Bushranger Ned Kelly's remains found after search by investigators

couriermail.com.au ^ | 09-01-11 | unknown

[mware]

All of them are still performing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESebV4H5JuM

[mware]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESebV4H5JuM

[okie01]

That story, if fleshed out, would make a darned good read.

And a helluva movie. If it hasn't already been made in Oz.

[mware]

They did a damn good job with the story of Breaker Morant.

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks wildbill. Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[Red_Devil 232]

Wow! It is amazing she still looked great 30 years later.

Interesting Info about the song "Waltzing Matilda" from Wiki

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Down came a jumbuck to drink at that billabong,
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee,
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred,
Down came the troopers, one, two, three,
"Where's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?"
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
"Where's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?",
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Up jumped the swagman and sprang into the billabong,
"You'll never take me alive", said he,
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me."

[edit] Plot and details

The song narrates the story of an itinerant worker making a crude cup of tea at a bush camp and capturing a sheep to eat. When the sheep's ostensible owner arrives with three policemen to arrest the worker, he drowns himself in a small lake and goes on to haunt the site. The lyrics contain many distinctively Australian English words, some now rarely used outside this song. These include:

waltzing 

derived from the German term auf der Walz, which means to travel while working as a craftsman and learn new techniques from other masters before returning home after three years and one day, a custom which is still in use today among carpenters.^[13]

Matilda 

a romantic term for a swagman's bundle. See below, "Waltzing Matilda."

Waltzing Matilda 

from the above terms, "to waltz Matilda" is to travel with a swag, that is, with all one's belongings on one's back wrapped in a blanket or cloth. The exact origins of the term "Matilda" are disputed; one fanciful derivation states that when swagmen met each other at their gatherings, there were rarely women to dance with. Nonetheless, they enjoyed a dance, and so they danced with their swags, which was given a woman's name. However, this appears to be influenced by the word "waltz", hence the introduction of dancing. It seems more likely that, as a swagman's only companion, the swag came to be personified as a woman.

Another explanation is that the term also derives from German immigrants. German soldiers commonly referred to their greatcoats as "Matilda", supposedly because the coat kept them as warm as a woman would. Early German immigrants who "went on the waltz" would wrap their belongings in their coat, and took to calling it by the same name their soldiers had used.

swagman 

a man who travelled the country looking for work. The swagman's "swag" was a bed roll that bundled his belongings.

billabong 

an oxbow lake (a cut-off river bend) found alongside a meandering river.

coolibah tree 

a kind of eucalyptus tree which grows near billabongs.

jumbuck 

a large, difficult-to-shear sheep, not a tame sheep. Implies that the sheep was not 'owned' by the squatter or regularly shorn, thus not able to be stolen by the swagman^{[citation needed]}.

billy 

a can for boiling water in, usually 2–3 pints.

Tucker bag 

a bag for carrying food ("tucker").

troopers 

policemen.

squatter 

Australian squatters started as early farmers who raised livestock on land which they did not legally have the right to use; in many cases they later gained legal use of the land even though they did not have full possession, and became wealthy thanks to these large land holdings. The squatter's claim to the land may be as uncertain as the swagman's claim to the jumbuck.

[mware]

It ought to be their national anthem. I love it.

[mware]

Wow! It is amazing she still looked great 30 years later.

Athol not so much.

[okie01]

They did a damn good job with the story of Breaker Morant.

Breaker Morant was a fine film. Indeed, I don't believe I've ever been disappointed by an Aussie film.

The best I've seen, perhaps, for the storyline and the dramatic content was "The Highest Honor". Like "Breaker Morant", it's a true story and it's well worth viewing.

The Highest Honor

[Forward the Light Brigade]

I would like to see Ned Kelly vs. Wyatt Earp on an episode of Deadliest Warrior. That would be an interesting show.

[naturalman1975]

And a helluva movie. If it hasn't already been made in Oz.

The 'Story of the Kelly Gang' (1906) is now generally regarded as the first 'feature-length film' - 60 minutes long at a time when most films were still less than 5 minutes. 21 minutes of it still survive.

Parts of it can be seen at Youtube.

Part 1

Part 2

Since then a number of film versions have been made. The two best known are the 1970 'Ned Kelly' staring Mick Jagger (yes, that Mick Jagger in one of the worst examples of hiring somebody just because you want a big name, I've ever seen) and the 2003 'Ned Kelly' which had a decent budget and starred Heath Ledger, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, and Naomi Watts. It's more of a 'legendary' retelling than strictly factual, but isn't a bad film at all.

[naturalman1975]

It ought to be their national anthem. I love it.

The tune is marvellous, but the words don't really work for a National Anthem, which is why I prefer.

God Bless Australia at Youtube.

Much better words for an anthem, to the same tune.

Here in this God-given land of ours Australia,
This proud possession, our own piece of earth,
That was built by our fathers who pioneered our heritage,
Here In Australia, the land of our birth.

God bless Australia, our land Australia,
Home of the ANZACs, the strong and the free,
It’s our homeland, our own land, to cherish for eternity,
God bless Australia, the land of the free.

Here In Australia we treasure love and liberty,
Our way of life, all for one, one for all,
We’re a peace-loving race, but should danger ever threaten us,
Let the world know we will answer the call.

God bless Australia, our land Australia,
Home of the ANZACs, the strong and the free,
It’s our homeland, our own land, to cherish for eternity,
God bless Australia, the land of the free.

[wintertime]

The Wikipedia account of this man and his family is very interesting. I wonder how the grandchildren and great grandchildren turned out.

[tlb]

>>> The Man

Mick Jagger as the man, 1970

[Banjoguy]

Thank you for the info. Amazon has a good selection of writings about Ned Kelly.

[Beowulf9]

From your Wikipedia entry, which btw was fascinating:

“In 1869, the 14-year-old Ned Kelly was arrested for assaulting a Chinese pig farmer named Ah Fook.

Ah Fook claimed that he had been robbed by Ned, who stated that Ah Fook had a row with his sister Annie. Kelly spent ten days in custody before the charges were dismissed. From then on the police regarded him as a “juvenile bushranger”.”

Are they kidding? He robbed a Chinese pig farmer named AH FOOK!?

I’m wondering if that is what the pig farmer said when he was robbed;)

[hoagy62]

While "Waltzing Matilda may be the unofficial anthem of Australia, it is the call signal for Radio Australia's shortwave service. The tune from the chorus is repeated several times in the few minutes before a frequency becomes active to help someone tuning their receiver (not really necessary nowadays with today's digital tuners).

As for the REAL Australian National Anthem, here is a great version from the 2000 Sydney Olympics...

Advance Australia Fair (Anthem begins at 2:30)

[Boogieman]

“maybe it was way too heavy”

Not too heavy, too short. They shot him in the legs if I remember correctly.

[Boogieman]

Similar to that usage of Waltzing Matilda, some of the mysterious “Numbers Stations” have their own songs they play before broadcasts, the “Lincolnshire Poacher” being the most famous.

[Beowulf9]

Thank you for this post, it is fabulous. My father used to sing this song all the time and I like it, but heck, never got it. Now I do!

What research!