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 Ned
Kelly's armour - Enduring Aussie Icon
When the Kelly gang planned,
made and wore their armour, it was done for pragmatic reasons alone.
It was an attempt at invulnerability, at personal immortality. Despite
its apparent failure to protect the gang members in the physical sense,
it has paradoxically managed to make them immortal in a mythological
sense. It was the armour that transformed as it were, the Kelly gang
members from mortal blood and bone - into legend.
Ned Kelly's armour - (pictured
right)
Photo by State Library of Victoria
Almost immediately after Glenrowan
there was demand that the armour be displayed for the general public.
It instantly captured Australia's imagination and held it. Its rough and
amateurish appearance shows, at a glance, that the wealthy authorities
did not make this instrument of battle. It is presumably this characteristic
that first engages us and makes us curious to learn more. Even at its
newest, the armour was 'old-fashioned' in design and idea. Personal body
armour had been used for centuries, but had long ago been discarded as
obsolete. Therefore at the time it was made, it was a modern day innovation
that had been entirely drawn from the past. Perhaps in this incongruity
it has managed a timeless quality and appeal.
Over the years the armour
has endured as a symbol. Ian Jones in his book (A Short Life) speaks
of the armour as a symbol even at its conception, for he writes, "Farmers
had been denied land; the idle plough was to become a weapon."
Indeed these poetic words no doubt capture the essence of the armour's
initial attraction for colonial Australians. Despite Australia's sometimes
harsh and unyielding countryside, it was a nation successfully established
from battling settlers and 'cocky' farmers. The symbol of the farmer's
tool used as a means of rebellion against the authorities could no doubt
be related to and possibly even applauded.
Yet the Australia of today
is vastly different to the Australia of colonial times, so why then has
the armour's unique appeal endured? In modern times it would be fair to
claim that the vast majority of Australians would instantly recognize
the symbol of the armour. However it would also be fair to claim that
the majority of those that do, would perhaps not know that it was made
from plough mouldboards. They most likely would also be unfamiliar with
the circumstances that lead to its conception. Therefore the reason for
its enduring fascination must surely lie elsewhere. It is not uncommon
to hear an Australian say that Ned must surely have been "a little
bit mad" to don such armour and go in fighting against the odds,
but instead of denouncing him for it, this concept seems to inspire awe.
In fact Ned Kelly is widely considered by modern society as the archetypical
Australian hero, i.e. the anti-hero. Ned perceived injustice against his
family and fought it. He was the proverbial underdog who would not lie
down. It is conceivably this that the armour symbolizes - the fighting
spirit that is so admired in Australians of all generations.
 The
Kelly armour has become internationally recognized due in large degree
to Sidney Nolan's famous Kelly series of paintings. He paints a faceless
man, a man often part of the horse he rides. The blackened helmet in particular
claims attention. For many Australians it is not simply recognition of
a familiar symbol, but there is an additional sense of patriotic pride.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Kelly armour, in particular
the one of Nolan's paintings, is one of the strongest symbols we have
as a nation. The opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics demonstrated
this.
Ned Kelly and Horse-
(pictured above)
Sir Sidney Nolan, 1946 - Nolan Gallery
To individual Australians
regardless of whether loved or loathed, the Kelly armour represents
many and varied things. Over time the helmet has managed to symbolize
the legendary name of Ned Kelly - but it is a name without a face. The
armour has endured as an iconic Australian symbol, in much the same
way that the man inside the armour, has become legend.
Ned was an Australian "native"
who conceivably typified what Australians admire most in one of their
own. Ned wore the armour while making a courageous 'last stand'. The armour
is possibly the best insight we have into Ned Kelly's character - implacable
and strong, carefully deliberate, yet impulsive, defiant and fearless.
He wore it walking into a battle that he knew he could not win, and in
doing so inspired the tributary phrase 'as game as Ned Kelly'. Thus to
many Australian's the armour seemingly represents rebelliousness and bravery.
It also perhaps manages to encapsulate that very Australian tendency of
fighting for a cause even when it is already lost - just in case.
First
published March 6th, 2002
For historical
information on the Kelly armour go to ARMOUR
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