FEDERATION PEOPLESCAPE PROJECT 2001 - EDWARD 'NED' KELLY #2
Another shot taken in the Old Melbourne Gaol with my Ned Kelly standee made for the Federation Peoplescape project in 2001.
(The picture was probably taken by a publicist. )
The original suits of makeshift Kelly Gang armour encased to either side of me have recently had their components shuffled and reidentified but the harness on the left was then traditionally regarded as belonging to Ned Kelly himself.
For more information see the master photo of this set:
www.flickr.com/photos/83287853@N00/3392304338/
Fellow Flickerite Alan Jordan (check out his beaut Photostream here: www.flickr.com/photos/alan-jordan/) has inspired me to include some more detail about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's mention of Ned Kelly's armour. I've lifted it out of the Comments for inclusion in this description.
"It was left to Ned Kelly to show the world the need for body armour."
-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Conan Doyle was certain that the Germans were preparing for war in the early years of the 20th Century, not as a result of any 'spiritualist' warnings I hasten to add (sadly, the man behind the Great Detective swallowed that guff and other absurdities probably inspired by his grief for lost loved ones) but because he'd heard rumblings from the German contingent at an international automobile event in 1911. He worked out that airplanes and submarines would be a major factor in the coming war and tried to warn the British government about the threat. They pretty much ignored him, though ironically the Germans did later use his warnings as propaganda, taunting their enemies that the idea of a submarine blockade had come to them after they'd heard Doyle's warnings. (He also supported the idea of a cross channel tunnel as one possible way of getting around submarine blockades...)
Doyle went on to use his popularity as an author to quite good effect during World War 1. After several British cruisers were sunk with tremendous loss of life in the early stages of the conflict he successfully campaigned for the War Office to introduce the forerunners of inflatable rubber life preservers for sailors. These later evolved into life jackets. Imagine how many lives that one idea has saved since then. Later, he mounted another campaign about carrying inflatable lifeboats aboard military vessels.
Doyle's own Boer War military medical experience and observations during the Great War plus his own enthusiasm about medieval knights in armour (he wrote some ripping yarns set in the Middle Ages, in addition to his better known Sherlock Holmes novels) led him to correctly deduce that soldiers on the modern battlefield were most vulnerable to shrapnel created by shell bursts and that body armour, especially metal helmets, would save lives. He also, very sensibly, thought that it was useless for unprotected troops to advance in the face of heavy machine gun fire. As you'd expect, he was also an advocate of the use of armoured fighting vehicles, which is to say, tanks...(You're welcome!) He was one of many who recommended that British tommies adopt protective kit, including helmets and bullet resistant vests. Again, something that has had a huge effect upon 20th and 21st century warfare.
"The head should be protected by a helmet such as the French have now evolved. The heart could be covered by a curved plate of highly tempered steel."
-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (letter to The Times)
Ned, incidentally, didn't die directly as a result of being shot in the legs at Glenrowan, though he was captured, tried and hanged. On the day at least, his armour did indeed save his life, as the was hit multiple times by what would almost certainly have been otherwise fatal shots. Many accounts have it that he breached the siege but returned to try and rescue his mates, which was when he was ultimately taken.
Doyle was keen on saving lives, knew very well the value of iconography and symbolism (as seemingly, and demonstrably given the establishment of the Kelly saga in Australia), and used it to further his own cause. It would not be the first or last time that the Kelly saga was used thus.
(Thanks for inspiring me to revisit this Alan, it reminded me that I really ought to aquire a copy of Doyle's correspondence related to ths matter, which has become available since the originals were rediscovered recently. )
FEDERATION PEOPLESCAPE PROJECT 2001 - EDWARD 'NED' KELLY #2
Another shot taken in the Old Melbourne Gaol with my Ned Kelly standee made for the Federation Peoplescape project in 2001.
(The picture was probably taken by a publicist. )
The original suits of makeshift Kelly Gang armour encased to either side of me have recently had their components shuffled and reidentified but the harness on the left was then traditionally regarded as belonging to Ned Kelly himself.
For more information see the master photo of this set:
www.flickr.com/photos/83287853@N00/3392304338/
Fellow Flickerite Alan Jordan (check out his beaut Photostream here: www.flickr.com/photos/alan-jordan/) has inspired me to include some more detail about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's mention of Ned Kelly's armour. I've lifted it out of the Comments for inclusion in this description.
"It was left to Ned Kelly to show the world the need for body armour."
-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Conan Doyle was certain that the Germans were preparing for war in the early years of the 20th Century, not as a result of any 'spiritualist' warnings I hasten to add (sadly, the man behind the Great Detective swallowed that guff and other absurdities probably inspired by his grief for lost loved ones) but because he'd heard rumblings from the German contingent at an international automobile event in 1911. He worked out that airplanes and submarines would be a major factor in the coming war and tried to warn the British government about the threat. They pretty much ignored him, though ironically the Germans did later use his warnings as propaganda, taunting their enemies that the idea of a submarine blockade had come to them after they'd heard Doyle's warnings. (He also supported the idea of a cross channel tunnel as one possible way of getting around submarine blockades...)
Doyle went on to use his popularity as an author to quite good effect during World War 1. After several British cruisers were sunk with tremendous loss of life in the early stages of the conflict he successfully campaigned for the War Office to introduce the forerunners of inflatable rubber life preservers for sailors. These later evolved into life jackets. Imagine how many lives that one idea has saved since then. Later, he mounted another campaign about carrying inflatable lifeboats aboard military vessels.
Doyle's own Boer War military medical experience and observations during the Great War plus his own enthusiasm about medieval knights in armour (he wrote some ripping yarns set in the Middle Ages, in addition to his better known Sherlock Holmes novels) led him to correctly deduce that soldiers on the modern battlefield were most vulnerable to shrapnel created by shell bursts and that body armour, especially metal helmets, would save lives. He also, very sensibly, thought that it was useless for unprotected troops to advance in the face of heavy machine gun fire. As you'd expect, he was also an advocate of the use of armoured fighting vehicles, which is to say, tanks...(You're welcome!) He was one of many who recommended that British tommies adopt protective kit, including helmets and bullet resistant vests. Again, something that has had a huge effect upon 20th and 21st century warfare.
"The head should be protected by a helmet such as the French have now evolved. The heart could be covered by a curved plate of highly tempered steel."
-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (letter to The Times)
Ned, incidentally, didn't die directly as a result of being shot in the legs at Glenrowan, though he was captured, tried and hanged. On the day at least, his armour did indeed save his life, as the was hit multiple times by what would almost certainly have been otherwise fatal shots. Many accounts have it that he breached the siege but returned to try and rescue his mates, which was when he was ultimately taken.
Doyle was keen on saving lives, knew very well the value of iconography and symbolism (as seemingly, and demonstrably given the establishment of the Kelly saga in Australia), and used it to further his own cause. It would not be the first or last time that the Kelly saga was used thus.
(Thanks for inspiring me to revisit this Alan, it reminded me that I really ought to aquire a copy of Doyle's correspondence related to ths matter, which has become available since the originals were rediscovered recently. )