Ned Kelly Uncovered
Presenter: Tony Robinson
Producers: Alex West and Lucy Mcalaren
Executive Producers: Joe Connor, Ken Connor, Alex West
Writer and Director: Alex West
Join Tony Robinson on an archaeological dig unearthing details of Ned Kelly’s infamous last gun battle in 1880. Ned Kelly Uncovered follows the first ever excavation of the Glenrowan Inn site where the iconic Australian bushranger and his gang holed up for a showdown with police. Nearly 130 years later, can a team of archaeologists and historians reveal new insights into Ned Kelly’s final moments of freedom? With expert commentary from Kelly experts Ian Jones and Alex McDermott, this one-hour documentary follows a seven-week dig led by archaeologist Adam Ford.As the archaeologists unearth a host of artefacts including cartridges and bullets, the team conducts tests with fascinating results. Meanwhile, the historians strip back the myth, piecing together the clues to give a detailed new look at an iconic Australian, literally from the ground up.
The Story Of The Kelly Gang
Producer: National Film & Sound Archive
The Story of the Kelly Gang is considered the first narrative feature film ever made. Filmed outside Melbourne when the Kelly legend was still fresh, it was believed lost for many years. To celebrate over 100 years of cinema in Australia,The National Film & Sound Archive and the BFI have restored parts of the original 1906 film to create an amazing package, which includes two commentaries on the national and worldwide significance of the film, alongside soundtracks and a variety of viewing modes.
Special features includeThe Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), digitally restored remaining fragments of the film; reconstructed study version of the film, providing background and curated context to the restored fragments with optional explanatory commentary; commentaries by leading film historian Ian Christie and NFSA’s Senior Curator of Moving Image, Graham Shirley; piano accompaniment by Mauro Colombis, from the Pordenone Silent Film Festival; a‘Before and After’ reel demonstrating the details of the restoration process; an image gallery; and a book on the film.
The Story Of Ned Kelly
Producer: Picture Pond Media Productions
The Story of Ned Kelly is a vivid and authentic account of the twenty-five-year life that generated Australia’s most enduring legend. The man hidden by the iconic mask is revealed in a exciting journey through the events of Ned Kelly’s life and the country that shaped it. Each phase of the story – told through rare photographs and press drawings – is enriched by an exploration of the sites as they are today. Join Ian Jones at Stringybark Creek, Glenrowan, Beechworth, Woolshed Valley, the Police Caves and many other places that still echo the turbulent Kelly years … The journey of a lifetime.’
Introduced by Ian Jones and narrated by Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell, this DVD, boasting extra features, is a major update to the original VHS edition and is well worth adding to your Kelly Gang video collection.
Besieged - The Ned Kelly Story
Directors: Gregory Miller and Barrie Dowdall
Producers: Barrie Dowdall and Gregory Miller
Narration: Chris Haywood
Featuring: Peter Fenton
Appearing: Ian Jones, Keith McMenomy, Siobhan McHugh, Ellen Hollow, and Roma Crotty
Length: 52 minutes
‘An Australian/Irish International Co-Production, Besieged was filmed in the North-East Region of Victoria, Kelly Country. Australian outlaw Ned Kelly’s life has been the subject of many films including the Tony Richardson film starring Mick Jagger, and more recently the Heath Ledger film also staring Geoffrey Rush. Ned Kelly’s exploits are well known, and they raise the question was he an outlaw, a freedom fighter or a murdering terrorist? This documentary sets out to examine these issues and to tell the historically accurate story of Ned Kelly.’
Bail Up!
Producer: National Film and Sound Archive
‘A selection of fragments and scenes from the only known surviving silent titles of Australia’s bushranger films which, in the silent years of our cinema, were both prolific and popular.
They were a distinctive genre and a significantly part of our cultural heritage. But by 1912, censorship bans, provoked by ideas of law and order and morality, effectively robbed Australian moviegoers of a national screen identity. We were then to be culturally colonised by the Hollywood cowboy.’
Needless to say these cowboys were a poor cousin to our own ‘wild colonial boys’. It is interesting to note that three years after the Government imposed these strict censorship laws on morality they shipped off tens of thousands of young Australians to die overseas in The Great War!
Produced by the National Film and Sound Archive, this video includes scenes from The Story Of The Kelly Gang, both the 1906 and 1910 re-release, Thunderbolt1910, The Kelly Gang1920, Robbery Under Arms1920 and When The Kellys Were Out1923. It is a fascinating insight into the early Australian movie industry and the views of turn of the century society.
