Goodbye Brigitte Bardot – rebellious and sensual, yet vulnerable

Brigitte Bardot defined the modern woman and defied social norms, writes BEN McCANN.

Brigitte Bardot’s death, at the age of 91, brings to a close one of the most extraordinary careers in post-war French cultural life.

Best known as an actress, she was also a singer, a fashion icon, an animal rights activist and a symbol of France’s sexual liberation.

Famous enough to be known by her initials, BB symbolised a certain vision of French femininity – rebellious and sensual, yet vulnerable.

Her impact on beauty standards and French national identity was profound. At her peak, she rivalled Marilyn Monroe in global fame and recognition. Simone de Beauvoir, France’s leading feminist writer, famously wrote in 1959 that Bardot “appears as a force of nature, dangerous so long as she remains untamed”.

Brigitte Bardot in 1950.Photo: Herbert Dorfman / Getty Images

A star is born

Bardot was born in 1934 to a well-off Parisian family. Raised in a strict Catholic household, she studied ballet at the Conservatoire de Paris with hopes of becoming a professional dancer.

Her striking looks led her to modelling. By 14, she was appearing in Elle magazine, catching the eye of director Roger Vadim, whom she married in 1952.

She began acting in the early 1950s and her appearance as Juliette in Vadim’s And God Created Woman (Et Dieu… créa la femme, 1956) put her on the map.

Bardot was instantly catapulted to international stardom. Vadim presented his wife as the ultimate expression of youthful, erotic freedom that both shocked and captivated French audiences.

Watching this relatively tame film today, it’s difficult to imagine just how taboo-breaking Bardot’s performance was. But in sleepy Catholic, conservative 1950s France, it set new norms for on-screen sexuality.

The film became a global phenomenon. Critics loved it, but censors and religious groups grew nervous.

A ’60s icon

Bardot’s lack of formal training as an actress paradoxically became part of her appeal: she adopted a spontaneous acting approach, as much physical as verbal.

She was stunning in Contempt (Le Mépris, 1963), Jean-Luc Godard’s masterpiece about a crumbling marriage. Godard used her beauty and fame both as spectacle and critique. The film’s most famous sequence was a 31-minute conversation between Bardot and her co-star Michel Piccoli. Bardot was never better.

In Henri-Georges Clouzot’s intense courtroom drama The Truth (La Vérité, 1960), she showcased her dramatic range playing a young woman on trial for the murder of her lover.

In 1965, she co-starred with Jeanne Moreau in Louis Malle’s Long Live Maria (Viva Maria), a rare female buddy film that blended comedy and political satire. Bardot’s anarchic energy remains a dazzling feat.

A Very Private Affair (Vie privée, 1962) saw her portray a woman consumed by fame and chased by the media. The plotline was eerily predictive of Bardot’s own future.

She popularised fashion trends like the choucroute hairstyles and ballet flats. The Bardot neckline – off-the-shoulder tops and dresses – was named after her. She even wore pink gingham at her 1959 wedding.

Allure and provocation

Bardot’s star appeal lay in her contradictions. She appeared simultaneously natural and provocative, spontaneous and calculated. Her dishevelled glamour and effortless sexuality helped construct the archetype of the modern “sex kitten”.

She famously said “it is better to be unfaithful than to be faithful without wanting to be”.

Throwing off the shackles of bourgeois morality, Bardot epitomised a commitment to emotional and sexual freedom. Her turbulent love life was a case in point. She was married four times, with dozens of stormy relationships and extra-marital affairs along the way.

Forever immortalised as a free-spirited ingénue, Bardot was a muse for filmmakers, artists and musicians, from Andy Warhol to Serge Gainsbourg. Later on, Kate Moss, Amy Winehouse and Elle Fanning mentioned Bardot as an inspiration. 

Famously, Bardot never succumbed to cosmetic surgery. As she once noted:

Women should embrace ageing because, at the end of the day, it’s much more beautiful to have a grandmother with white hair who looks like an elderly lady than to have a grandmother who’s bleached, dyed, and […] who looks much older but also really unhappy.

Life after the movies

Bardot retired from acting in 1973, aged only 39, citing disillusionment with fame. “It suffocated and destroyed me”, she said, about the film industry.

She shifted her attention to animal rights, founding the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in 1986. She became an uncompromising, vocal activist, campaigning against animal cruelty, fur farming, whaling and bullfighting.

But Bardot courted controversy from the mid-1990s for her far right political views, remarks about Islam and immigration and repeated convictions for inciting racial hatred. She publicly defended disgraced actor Gérard Depardieu and pushed back on the #MeToo movement in France.

Photo courtesy Vanity Fair

Such statements damaged her reputation, especially outside France, and created a troubling image: the once-liberating sex symbol now associated with nationalist conservatism.

While she never identified as a feminist, her unapologetic autonomy, early retirement and outspoken views led some to re-evaluate her as a figure of proto-feminist rebellion.

France gradually began to turn against Bardot, bothered by her outspoken views. But some applauded her couldn’t-care-less attitude and unwillingness to play by the rules.

Ultimately, by rejecting fame on her own terms, she parlayed her ’50s free-spiritedness into a bold stand against conformity and societal norms.

Late in life, she told Danièle Thompson, the writer-director of the 2023 mini-series about her career, “I don’t understand why the whole world is still talking about me”.

The answer is simple – Bardot continues to fascinate us, flaws and all.

Ben McCann, Associate Professor of French Studies, University of Adelaide, Republished from The Conversation.

Published in Canberra City News, December 29, 2025

Jacques-Émile Blanche - Igor Stravinsky. 1915, oil on canvas. Gift of Igor Stravinsky, 1929

Jacques-Emile Blanche - Igor Stravinsky 1915

 

Technics SL-1200 GME, LTD, GR2

Technics SL-1200 GME

Technics SL-1200 LTD

Technics SL-1200 GR2

Willie Nelson keeps living the life he loves at 92. ‘I’m not through with it yet’

AP PHOTO Musician Willie Nelson performing ahead of event for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at a rally in Houston, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024.

Willie Nelson’s 90th birthday celebration at the Hollywood Bowl could have been mistaken for a retirement party.

But two years later at 92, he’s working as much as ever. Not that retirement would look much different. The life he loves is making music with his friends, even after outliving so many dear ones.

Nelson will be on the road again with Bob Dylan when the Outlaw Music Festival resumes for the second leg of its 10th year starting on June 20 in Clarkston, Michigan.

Asked if he’d ever like his life to get the feature film treatment that Dylan did last year with “A Complete Unknown, ” Nelson said, “I’ve heard some talk about it. But I’m not through with it yet.”

Nelson spoke to The Associated Press in a phone interview from Hawaii’s Oahu.

“Bob’s a good friend,” Nelson said. “And I’ll be glad to let him headline.”

The tour is one part of a loaded year. It’ll lead right up to the 40th anniversary of Farm Aid in September. This spring, Nelson released his 77th studio album. And he’s added a new THC tonic, Willie’s Remedy, to his wide world of weed products.

An all-Crowell album

Nelson has always loved singing the songs of his friends as much as if not more than the ones he writes himself. In 1979, he released “Willie Nelson Sings Kristofferson,” a full album of the work of his friend Kris Kristofferson, who died last year.

He has similar love for the songs of his friend Rodney Crowell. Nelson has long performed Crowell’s “Til I Gain Control Again,” which he called “one of the best country songs that I think I’ve ever heard.” Now he’s released a whole album of Crowell tunes, “Oh What a Beautiful World.”

“So far he hasn’t written one that I don’t like,” Nelson said.

The album comes on the 50th anniversary of “Red Headed Stranger,” the album that many consider Nelson’s masterpiece. A breakthrough for him at age 42, it took him from respected journeyman to beloved superstar.

Nelson said he’s already begun work on album number 78, but declines to share its direction.

Willie’s Family band, old and new, still with no set list

As Nelson returns to the road, the only surviving member of the classic lineup of his Family band is Mickey Raphael, 73, whose harmonica has duetted for decades with the Willie warble.

Bassist Bee Spears died in 2011. Guitarist and backup singer Jody Payne died in 2013. Drummer Paul English died in 2020. And Nelson’s sister Bobbie Nelson, his only sibling and his piano player, died in 2022.

But the band he takes on the road now is just as familial in its own way. It often includes his sons Lukas and Micah. English’s brother Billy plays the drums. The son of Payne and singer Sammi Smith, Waylon Payne, plays guitar.

They collectively keep up with Nelson’s wants and whims on stage. One thing the live show never includes is a set list. He refuses to use them. Band members — and sound guys, and lighting guys — have to stay on their toes and be ready for anything.

“I’d rather play it off the top of my head, because I can read the crowd pretty good,” Nelson said. “They jump in there.”

The list-less set lately has included classics like “Whiskey River” (always the opener, no guessing to be done there,) and “Bloody Mary Morning” along with newer adoptees like Tom Waits’ “Last Leaf,” a song that perfectly expresses Nelson’s survivor status.

“I’m the last leaf on the tree,” Nelson sings in the song that leads his 2024 album of the same name. “The autumn took the rest, but it won’t take me.”

“My son Micah found that for me,” Nelson said. “I really love the song, and the audience likes it, it’s one of the real good ones.”

He’s also been performing songs written by Micah, who records and performs as Particle Boy.

One favorite, “Everything Is B- – – – – -t,” seems to stand in contrast to the gospel standards like “I’ll Fly Away” and “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” that he often plays a few minutes later. Willie disagrees.

“It’s all gospel,” he says with a laugh.

Farm Aid turns 40

September will bring the 40th anniversary addition of Farm Aid, the annual festival to support family farmers, which Nelson founded with Neil Young and John Mellencamp, He performs there annually. It was inspired by one-off charity concerts like “Live Aid,” but became an annual institution, rotating each year to a different farm-adjacent city. It’s in Minneapolis this year.

Asked his favorite, he said, “They’ve all been good, for different reasons. The first one was great, the last one was great.”

Published at Times Republican, December 15, 2025

Still dancing: celebrations as Dick Van Dyke turns 100

Dick Van Dyke says turning 100 is no reason to stop living, and he’ll just keep on going. (AP PHOTO)

By Hannah Roberts in Los Angeles

Beloved Hollywood star Dick Van Dyke is celebrating his 100th birthday and says he plans to exceed the milestone, explaining: “One hundred years is not enough.”

The veteran actor, known for his appearances in Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, was born on December 13 1925 in West Plains, Missouri, and became interested in show business at an early age after watching Laurel and Hardy movies at his local cinema.

His popularity as a radio announcer led to him being signed by CBS and following some long-forgotten TV shows, he cemented himself as a household name following his performance in the musical Bye Bye Birdie, which led to him winning a Tony Award in 1961.

Reflecting on his career, Van Dyke told US news show Good Morning America (GMA): “I played old men a lot, and I always played them as angry and cantankerous but it’s not really that way.

“I don’t know any other 100-year-olds, but I can speak for myself.”

The actor, who is known for playing Mary Poppins character Bert – the all-singing, all-dancing Cockney chimney sweep, said he still tries to dance.

“I’ve got one game leg from, I don’t know what … I still try to dance”, he told GMA.

Celebrations are taking place across the US for Van Dyke’s birthday, including a flash mob located in Malibu, where he lives.

He is also the subject of a new documentary and has released a book titled 100 Rules For Living To 100: An Optimist’s Guide To A Happy Life.

“The funny thing is, it’s not enough. One hundred years is not enough. You want to live more, which I plan to”, Van Dyke said.

Van Dyke previously said his wife, make-up artist Arlene Silver, who is 46 years his junior, has helped to keep him young.

Silver, who married Van Dyke in a Malibu chapel in 2012, told GMA: “It’s like a privilege and an honour to take care of him and make him happy.”

Van Dyke has four children – Barry, Carrie, Christian and Stacy – with his first wife, Margie Willett, who he divorced in 1984 after 36 years of marriage.

He then had a 30-year partnership with Michelle Triola Marvin, who died in October 2009 at the age of 76.

Between 1961-66, the actor starred in the sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show, which made him a TV star and also found success with the hit TV series Diagnosis: Murder, which ran from 1993 to 2001 and spawned a couple of TV films.

He was inducted into the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in 1993, and then the Television Hall Of Fame in 1995.

In 2017, he received the Britannia Award for Excellence in Television and apologised to the members of Bafta “for inflicting on them the most atrocious Cockney accent in the history of cinema” with his portrayal of Bert in Mary Poppins.

First published in Canberra City News, via AAP, December 14, 2025

Canberra favourite Toni takes her final curtain

CATS patron Toni Lamond, left, with awards founder Coralie Wood.

BILL STEPHENS remembers musical theatre star Toni Lamond, who died in Sydney on November 29. She was 93.

Toni Lamond’s career, spanning eight decades, left an indelible mark on Australian stages, television and cinema. She also had a particularly strong connection with Canberra audiences.

The daughter of vaudevillians Joe Lawman, a baggy-pants comedian, and Stella Lamond, a singer and later accomplished character actress (notably as Molly Wilson in Bellbird), Toni began performing at age 10, singing on radio and touring with her parents on the Tivoli circuit.

From these roots, she built a versatile career encompassing radio, television, cabaret and musical theatre in Australia, Britain and the US.

In 1954, Lamond married fellow performer Frank Sheldon, and the duo performed in nightclubs and variety shows. Notably, they appeared in September 1956 as a specialty act in the first official commercial television broadcast in Australia.

Lamond’s breakthrough in musical theatre came in 1957 when she was cast as Babe Williams opposite Bill Newman in JCW’s original production of The Pajama Game. At the time, it was unprecedented for an Australian performer to lead in a local production of a Broadway musical.

Her performance paved the way for Australians such as Jill Perryman (Funny Girl, 1966) and Nancye Hayes (Sweet Charity, 1967) to assume leading roles rather than understudying imported stars.

Lamond’s effervescent renditions of songs such as There Once Was a Man and I’m Not at All in Love, which I heard at Sydney’s Empire Theatre, remain vivid memories and later influenced my own direction of the show. 

Following The Pajama Game, Lamond’s television career flourished. In 1961, she became the first woman in the world to host her own television variety show, Toni Lamond’s In Melbourne Tonight.

Her career faced a personal tragedy in 1966 when Frank Sheldon took his own life after their separation. Lamond coped by immersing herself in work, relocating to Sydney with their son, Tony Sheldon, who would also become a Broadway star.

Lamond never stopped working, and her career is documented in two autobiographies, The First Half (1990) and Still a Gypsy (2007), with many performances available online. Since her passing, social media has revealed more personal recollections highlighting the depth of affection for her.

In 1985 I interviewed Lamond for the National Library of Australia’s Oral History Project and again in 2012.

Toni Lamond performs Woman on the Move at the School of Arts Cafe in 1995. Photo: Robert Roach

I developed a strong friendship with her during her cabaret performances at the School of Arts Café in Queanbeyan.

Her autobiographical cabaret A Life in Showbusiness premiered there in 1994, with Tony McGill as musical director and accompanist. Performances were recorded by Laura and Silvia Tchilinguirian for Canberra Stereo Public Radio (later Artsound FM 92.7) and later released as part of Larrikin Records’ Legends of Australian Showbiz series.

In April 1995, Lamond returned with Woman on the Move (musical director: Tony Magee) and in 1998 she performed Still a Gypsy with American pianist Ron Creager, who also accompanied her in 1999 for An Evening with Toni Lamond, celebrating her CD launch, Toni Lamond at the School of Arts Café.

Beyond the café, Lamond appeared at The Street Theatre in 1999 in a world premiere musical Careful He Might Hear You, based on Sumner Locke Elliott’s novel.

She played Lila Barnes, delivering a moving rendition of A Winter Kind of Summer. She reprised this song at the 2001 New York Cabaret Convention, performing alongside Creager as special guests, amid a city still reeling from 9/11.

I was there and noted in my diary: “A beautifully judged performance… expressed the feelings of a woman who had lost a child. In the current climate of melancholy and uncertainty, the lyrics took on a subtle new resonance.”

In 2002, Lamond became a patron of the annual CAT Awards in Canberra, which honour achievements in non-professional theatre. She regularly attended award presentations, offering encouragement and inspiration to awardees and audiences alike.

Toni Lamond is survived by her son Tony Sheldon and his life partner Tony Taylor. Her funeral will be held on December 17 at the South Chapel, Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park, Matraville, and will be live-streamed.

First published at Canberra City News, December 13, 2025

Murdering horse thief or victim of police persecution?

Sidney Nolan’s 1946 painting Kelly and Horse (enamel on composition board), part of the Nolan Collection,
Canberra Museum and Gallery

“Kelly himself is often quoted as saying,’Such is life’, just before he was hanged but this is debatable.” Historians ROSS FITZGERALD & DICK WHITAKER reflect on the endless legend that was Ned Kelly. 

Ned Kelly’s celebrated Last Stand at Glenrowan in Victoria, occurred on June 28 1880.

Australia’s most famous bushranger was sentenced to death on October 29 1880, ending a long saga of lawlessness and murder that held much of Australia spellbound during the previous two years.

Opinion was and still is sharply split about Kelly and his gang. To many Australians he was a murdering horse thief but to others he was/is seen as a victim of police persecution (amid issues of conflict generated by land ownership and selection.

Those poorer selectors such as the Kellys were traditionally left to struggle with inferior land, while the wealthier often had access to superior blocks.

In addition, there were religious undertones, with the Kelly family – strong Catholics – believing that there was prejudice against them stemming from the “Protestant ascendancy” prevalent in Australia at the time.

A “Petition for Reprieve” of Ned’s death penalty was circulated before his execution and attracted some 30,000 signatures. It was organised by William Gaunson (Kelly’s defence attorney) and Gaunson’s brother David.

It stated: “Your humble Petitioners, having carefully considered the circumstances of the case respectfully pray that the life of the condemned man Edward Kelly may be spared”.

Indicating the depth of public feeling the situation generated at the time, it was presented to the Governor in Council on November 8. However the request was rejected and Kelly was hanged at the Old Melbourne Gaol on November 11 1880.

Edward (Ned) Kelly was born in December 1854 into a poor family of selectors in Beveridge, northern Victoria. His father John Kelly who hailed from County Tipperary in Ireland, was transported to Tasmania as a convict in 1842 for stealing two pigs. Kelly’s mother was Ellen Quinn from County Antrim in Northern Ireland and she arrived in Victoria with her parents around 1850.

John and Ellen had eight children with Ned being number three. The family of five sisters and three brothers, born between 1851 and 1865, moved around Victoria and leased several small holdings near developing rural towns including Beveridge, Avenal and Greta, near Wangaratta. These towns are well separated from each other with Beveridge further south than the other two.

Early criminal tendencies

Ned Kelly’s schooling was basic (today’s primary school level) but it appears that he could read and write.

Ned showed early criminal tendencies being charged with assault and robbery at age 14, and then robbery in company two years later. Further serious charges of horse-theft followed – together with a jail sentence of six months hard labour at Beechworth prison for assault and using indecent language to a lady.

After this his criminal career escalated rapidly, culminating with a charge of the attempted murder of Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick in April 1878.

Accounts of the Fitzpatrick affair differ markedly. Fitzpatrick testified that he attended the Kelly homestead to arrest Dan Kelly for horse theft. In the struggle that followed Fitzpatrick was shot in the wrist by Ned Kelly.

However, Ned Kelly’s account claimed that, after arriving at the homestead, Fitzpatrick attempted to assault Ned’s sister Kate and was shot by Ned in defence of his sister.

Kelly was indicted for attempted murder and escaped into the bush soon after, accompanied by his younger brother Dan.

Hiding out in the Wombat Ranges near Mansfield, they were joined by friends Joe Byrne and Steve Hart, all four being members of a local group of “bush larrikins” called the Greta Mob. But soon after the Fitzpatrick incident they became known as the Kelly Gang.

In October 1878 the gang ambushed a pursuing police party, and shot and killed three officers. After these murders they were declared outlaws by the Victorian Government and a sizeable reward (£2,000) was placed on their heads.

The gang responded with two large bank robberies, one at Euroa in the Goulburn Valley district of Victoria and the other at Jerilderie in the Riverina district of NSW.

It was here that Ned Kelly presented a lengthy document of 56 pages for publication. Explaining the reasons behind his actions, and dictated to Joe Byrne, this became known as the Jerilderie Letter.

In an insulting attack on the law, Ned called the Victorian police “a parcel of big, ugly fat-necked, wombat-headed, big-bellied, magpie-legged, narrow-hipped, splaw-footed sons of Irish bailiffs or English landlords”.

Following this and the two bank robberies, the reward for capturing the outlaws was greatly increased to £8000, an amount close to $5 million in today’s money.

Kelly was indicted for attempted murder and escaped into the bush soon after, accompanied by his younger brother Dan.

Hiding out in the Wombat Ranges near Mansfield, they were joined by friends Joe Byrne and Steve Hart, all four being members of a local group of “bush larrikins” called the Greta Mob. But soon after the Fitzpatrick incident they became known as the Kelly Gang.

In October 1878 the gang ambushed a pursuing police party, and shot and killed three officers. After these murders they were declared outlaws by the Victorian Government and a sizeable reward (£2,000) was placed on their heads.

The gang responded with two large bank robberies, one at Euroa in the Goulburn Valley district of Victoria and the other at Jerilderie in the Riverina district of NSW.

It was here that Ned Kelly presented a lengthy document of 56 pages for publication. Explaining the reasons behind his actions, and dictated to Joe Byrne, this became known as the Jerilderie Letter.

In an insulting attack on the law, Ned called the Victorian police “a parcel of big, ugly fat-necked, wombat-headed, big-bellied, magpie-legged, narrow-hipped, splaw-footed sons of Irish bailiffs or English landlords”.

Following this and the two bank robberies, the reward for capturing the outlaws was greatly increased to £8000, an amount close to $5 million in today’s money.

Ned Kelly, clad in armour plate, attacks the police at Glenrowan on the morning of June 28 1880.
Image: Wikipedia Commons

Time finally ran out

Time finally ran out for the Kelly gang on the morning of June 28 1880 when they were surrounded by a large police force at the Glenrowan Inn in northern Victoria. Ned achieved immortality when he attacked the police wearing armour made of iron plates and firing his revolver.

Realising that shooting at his armour was futile, the police used shotguns directed at his unprotected legs. This brought him down and he was captured soon after.

In the meantime Joe Byrne, Steve Hart and Ned’s brother Dan were shot and killed.

Following his sensational trial, he was sentenced to death on October 28 1880 and went to the gallows at Melbourne Gaol just 13 days later. His mother’s last words to him the night before his execution were supposedly: “Mind you die like a Kelly.”

Kelly himself is often quoted as saying “Such is life”, just before he was hanged but this, too, is debatable.

Story didn’t end at the gallows

The Ned Kelly story did not end at the gallows. Far from it.

Kelly was originally buried at the Old Melbourne Gaol in the “Old Men’s Yard,” a nickname for the plot of land where male prisoners were buried. It was just inside the front wall of the gaol and officially declared unconsecrated ground.

In 1929, the gaol was closed for partial demolition and the bodies of all the executed prisoners buried there were exhumed and reinterred in a mass grave inside Pentridge Prison.

Again this was not on consecrated ground. There were 30 such bodies and one of these was that of Ned Kelly. But it could not be determined which was the legendary outlaw.

Eighty years later, in 2009, the bodies were again exhumed to allow redevelopment of the Pentridge Prison complex. However, the graves were poorly marked. Again the question was “which one of these was Kelly’s”?

The Victorian Labor government, led by John Brumby, announced plans to identify the bodies and, where possible, return them to existing relatives. Naturally huge interest developed regarding Ned Kelly’s remains.

During an investigation by the Victorian Institute of Forensic medicine (VIFM) the skeleton of Ronald Ryan was found – the last prisoner executed in Australia (1967).

In another skeleton, shotgun pellets were located in a leg bone. These were almost certainly from Glenrowan. The DNA found within this skeleton matched that of a known living relative of Kelly – schoolteacher Leigh Olver – great grandson of Ned’s sister Kate. 

Beginning in 2011 VIFM conducted a formal 20-month investigation involving DNA tests, CT scans, X-rays, pathology tests, odontology (dental tests) and anthropological analysis.

After this very thorough investigation experts agreed that the skeleton was that of Ned Kelly.

However the skull was missing and has never been located. It is believed that it was “souvenired” in 1929 when the executed prisoners were exhumed from the Old Melbourne Gaol. It is possible that Ned’s head was taken by a workman doing the digging, but nobody knows for sure.

Grave site remains unmarked

In 2012, the Victorian Liberal Party government led by Ted Baillieu issued a license for Kelly’s remains to be returned to the Kelly family, who made plans for his final interment. They arranged for his burial in consecrated ground at Greta Cemetery. Greta was Ned’s boyhood home from the age of 12 until the family left the area in 1878 when Kelly was 23 years of age.

Ned Kelly’s remains were buried on Sunday, January 20 2013 within Greta Cemetery. Numerous relatives were present. To prevent looting, the actual location of his grave site remains unmarked.

A fascinating footnote to the Kelly story is debate about whether or not Ned Kelly spoke with an Irish accent.

The fact is that he was very much raised in an Irish household and that, during his life, north-eastern Victoria was an Irish enclave. Although there is no direct record of his voice, by the mid-19th century, a distinct and unique Australian accent was emerging.

Hence rather than a strong Irish brogue, it seems to us likely that Ned Kelly had an Australian accent, but with some Irish tinges.

Ross Fitzgerald AM is Emeritus Professor of History and Politics at Griffith University. Dick Whitaker is a widely published author and lecturer in Australian history.

First published at Canberra City News, December 12, 2025