I’m in Australia with a gang of outlaws

The True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey is actually a novel, based on true events which took place in Australia in the nineteenth century. The author is Australian and the book assumes more knowledge of what happens at the end of the story than I had so I had to read up a bit on the events. My research showed that the story keeps close to the actual history.

The narrator of the story is Ned Kelly and this is his story told in a series of journal entries and in a colloquial style, using dialect words. I didn’t have any trouble with the style once I got used to it and I usually enjoy books written as diaries. I liked the fact that each section dealt with one major event in Kelly’s life and that the author also included “extracts” from newspapers and other documents to fill in the blanks.

Kelly starts his story with his poor childhood in rural Australia and how he becomes involved in a life of crime. He speaks of the injustices of the system which keep people in poverty and the corruption of the local officials and police officers. He shows how events draw him further into a life of crime and eventually to the creation of his gang and a final stand-off with the police.

The Australia that the author writes about in this novel is one where people fail to thrive. The corruption and the country both reinforce poverty and there seems little hope for many who then roam the land in groups of outlaws preying, usually, on their own people. There is no room for innocence ,and kindness or compassion are weaknesses which will kill you. Violence is prevalent and women especially suffer.

Kelly is presented as a man who is drawn into this world seemingly by accident but who can’t escape it, knowing that the end result is probably death. He has his own moral code but is continually drawn into conflict by the actions of others. How far this reflects the truth of the historical Kelly I have no idea but it makes for a sympathetic character, especially when you realise that the journal is written for his daughter who he will never meet.

I really enjoyed this book. It revealed to me things about the history of Australia of which I was unaware but it is also a good story. It’s not a book I am going to keep but I will pass it on to Oxfam to find a new home. I will also seek out some histories of Australia and read about the events of the time.