded capture for more than two years.

For some, Kelly embodies a certain rugged, masculine Australian spirit - a heroic anti-establishment figure, standing up for poor farmers against the corruptions of the government and powerful landowners. Yet to the Victorian police who hunted him, he was nothing more than a thief and murderer.

So what put Ned Kelly on a collision course with the law? Was he a brave rebel, or a cold-blooded criminal? And how did the Australia he grew up in determine the course of his life – and the legend that formed after his death?

This is a Short History Of Ned Kelly.

A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Professor Graham Seal, an expert on Australian folklore and the author of 'Tell em I Died Game': The Legend of Ned Kelly.

Written by Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Mirianna Pitman-Latham and Matthew Peaty | Assembly edit by Dorry Macaulay | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw | Fact check: Sean Coleman