Rebecca Wilson - Kate Kelly: The true story of Ned Kellys little sister

Rebecca Wilson grew up in Forbes, New South Wales, where Kate Kelly lived in the last years of her life. Rebecca has been hearing local stories about Kate all her life, and she has been researching, painting and writing Kates tragic story for over a decade.

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Cleverly spins an untold story into a very readable yarn.

Professor Graham Seal, cultural historian

For the first time, Kate Kelly is given the attention she deserves, and its quite a story. Rebecca Wilson skilfully evokes the realities of the lives of the Kellys.

Kerry Negara, documentary filmmaker

Inside front cover: Detail from Kate Kelly Portrait with Horses by Rebecca Wilson, 2012, Bathurst Regional Council Collection

Inside back cover: Detail from Fatal Bloodline by Rebecca Wilson, 2012

Artwork photography by John McRae Photography & Studio, Sydney

First published in 2021

Copyright 2021 Rebecca Wilson

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to the Copyright Agency (Australia) under the Act.

Every effort has been made to trace the holders of copyright material. If you have any information concerning copyright material in this book, please contact the publishers at the address below.

Allen & Unwin

83 Alexander Street

Crows Nest NSW 2065

Australia

Phone:(61 2) 8425 0100

Email:

Web:www.allenandunwin.com

ISBN 978 1 76087 967 9

eISBN 978 1 76106 110 3

Cover design: Christabella Designs

Cover images: Kate Kelly photograph, State Library of New South Wales; Charles Douglas Richardson painting, Bayside City Council

Map by John Frith, Flat Earth Mapping

Internal design by Post Pre-press Group

Set by Post Pre-press Group, Brisbane

Dedicated to Dave, my family, friends and everyone who has provided their generous support, good humour and kindness. Thank you!

A Melbourne telegram states that the police are in a quandary about Kate Kelly. She has completely slipped through their fingers.

NORTHERN ARGUS, FRIDAY, 20 JUNE 1879

The main map shows key towns across Kelly country in Victoria where Kate Kelly and the Kelly Gang were active. The inset shows the properties of Cadow, Warroo and Burrawang in New South Wales, where Kate, her friend Hugh McDougall and husband Bricky Foster worked respectively, and the town of Forbes, where Kate lived.

May the angels protect this young heroine bold and her name be recorded in letters of gold.

AUSTRALIAN FOLK SONG LYRIC ABOUT KATE KELLY

Every Australian knows about Ned Kelly, but quietly camouflaged in his shadow is his little sister Kate. Ned and his Kelly Gang are the best-known bushranging outlaws in Australias history. The Kelly story continues to mesmerise and engage writers, musicians, artists and filmmakers. The legend of Ned Kelly looms large in the Australian psyche, and remains a source of controversy one hundred and forty years after Neds execution.

Meanwhile, Kate Kelly, if remembered at all, is known mostly as the fourteen-year-old, attractive younger sister to Ned and Dan who was harassed by Constable Fitzpatrick at the Kelly homestead in April 1878 when he arrived without a warrant to supposedly arrest Dan. But there is so much more to know about Kate.

After researching her life for over a decade, I believe Kate Kelly should be remembered with admiration and compassion. This courageous and talented woman struggled to overcome enormous adversity during her extraordinary, tragic and short life. I have used the tools of creative writing combined with historical research to present the remarkable story of Kates life from her viewpoint.

Kate Kelly was a reluctant celebrity. She had the Kelly X-factor, a charisma and an allure that people could not get enough of. It was unheard of for a young woman who was a semi-educated, first-generation Australian from a poor, criminal family to be relentlessly sought after by the public, or to have a notable media presence. Even if her reputation was mostly negative, the press was talking about her and people were flocking to see her, long after the death of her outlaw brothers.

I first heard of Kate Kelly while growing up in Forbes, a small town in the central west of New South Wales, the place where Kate spent the last fourteen years of her life. When I was a teenager, my uncle told me stories about Kate that had been passed on to him by relatives who had lived near her. These stories suggested a kind woman who wanted to help anyone out if she could.

In 2007, some of my social commentary paintings focused on Australian icons such as Sir Sidney Nolans Ned Kelly, but I did not give Kate Kelly another thought until a conversation I had with someone in 2010 who told me amazing stories about her that Id never heard before. It was never my intention to wade into the controversies of the Kelly legend, but from that moment it was like a rip current pulled me out to sea where I have been swimming for much longer than I imagined.

I started to research Kate the day after that conversation. I soon discovered that it was my relatives who hired Kate when she came to Cadow Station, thirty-five miles outside Forbes, under the alias Ada Hennessey in 1885 to work as a domestic servant. That knowledge made me feel even more connected to Kate and cemented my drive to really understand her and to shine a light on her intriguing story.

Throughout the last ten years I have researched, written and painted Kates life. I have exhibited my paintings and discussed my research across New South Wales, Victoria and in London where I also presented a talk about Kate Kelly at Londons Central Library in 2018.

I have gathered facts and folklore about Kate from far and wide, trying to piece it together and understand what it all means. A major challenge has been the many gaps in information and the huge amount of conflicting information. Many sections of Kates life are undocumented, some records have been destroyed and there are differing accounts of key eventsincluding from Kelly family members themselves.

It has been a treasure hunt that has led me to all kinds of records, newspaper articles, letters, certificates and more. I have visited museums, family history groups and locations of key events in Kates life. I have accessed archival interviews and talked to other researchers as well as medical and police experts. I have read suicide reports, missing persons information, material on perinatal depression and anxiety (PNDA) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and much more, all in an effort to get to know the real Kate, to understand her circumstances and her suffering, and to try to interpret her choices and actions. Through that process I have uncovered new information about Kate and some of the key figures in her life. It has been a pleasure and an obsession to try to catch the essence of Kate Kelly and incorporate everything I have learned about her into this book.