That Australian Ned Kelly is what this paper is about.
Early Clues:
For those from other parts, Ned Kelly was an Australian bushranger in the 19th century, who ‘stole from the rich, to give to the poor’ before being executed by hanging.
Kelly on 10 November 1880, the day before his execution
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View full-sizeDownload Edward Kelly (December 1854[a] – 11 November 1880) was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout with the police.
I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say he is so famous in our country that everyone outside of primary school knows his story.
I’d place a bet that every library in Australia has at least one book about, or mentioning, Ned Kelly.
He is a Robin Hood type character—with the Kelly Gang being the Merry Men—and multiple books, films and television shows have been made about him.
Well, as nearly every Australian would have done at some point in their lives, I was rather absently thinking of Ned when, no doubt influenced by Miles' papers, it struck me as rather odd that a convicted murderer who was executed by hanging would later be promoted as a national hero.
Aren’t convicted murderers (and those who killed policeman, no less) the kind of people the government would usually 1 promote as a disgrace?
But as Miles has shown us with his paper on Hitler, seeing a convicted felon reach a position of national importance is not so unusual in this topsy turvy world.
So, I decided to do some digging, and thus began a completely unexpected journey far bigger than anticipated—to international shores, famous authors, royalty. . .and, uh, the circus.
Miles has taught us first stop is always Wikipedia, and here we learn that Ned was hung on 11/11/1880, was the 3rd of 8 children, was imprisoned for 3 years, and fatally shot 3 policemen before being proclaimed an outlaw.
As we have learnt, 11, 8 and 3 are favorite numbers of Intelligence spook projects.
Coincidence?
Perhaps.
His birth date of December 1854 (given as January 1855 by other sources) doesn’t seem to fit the numerology script, but I already had enough to keep digging.
This book (page 8) suggests his birth was not even officially recorded, which we will find is telling.
Also interesting is that while Wiki tells his father, John “Red” Kelly, died when Ned was just 12, the Victoria government website chooses to list the date as 1866.
If only years were five digits, they might have been able to get another 6 in there.
Geni contradicts this again by saying that as recorded on Ned’s birth certificate (so apparently, he does have an official birth record now?) he was only 11 and a half at the time.
If Ned were born on the 28th of December 1854, he would have been just one day short of 12 years.
Looks like they just wanted to include the number 11 again.
Photo Analysis:
At Wiki, the wonderfully lit, tinted, silent-movie star-esque photograph they provide (above) shows he had looks that most actors would kill for.
Miles:
Reminds us of the gorgeous photos of Lewis Powell from the Abraham Lincoln hoax. The same photograph is provided on the Australian government website, however un-tinted this time (perhaps added later to give a nostalgic feel).
It is sourced from ‘Melbourne University Archives: 88 137’.
Hmmm.
That’s two 8's and an 11 (1+3+7).
For kicks, I ran a Google search on ‘Melbourne University Archives 88 137’ but nothing came up other than numerous hosts of the same Ned Kelly picture.
Their website does say all archives are available to the public via request however, so if anyone in Melbourne reads this, it might be interesting to head to the University and request that particular archive.
Some interesting results may be found - or perhaps just a lonely Ned Kelly photograph.
Furthermore, the same photograph appears on the Victoria Government website, this time with a green tint and defocused.
Either it was purposefully defocused, or the Victorian Government is so poor it can’t afford a decent scanning device.
My guess is not the latter.
Wiki also tells us this photograph was taken the day before his execution, but isn’t it interesting how bright and cheerful he looks?
The big bushy beard may hide his mouth, but it doesn’t hide the smile in his eyes.
Would anyone about to be executed look so relaxed and confident?
Would anyone on the run from the law, who within the last half year had his best mates killed in a gunfight, in which he also received more than twenty-eight bullet wounds, look as pristine as if they just stepped out of a studio make-up room?
Was it standard practice for all convicted murderers to have such well-groomed hair?
I might believe it on the day of their execution – should they be allowed a special privilege like eating their favorite meal one last 2 time or having a nice shampoo and rinse—but the day before?
And why was this photograph so important they hired the best lighting experts in the business?
Just to keep on the prisons record?
That is no standard mugshot set-up.
Did all prisoners get the same treatment?
Or are we actually looking at what he appears to be. . . an actor?
One last piece, and the clincher, comes from the Victorian government website:
She [Ned’s mother] was allowed to visit Ned in his cell on the eve of his execution, and described their meeting:
“I had not seen Ned for two years and I was shocked at the grimness in his face.
He was still weak, his face was full of bruises, his hands were bandaged.
He could not walk and laid in bed.
But those dark, hazel eyes were still the same, still sharp, sparkling, though the lines about them had deepened.”
So, that would make it the same time this photograph was taken, yet we see no bruises, no grimness, and no bed.
It looks as though someone didn’t check their facts before writing that paragraph.
Either that or, in hope of extra kisses, Ned was just feigning injury for his mother, and the offer of a shower and comb was enough to coax him up for a happy snap.
While I’m on the subject of photographs, let’s continue down that track.
I certainly don’t have the painting ability of Miles, but I do have a background in the arts, including photo editing, so I’ll give it a crack.
Miles:
Actually, I don’t think you need a background in the arts to see discrepancies in these photos if you are looking closely with a skeptical eye.
The problem is most people are not looking this way – that’s why they miss it. Firstly, I’ll start with what looks like a match on the main picture, just to show there is one out there.
In fact, this one looks so similar I would be surprised if it wasn’t taken on the same day (note: no bandages on the hands either, Mrs. Kelly):
That picture above is supposed to The Kelly Gang’s battle amor.
If it had been used in any more than the final battle, I’m sure we would have had a field day pulling it apart, but as it stands that battle bought about their downfall, so we’ll keep it short.
It is made of steel, and in this video the guy installing the armor at a display gallery informs us each piece weighs 10-20 kilograms.
If we say the helmet is one, 5 the chest guard is two, the back guard is three, the fanny flap is four, and the shoulder pads are five, then you have a combined weight of 50-100 kilograms (Wiki will tell us 44 kilograms, which is still very heavy, but who believes Wiki?)
It is all held together by fairly sizable nuts and bolts.
It took a team of people four days to mount four outfits for display.
“Each figure had to be fitted and orientated in the correct manner,”
we are informed.
Are we really supposed to believe then that the Kelly Gang desired armor such as this?
It was designed to stop bullets, which is fine (except for the exposed legs, which would eventually be their downfall); but the weight would prevent anyone from moving quickly, which you’d think is kind of necessary in shoot outs and hasty escapes.
Picture E (top) is from the The National Museum of Australia; Picture F (middle) is from Museum Victoria, taken after their capture at Glenrowan; and Picture G (bottom) is from an Old Melbourne Gaol display.
In both F & G we see one chest guard with bolts down the left and right, yet in Picture E all four show bolts down the middle.
Next, if we label the figures 1, 2, 3, 4 from left to right, we see the armor in G3 with a large dent in the stomach region which is unmatched by any of the figures in E.
E1 comes close, but it is farther left of the center line, and the center line itself is less diagonal.
Now the fanny flaps.
E1 & G3 are close enough matches, as are E4 & G1, but the other two don’t match.
E3 is closest to G2, but it is more rounded.
Some might say they are the same piece; one has just been curved; but firstly, curving heavy metal like that is not so easy, and secondly, that wouldn’t explain the differences between E2 & G4.
Again, there is a similarity of shape there, but G4 is slimmer.
If all E were curved for display and G were not, then you would expect E2 to be the slimmer one, but it’s not.
Next the helmets.
My biggest problem is with G3, which appears to have a nose guard that looks like sunglasses.
E1 may have a noseguard (it’s a bit hard to tell), but the eye slit is narrower, so they don’t match.
Land:
As is common in faked stories, our hero is supposed to have come from poverty, which is unsupported by the facts.
Ned’s maternal grandfather Thomas/James Quinn migrated with his family to Melbourne from Ireland in 1841.
The estimated population of Australia at that time was only 170,000, made up primarily of convicts sent from the British mainland, authorities to control them, and explorers.
One must ask then why the Quinns, who don’t appear to fit into any of those categories, would make such a journey?
The gold rushes, which saw a rapid increase in population, did not begin until about 1850, and there is no suggestion that Quinn ever involved himself in those.
It’s not impossible the journey was made purely for the desire of change, but given it was a journey that took months at sea to an unknown, underdeveloped, convict-populated country on the other side of the world— sometimes claiming the lives of those on board—it certainly strains belief.
The big clue against it comes in this paragraph from Wiki:
From the 1820s, increasing numbers of squatters [163] occupied land beyond the fringes of European settlement.
Often running sheep on large stations with relatively few overheads, squatters could make considerable profits.
By 1834, nearly 2 million kilograms of wool were being exported to Britain from Australia. [164]
By 1850, barely 2,000 squatters had gained 30 million hectares of land, and they formed a powerful and "respectable" interest group in several colonies. [165]
The term “respectable” is no doubt open to interpretation, depending on how respectable you find land stealing and the murder of innocent Aborigines; but were the Quinns one of these two thousand?
I think we will find they were.
By 1850 they owned 700 acres in Wallan.
In the 9 years before purchasing that land Quinn is said to have done menial work in Melbourne, before renting farmland in Brunswick.
So, how does someone doing menial work and renting suddenly afford 700 acres?
In 1863 they sold the Wallan land for £2,000 before moving to Moyu in King Valley.
The ABC website (link above) tells us an £8,000 reward for the Kelly Gang was equivalent to $2 million in today’s money [there is no date on that article and given that the website design looks to have been created by a primary school student at the dawn of the internet, the term ‘today's money’ could possibly mean anytime in the last 20 odd years.]
By that guide then, the £2,000 they sold the Wallan land for would be equivalent to $500,000-$1,000,000 today.
Yes, very poor they were.
Elsewhere, a State of NSW Government Website tells us that in 1962 James Quinn took up a cattle run of 25,000 acres – though they try to downplay it by calling it “poor country.”
Doing some math, £2,000 for 700 acres is £2.9 per acre.
Using the same formula, that would put the price of the cattle run at £72,500, or approximately $36 million in today’s money.
Oh, how horrible it must have been to live in such poverty!
[If it was “poor country” the £'s/acre may have been less, but I don’t think there is any way you can look at such a sizeable purchase as one a poor man could make.]
Remember John Quinn (above, top) from my paper on the Paris Salon.
John Quinn by John Butler Yeats, 1908
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View full-sizeDownload John Quinn (April 14, 1870, in Tiffin, Ohio – July 28, 1924, in Fostoria, Ohio) was an Irish-American cognoscente of the art world and a lawyer in New York City who fought to overturn censorship laws restricting modern literature and art from entering the United States.
He was the British Intelligence agent who funded the early literary magazines of:
He also organized the famous Armory Show in New York in 1913.
Was he related to these other Quinn's?
Possibly. Ned’s father John “Red” and his six siblings were said to have been raised in Tipperary, Ireland, on a plot of land less than half an acre.
Later, Red was sent to Australia as a convict for theft.
After marrying, he and his wife Ellen lived at Beveridge, next to the Wallan property.
In 1864 they sold it for £80 and moved to Avenel.
Using the above formula, that would put the size of their Beveridge land at about 28 acres – still a sizeable block for people who are supposed to be poor.
Following Red’s death in 1866, Ellen moved to “far north-east Victoria” to stay near “relations”, which would be her father in Moyu.
We know Harry Powers (an early player in the Kelly saga) lived in King Valley (“Powers Lookout” is there) and she is said to have befriended him.
Later she was buried in Greta, near Moyu, also in King Valley.
Which brings us to more numerology.
While here she leased 88 acres.
The Victorian government website lists the address as 11 Mile Creek, which a Google map shows is right next door to Moyu.
It doesn’t say who she leased the land to though, or for what purpose, or if she was the one it was being leased to.
Only that she sold “sly grog” to make ends meet.
This suggests she wasn’t living with her father, but actually had land separate to his.
Either way, all this land is not what you’d expect given that Ned comes from poverty.
It is also interesting that they lived in a place called “King Valley”, given that in 1874 Ellen would marry a man named George King.
Who was George King?
Well, we are not told much, and he disappears after a few years, but here’s what we are told.
Firstly, he was a ‘Californian horse thief.’
[Guess all these cattle rustlers just naturally attract each other, eh?
But what was he doing across the Pacific Ocean in Australia?
We aren’t told]
Secondly, he was supposedly 23 when they met - 16 years or so her junior.
Ellen had three—count 'em, 3—children to him by 1878, age 44.
Seems unlikely that she would have that many children at that age, and that a young man in his prime years would marry a middle-aged woman with her prime behind her.
Thirdly, those children were named:
Ellen
John
Alice
One thing you notice when browsing the Geni links is that all these people in the Kelly lines seem to have the same first names, and it gets mighty confusing.
Both Ned’s parents (John & Ellen) had a mother named Mary and a father named Thomas (confusingly listed as Thomas/James, on the mother’s side).
What are the chances of that?
Furthermore, Ellen Quinn not only had a husband named John, but also a brother, a son and a grandson named John.
Meanwhile Ned (real name Edward, or Ed) had siblings with names:
Mary
Anne
Daniel
Catherine
and James.
His father had siblings with names:
Mary
Anne
Daniel
Thomas
and Edmund (let's call him Ed too).
His sister Margaret mothered:
Anne
Catherine
Thomas
Edward
and James.
He also had a great grandmother Ellen on both sides, one of whom was married to a John.
I could go on, but were they really so unimaginative with names?
Could it be a sign of lazy writing?
Browsing their Geni pages is like walking inside a mirror maze, where the same image stares back at you from every different direction, and you quickly lose your orientation – no matter which way you turn, the same names repeat over and over.
Boy, their family reunions must have been a fun!
Miles:
King is prominent name in these hoaxing families, as we have seen.
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View full-sizeDownload Philip Gidley King (23 April 1758 – 3 September 1808) was a British politician who was the third Governor of New South Wales.
A few choice cuts from the web: he developed mining, education and the State's first newspaper.
He was son of a draper (cloth merchant) and grandson of an attorney, both in England.
He joined the navy at age 12 and became a lieutenant at age 20.
Miles:
Can you join the navy at age 12? So, he has many of the common red flags found in Miles' previous work.
But there is one more interesting tidbit: a government tobacco research farm was established in Edi and moved to Whitfield (both in King Valley) in 1902.
Here, Philip Gidley King is said to have,
“Encouraged experiments with vines, tobacco, cotton, hemp, and indigo.”
It's one hundred years early, but that sounds quite a bit like,
“Government tobacco research farm”
doesn’t it?
Could it be King Valley was always a prominent Government region?
If so, it is a rather strange place for wanted criminals to hide out.
Also, strange that a criminal like Harry Powers would be honored with a lookout in his name on the same turf.
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View full-sizeDownload Harry F. Powers (born Harm Drenth; November 17, 1892 – March 18, 1932) was a Dutch-born American serial killer who was hanged in Moundsville, West Virginia.
As further indication the King Valley was an area owned by prominent people, here we find Ellen Kelly/Quinn was neighbor of an Annie Murdoch.
Murdoch in 2012
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View full-sizeDownload Keith Rupert Murdoch AC KCSG (/ˈmɜːrdɒk/ MUR-dok; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate, investor, and media proprietor. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including in the UK (The Sun and The Times), in Australia (The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, and The Australian), in the US (The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post), book publisher HarperCollins, and the television broadcasting channels Sky News Australia and Fox News (through the Fox Corporation). He was also the owner of Sky (until 2018), 21st Century Fox (until 2019), and the now-defunct News of the World. With a net worth of US$21.7 billion as of 2 March 2022, Murdoch is the 31st richest person in the United States and the 71st richest in the world according to Forbes magazine.
Who I’m sure needs no introduction, but for a bit of fun, here is an interesting page showing the many relations of Rupert Murdoch:
While on the land theme, one of Ned’s neighbors was a guy called “Brickey” William Williamson, sometimes referred to as the unofficial 5th member of the Kelly Gang.
“…came to Victoria with my family (or did I just run away) when I was about 14 in around 1861.”
If you were 14 years old, you would be able to remember whether you came with your family or whether you ran away.
It is clearly the work in progress of a made-up story – one they obviously forgot to finish!
Later down the page it says the police described him as “Irish”, which is pretty odd given he was born in Newcastle, England, and never lived in Ireland.
Further down the page we get his death date as 3rd October.
Familiar numbers.
The direct quote is,
“I died in Coolamon on the 3rd of October 1932.”
Obviously, he is not the one writing that if he is dead.
Someone is pretending to be him, writing in first person.
Another neighbor of Ned’s was named William Skillion, who married Ned’s sister.
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View full-sizeDownload Catherine Ada Kelly (12 July 1863 – October 1898) was the younger sister of famous Australian outlaw Ned Kelly.
“I had a past that dogged me and a very uncertain future.
What happened to me?”
Again, first person, again as though it is incomplete.
Who finishes their own story with ‘What happened to me?’ as though they don’t know?
I guess these players were considered too peripheral in the Kelly saga to be of much bother; for which the sake of my research, I must thank them kindly.
There is another link between that name Williamson and the Kellys to be explored.
The first Ned Kelly film was written and directed by a man named Charles Tait (who died 1933), with many Taits featuring in the cast.
This is said to be the first ever feature-length film anywhere in the world – running for 70 minutes in 1906, at a time when most films ran for less than 10.
It can’t have been cheap and was obviously a production run by a family with wealth enough to get it done.
Well, we learn the Taits were associated with, and later merged with (1920), and later took over the property and company of (1938), a J.C Williamson Ltd, where an Edward Tait was stage producer.
There are those names Edward and Williamson again.
Williamson was a 'theatrical empire' according to Wiki, and 'the largest theatre empire in the world' according to the Tait Memorial Trust.
It got its start in America but put down roots in Australia following touring success.
In 1902 at Her Majesty's Theatre in Sydney, they put on a hugely expensive (for the time) four-hour production of Ben Hur, the music for which was composed by another American, named, uh, Edward Kelly.
Hmmm.
This piece of information was found on the J.C Williamson Wiki page.
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View full-sizeDownload James Cassius Williamson (26 August 1845 – 6 July 1913) was an American actor and later Australia's foremost impresario, founding the J. C. Williamson's theatrical and production company.
I was digging around in the dark really, but it sure is interesting to find that name pop up, isn't it?
Ask yourself this - for such a huge production that would have required many prominent cast and crew, why is the only name mentioned here, of all people, the music composer?
I really don’t have the answer to that.
If it were supposed to be Kelly clue, it’s an awfully strange place to leave it.
Anyway, this Edward Kelly had the middle name Stillman.
A Google search of 'Edward Stillman Kelly' yields no results.
But there was an Edgar Stillman Kelley living at the same time (1844-1957), who. . .guess what? …was involved in music conducting and composing of theatre productions.
Kelley circa 1900-1910
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View full-sizeDownload Edgar Stillman Kelley (April 14, 1857 – November 12, 1944) was an American composer, conductor, teacher, and writer on music. He is sometimes associated with the Indianist movement in American music.
He was an American, and there is no mention of him moving to Australia.
However, in 1902 (same year of the Ben-Hur production) he did apparently move to Berlin for 8 years.
Interesting number of years that; any chance he went via Australia?
Charles Tait’s father was a John Turnbull Tait from Scotland.
Official portrait, 2015
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View full-sizeDownload Malcolm Bligh Turnbull AC (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia and was the member of parliament (MP) for the New South Wales division of Wentworth from 2004 to 2018.
Certain parts of Malcolm’s genealogy are scrubbed—so making a connection has been difficult—but here we see a Tait born in Scotland, dying in Australia, and marrying a Turnbull.
I cannot link that directly to Malcolm, but that’s twice now we’ve seen the name Tait and Turnbull linked, so it does suggest the name Tait could be part of his ancestry.
I also stumbled upon a link between Malcolm’s direct ancestors marrying with a Cavanough in the 1800s, a variation of which you should keep an eye out for further down.
I also find a Cavanough marrying an Ingram Chapman, which are other names to keep an eye out for further down.
Miles also suggested to me that Tait may link to Sharon Tate.
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View full-sizeDownload Sharon Marie Tate Polanski (née Tate; January 24, 1943 – August 9, 1969) was an American actress and model. During the 1960s, she appeared in advertisements and small television roles before appearing in films as well as working as a model. After receiving positive reviews for her comedic and dramatic acting performances, Tate was hailed as one of Hollywood's most promising newcomers, being compared favorably with the late Marilyn Monroe.
John Turnbull Tait’s genealogy is quite scrubbed, so the link is not easy to make, however he did have a sister who married a Manson, which rings alarm bells.
Her husband is not given, so we can’t follow that line, but if we follow her mother’s line two generations back, we come to the name Linklater, which some may recognize as belonging to prominent film director Richard Linklater.
Linklater in 2022
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View full-sizeDownload Richard Stuart Linklater (/ˈlɪŋkleɪtər/; born July 30, 1960)[2] is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for making films that deal thematically with suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies Slacker (1990) and Dazed and Confused (1993); the Before trilogy of romance films: Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013); the music-themed comedy School of Rock (2003); the adult animated films Waking Life (2001), A Scanner Darkly (2006), and Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood (2022); the coming-of-age drama Boyhood (2014); the comedy film Everybody Wants Some!! (2016); and the romantic comedy Hit Man (2023).
Linkletter in a promotional photo for People Are Funny in 1957
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View full-sizeDownload Arthur Gordon Linkletter (born Gordon Arthur Kelly or Arthur Gordon Kelly; sources differ; July 17, 1912 – May 26, 2010) was a Canadian-born American radio and television personality. He was the host of House Party, which ran on CBS radio and television for 25 years, and People Are Funny, which aired on NBC radio and television for 19 years. He became a naturalized United States citizen in 1942. Old clips from Linkletter's House Party program were later featured as segments on the first incarnation of Kids Say the Darndest Things. A series of books followed which contained the humorous comments made on-air by children. He appeared in four films. Furthermore, if you follow the Tait line to the 1700s through the fathers you find marriage to a Taylor, a familiar name from Miles' recent papers.
Wiki tells us John Tait was a tailor, while the Tait Memorial Trust tells us he was sheep farmer, so how did he become,
“The dominating influence of Australia's theatre scene?”
By providing all the actors with trim woolly coats?
Back to the land, and we get this quote from Wiki:
Others… perceived the Kelly Outbreak and the problems of Victoria's Land Selection Acts post-1860s as interlinked.
For the sake of my paper, I will summarize it even further.
The wealthy ‘squatters’ owned most of the best land.
Inadequate legislation and manipulation meant the poor ‘selectors’ couldn’t get much land and had very little economic success.
This led to a poor vs rich debate, and Ned Kelly, a ‘selector’, who “stole from the rich to give to the poor”, became a hero of the fight against the rich.
At least that is how the story goes.
But given how much land was in his family, I fail to see how he could have been a ‘selector’, especially in King Valley, which clearly has land so good and fertile it was the government's region of choice for a research farm and is today a renowned vineyard area.
We must then look at what took place after the Kelly saga; for changes did take place, and Ned is given a healthy dose of the praise for them.
I quote from the above blog:
Land was the major means of production in the first century of Australia’s history.
By 1880, however, Victoria had moved out of plantation and development-style economies, typified by the ascendancy of the squatters and the gold rushes, and into an economy where industrial capital dominated.
From this time on major class divisions revolved, not around land, but around the divisions between wage labour and the capitalists that employed them.
So basically, already owning all the good land, the rich now put the poor to work on it, looking beyond land ownership to industrialization.
It’s important to note here that I am not defending the Land Acts of the time – by all accounts they were appallingly unfair to the ‘selectors’ – I am also not suggesting that all reports of bushrangers, livestock stealing, or rebellion against police were lies - I am simply suggesting the resulting changes did not come about for the reasons we are led to believe.
They were not made to benefit the poor or to make things fairer.
With a false nod to the poor, the rich found a way to manage the opposition.
This is why the Ned Kelly story was manufactured.
As with Robin Hood, a fictional hero was created to avoid a real revolution.
At the first link we learn Thomas/James Quinn’s 700-acre property at Wallan eventually included the Railway Station.
A narrow-gauge railway was built between Wangaratta and Whitfield in 1889.
It was a mixed train, carrying both passengers and freight, but a majority of stations along the lines are said to have been just nameboards at road crossings.
It doesn’t sound like many people were in need of this service then, does it?
Apparently not, as, after beginning operations daily, by 1930 it had been reduced to a weekly goods service.
Goods, being the key word there, not passengers.
So why was it built?
Might it have had anything to do with transporting goods from the Government Research Farm?
And if so, the Quinn/Kelly criminal family history didn’t deter the Government from placing a railway station on their property?
Or might the Quinns have actually been Government?
I just ask the question.
At the first link we also learn,
“In the year 1865 he (Quinn) removed to a squatting station at the head of the King River, and four years after this he died.”
Remember, squatters were the wealthy, and here is confirmation Ned’s maternal grandfather was a squatter.
The first link is an extract from The Herald, which took that name in 1840.
Prior to that it was called the Port Phillip Herald, taking its name from the region it served.
Port Phillip however was initially named Port King, after Governor Phillip Gidley King.
So, that gives you an idea who was in control of this newspaper.
At the Herald Wiki we learn the newspaper was founded by a George Cavenagh (1808-1869), which is similar to the name Cavanough we associated with Malcolm Turnbull above.
That name jumped out at me because in the genealogies one of Ned’s sisters (Catherine Ada epse. Foster) had a daughter (Gertrude) who married an Arthur Cavanagh.
That is important because George Cavenagh was born in India, the youngest son of Major P. Cavenagh of the East India Co.'s army and formerly of County Wexford, Ireland.
We have seen the East India Company plenty of time in Miles' papers, and now we see they are there right at the beginning of Australia’s largest newspapers.
The Cavenagh family also owned shipping ventures, were merchants, and opened the Bank of Australasia.
We know what that means.
The Circus:
OK, time for a new direction, which further explores the Land Acts mentioned above.
One of the Land Acts that existed during Ned’s time was the Duffy Land Act of 1862, and those 88 acres Ellen leased were made possible under the Duffy Land Act (which amongst other things, allowed women to purchase land in their own right).
I discovered this information via Ellen’s Wikitree, which is significant because the pages there are managed by an Eric Daly, who is son of a Lawrence Duffy.
Eric Daly has written a lot of information and posted a lot of pictures about the Kellys, so clearly there is a vested interest.
You can follow his line back to a John Duffy (about 1831) who married a Margaret Collins, before the father becomes unknown.
Well, the Duffy who made the above Land Act was former Premier of Victoria Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, b. 1816, a date that pretty well fits next in line.
Over at Geni we find he had a son named John (1844) who married a Margaret Callan, which is about as close as you can expect to get to Collins.
Given how closely the Kelly story ties in with Land Acts and Reforms, it is very interesting to find the descendant of a knighted Premier (who played a background role in the Kelly Saga) continuing this line of work at Wikitree over 100 years on.
There are a few more red flags on Sir Charles Gavin Duffy that I’ll hit quickly.
This link says he was admitted to the King’s Inns in 1839 (in Ireland).
He founded his own weekly The Nation, and with it he hoped to 'change the mind of his generation and so to change their institutions.
Within two years it had a circulation of 11,000 copies.
Miles:
Note the number. He belonged to a Trinity College Historical Society.
He landed a gig in Australian parliament to ensure,
“Close adherence to British procedure.”
Red flags abound.
It is through the helpful work of Eric Daly we learn the history of at least one child from the Ellen Kelly (Quinn) and George King romance, and as it turns out, one is all we need to make some major discoveries.
John “Jack” Kelly (he used the Kelly name, but remember King was the father’s name) was good with horses, and joined Wirth’s Circus, accordingly.
A search on Wirth’s Circus actually yields big returns, which I’ll touch on in a minute, but lets continue with Jack Kelly’s bio first.
After working for the circus, he was recruited into the WA police for his horse skills (regimental number 880, of course).
Odd place for the half-brother of a famous police-killing criminal to end up, wouldn't you say?
What if I told you they also did staged displays, tournaments and re-enactments of Ned’s final shootout, with Jack playing Ned?
Firstly, since when do the police do public re-enactments for general entertainment?
Secondly, why would the police wish to glorify a criminal in such a way?
Thirdly, if you didn’t want to be associated with the bad deeds of your half-brother, as we are told, then playing him in a re-enactment is not really the smartest way to go about it, is it?
After this, Jack rejoined the circus, where he,
“Left for a world tour that would bring him international renown to the point that he was on talking terms with royalty.
Following that … he moved south through the Americas in the course of work with Barnum and Bailey's Circus.”
If the term ‘royalty’ was not a big enough red flag for you, Barnum and Bailey’s Circus should be a huge one.
The biggest circus star of the time was Buffalo Bill Cody, and we learn here that Buffalo Bill went into partnership with Barnum and Bailey’s Circus.
Buffalo Bill in 1911
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View full-sizeDownload William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846 – January 10, 1917), known as Buffalo Bill, was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman.
Well, Ned Kelly's paternal grandmother just happens to be née Cody.
Also interesting is the fact that Jack and his wife would be made honorary members of the Royal Mounted Police in Toronto, Canada, of all places, which is Buffalo Bills’s father’s hometown, where Buffalo Bill himself lived for some time.
Let’s quickly go to Wiki and have a look at the red flags on Buffalo Bill.
He began work at age 11, served the US Army receiving a medal of honor, was a descendant of a Quaker (though they hasten to tell us there is no evidence he was a Quaker himself), and was a Freemason and a Knight Templar.
and had his funeral procession led by John B. Kendrick (Governor of Wyoming – a friend of Cody).
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View full-sizeDownload John Benjamin Kendrick (September 6, 1857 – November 3, 1933) was an American politician and cattleman who served as a United States senator from Wyoming and as the ninth Governor of Wyoming as a member of the Democratic Party.
This was followed by huge and long promotion in films and books, one of the most famous written by Mark Twain.
For a final word on William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody, I offer you this document, which opens with the sentence,
“If we are to believe Helen Cody Wetmore, one of William Cody’s sisters, her family was descended from Spanish and Irish royalty and were accordingly entitled to a crest.”
Which means if we are to believe this lady of bold proclamations, and my circumstantial evidence of the Cody/Kelly connection, so was Ned Kelly.
So, the question is posed:
Were the Kellys in showbiz from the start?
In support of a yes answer, we find that Catherine Ada Foster (Kelly – Ned’s sister) was also a horsewoman with links to circus and exhibitions, and she too had performed dramatizations of the Ned Kelly story.
Apparently, her pony’s name was Oliver Twist, (which is not the last time we’ll encounter Dickens in this story) and the shows were reviewed as
“a gross outrage, and highly injurious to public morals”
and
“Demoralizing to the youthful part of the population.”
We actually find her performing on the night of Ned’s execution:
The Exhibition was something of a tableau vivant with Kate and the others sitting motionless on a stage while curious onlookers filed past and conversed with them.
Estimates for the crowds who’d waited outside Pentridge Gaol that morning were in the thousands and some of these may have paid the shilling to have a closer encounter with the family.
At the time of Ned’s death, she was 17.
Miles:
since such a thing would take rehearsal, we should ask how they put that together so fast.
And why Ned's sister would take part in something so tasteless. We are told,
“Every woman in the community was shocked at Kate Kelly’s unfeeling conduct on the night of the day on which her brother was executed.”
This indicates Kate may have been showing some skin, making it even more tasteless.
However, if Ned never existed except as a fellow actor, and wasn't executed at all, this explains his 'sister's' actions to some degree.
We also learn that she later used aliases to conceal her identity, more indication she was simply hired to play his sister.
These links suggest the father George King was also a circus man, stating,
“King and his wife [Ellen Kelly/Quinn] are believed to have dumped their children [Jack Kelly], born after Ned's execution, in an orphanage and toured the world as a circus act called Kelly and Kelly.”
Information regarding George King is difficult to come by, but what little there is all points towards the circus.
The circus also provided the horses and stunt work for Ned Kelly’s movie in 1906.
Jagger in July 2022
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View full-sizeDownload Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is best known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of the Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; their songwriting partnership is one of the most successful in rock music history. His career has spanned over six decades, and he has been widely described as one of the most popular and influential front men in the history of rock music. His distinctive voice and energetic live performances, along with Richards' guitar style, have been the Rolling Stones' trademark throughout the band's career. Early in his career, Jagger gained notoriety for his romantic involvements and illicit drug use, and has often been portrayed as a countercultural figure.
And while we’re on the subject of films, Mick Jagger played the lead role in the Ned Kelly film of 1970, while the latest re-make Ned Kelly in 2003 featured many top actors including Heath Ledger, Orlando Bloom, Naomi Watts and Geoffrey Rush.
Jordan in 2012
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View full-sizeDownload Gregor Jordan (born 1966) is an Australian film director, writer and actor. Jordan's films include Two Hands (1999), Buffalo Soldiers (2001), and Ned Kelly (2003). Two Hands won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Direction and Best Screenplay in 1999. He has most recently directed The Informers, an American film adapted from short stories written by Bret Easton Ellis and Nicholas Jarecki and the thriller Unthinkable starring Samuel L. Jackson.
The 1970 film of the same name is equally awful, with narrative songs by Shel Silverstein.
Silverstein c. 1964 as featured on the back cover of The Giving Tree
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View full-sizeDownload Sheldon Allan Silverstein (/ˈsɪlvərstiːn/;[1] September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999) was an American writer, poet, cartoonist, singer-songwriter, musician, U.S. Army veteran, and playwright. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Silverstein briefly attended university before being drafted into the United States Army. During his rise to prominence in the 1950s, his illustrations were published in various newspapers and magazines, including the adult-oriented Playboy. He also wrote a satirical, adult-oriented alphabet book, Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book.
They were the largest and most successful circus in Australia; and remember, circuses, alongside theatre, were the principle medium of entertainment before:
film
television
electronic music
came along.
Circus stars back then were as the film stars of today.
After initial success in Australia, Wirth went on a seven-year world tour including a show for the Prince of Wales.
Phillip Wirth, one of the founders, was a Freemason, they played shows adjacent the Freemason's property, and they also admitted to producing propaganda:
At the conclusion of Wirth's inaugural season, the Hippodrome was reconfigured for Wirth's production of the imported English wartime propaganda play, Kultur, by Leonard Durell.
This realistic but expensive production presented scenes with horse-drawn cannons, with gunners, postilions and full artillery equipment.
Despite the patriotic furore the production had created in England, Kultur was a 'flop' in Australia.
George Wirth recalled:
"Australia, or rather Sydney, was too far away from the war, and the propaganda was not required to stir the loyalty of the nation as it was in England."
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View full-sizeDownload Arthur Phillip (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first governor of the Colony of New South Wales.
Royal Navy Officer, first Governor of New South Wales, preceding Phillip Gidley King.
His first wife was the widow of a merchant.
His second wife, m. 1794, was an Isabella Whitehead,
“daughter of a prominent and affluent North Country family, involved in the cloth trade.”
So, cloth merchants again.
The name Whitehead also appears in this paper by Miles.
Also, Phillips Petroleum. I don’t actually have any hard evidence here showing it was Arthur Phillip’s descendants who took over the Circus, but it is interesting to see that name pop up again.
The Wirth’s father was named John, married to a Sarah nee Phillips – just one ‘s’ away from the same name - and perhaps provides a clue as to why it was the Phillips who took over.
A huge clue! Also a clue is that, following their deaths in 1906, the Wirth’s “largely absorbed” main rival circus competitors the Fitzgerald brothers.
This included taking over their amusement park, as well as carrying on a tradition of presenting the Melbourne Cup Winner (Australia’s richest horse race, and to this day one of the most prominent in the world) with a gold mounted whip.
This shouldn’t be surprising however, as you need money for the facilities and money to buy and train a horse good enough to win a race like that. It is also interesting to see the name Fitzgerald pop up again in the same paper as the name King, something that has happened in Miles' recent papers.
We must assume these Wirths and Fitzgeralds were big fish if they had such a prominent role in the Melbourne Cup, so lets take a look at them.
The Fitzgerald brothers in the circus industry were Dan (b. 1859) and Tom, but they also had a brother named John Daniel (Jack) Fitzgerald (b. 1962), who was a barrister and parliamentarian, amongst other things.
In 1892 he married a Frenchwoman named Octavie Camille Clara Ernestine Roche at Chelsea in England, with whom he would have one daughter Maria Galatea Clarke (b 1893).
It's amazing what you find shooting around in the dark - I certainly wasn't expecting this, but anyway, here it is.
There is a Geni page for an Octovie Clara Ernestine Roche (b 1861).
It does not list siblings or spouse, but the birthdate and unusual long name are too coincidental for it to be anyone other than John Daniel Jack Fitzgerald’s wife.
Anyway, to someone with an interest in classic literature, she had a sister with a surname that certainly stood out:
Marie-Therese Dickens.
Henry Fielding Dickens in the 1890s
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View full-sizeDownload Sir Henry Fielding Dickens, KC (16 January 1849[1] – 21 December 1933) was an English barrister, who served as a KC and Common Serjeant of London. He was the eighth of ten children born to English author Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine, and the last surviving child of Dickens.
Portrait by Jeremiah Gurney, c. 1867–1868
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View full-sizeDownload Charles John Huffam Dickens (/ˈdɪkɪnz/; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are widely read today.
If a link between these Fitzgeralds and those in Miles' papers could be established, then we would have a link between two of the world's most famous authors.
When I began writing a paper about an Australian bushranger, I certainly wasn’t expecting that!
[But by the time I finished this paper, Dickens has appeared in a couple of Miles' papers, so it may seem less surprising now.]
Miles:
many comments required here.
I have of course established the links between all these people now, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, the Kennedys, Dickens, Henry Fielding, and the Clark(e)s.
But what the author missed most of all is the name Roche.
Shand Kydd in 2002
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View full-sizeDownload Frances Ruth Shand Kydd (previously Spencer, née Roche; 20 January 1936 – 3 June 2004) was the mother of Diana, Princess of Wales. She was the maternal grandmother of William, Prince of Wales and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, respectively first and fifth in the line of succession to the British throne. Following her divorce from Viscount Althorp in 1969, and Diana's death in 1997, Shand Kydd devoted the final years of her life to Catholic charity work following her conversion to Catholicism.
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View full-sizeDownload Edmund Maurice Burke Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy (15 May 1885 – 8 July 1955) was a British Conservative Party politician who held a title in the Peerage of Ireland.
Most of the women in the Roche line are scrubbed, except for Dorothy Burke. One of the great frustrations writing this paper has been how many names are scrubbed from the genealogy sites, making such connections difficult.
However, let me add a little more circumstantial evidence to the case, as we come across yet more familiar surnames.
Dan and Tom Fitzgerald at one point joined a Burton Circus.
In 1873, the owner Henry Burton went into partnership with Robert Taylor, forming Burton and Taylor’s Circus.
Burton and Taylor are two familiar names from recent papers by Miles.
Miles:
Richard Burton and Liz Taylor. Robert Taylor first took management of Wilson and Zoynra's Great World Circus, then Bird and Taylor's Great American Circus, then Burton and Taylor's, or Grand United Circus.
At the first link we also find suggestions that Ned’s nephew Ned Lloyd was involved, and that the mysterious George King mentioned above may have been a trick horseman.
Lloyd is a name that has appeared in Miles' papers, and it is closely linked to the Kellys.
Miles:
Lloyds of London, Christopher Lloyd, etc. Ellen Quinn is a sister to Catherine and Jane Lloyd, while we find Jane’s husband is son of a Murphy, another name that has appeared in Miles' papers.
Down the geneaology we find a Murphy marrying a King, and this couple had a daughter who married a McGuire.
Well, Harry Power (real name Henry Johnson) had a McGuire grandparent, so it’s possible he was a distant cousin to Ned.
We know Lloyds lived in the King Valley region near the Kellys, and many of the players in this story can be found coming over on the same ship together, “England” in 1941.
At that link we find many others with names that are either familiar from Miles' papers, or famous through celebrity, but who don’t have a place in this story as far as I know:
Adams
Armstrong
Brooks
Hogan
Hughes
Hopkins
Morrissy
Sutcliffe
to list a few.
That boat is beginning to look like passage of the spooks.
If we continue following the Fitzgeralds we can find yet more links to showbiz.
A famous group of performers around the same time were known as:
Jim Gerald
Lance Vane
Max Clifton
Cliff Stevens
with real names:
James Fitzgerald
Lancelot Sherlock Fitzgerald
Richard McGuinnes Fitzgerald
and Clifton Steven Australia Fitzgerald.
This last was the son of a Stephen Australia Fitzgerald, who was a performer that went on to direct many films, including one about a bushranger in 1910 titled The Life and Adventures of John Vane, the Notorious Australian Bushranger.
John Vane, photographed at Darlinghurst Gaol in 1880.
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View full-sizeDownload John Vane (16 June 1842 – 30 January 1906) was an Australian bushranger who joined with the John Gilbert's gang for a short period during 1863. He rode with Gilbert, Ben Hall, John O’Meally and his friend Mick Burke, all of whom eventually met violent deaths. Burke, who had been Vane's childhood friend, died in a violent gunfight at 'Dunn's Plains', near Rockley. Vane managed to avoid the fate of his companions when he gave himself up. In 1905 Vane collaborated with author and newspaper editor, Charles White, in recording his recollections of the period he spent as part of the bushranging gangs led by Gilbert, Hall and O’Meally. Vane’s biography, edited by White, was published in 1908 (two years after Vane’s death).
The name John Vane is not nearly as famous as Ned Kelly in our country:
I’d never even heard of it until researching this paper, but it is interesting to see this notorious bushranger share the same adopted surname of one of the performers.
After all, we know the name Lance Vane is made up—the real name being Fitzgerald—so my suspicions about this John Vane are already aroused before even beginning on him.
It does seem there are those willing, and that it is quite easy to make up and work under fake names, wouldn’t you agree Ned?
Wayne c. 1965
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View full-sizeDownload Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), professionally known as John Wayne and nicknamed "the Duke", was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood's Golden Age, especially in Western and war movies. His career flourished from the silent era of the 1920s through the American New Wave, as he appeared in a total of 179 film and television productions. He was among the top box-office draws for three decades and appeared with many other important Hollywood stars of his era. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Wayne as one of the greatest male stars of classic American cinema. At one point Jim Gerald worked for JC Williamson, while at another he signed with a Fuller’s Theatre (one of the four leading Australian-based revue troupes) run by a Sir Benjamin Fuller.
Benjamin Fuller, Sydney, 1928
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View full-sizeDownload Sir Benjamin John Fuller (20 March 1875 – 10 March 1952) was an English-born Australian theatrical entrepreneur, best known for establishing the theatre company that bears his name.
Jim’s mother in law Susan Patience Futcher had a sister who married a Taylor, while their father Federick Porritt published the first weekly Herald (that’s the newspaper we saw earlier).
Lance Vane became related through marriage to a Phyllis Du Barry (born Gertrude Phyllis Hillyard) who moved to Hollywood and was not that famous, but still appeared in more than 40 films.
Lance and Stephen Australia Fitzgerald were both members of Maggie Moore Company, Maggie Moore being a famous actress who married JC Williamson.
Maggie Moore’s real name was Margaret Virginia Sullivan, and this name Sullivan keeps popping up in my research.
Gilbert and Sullivan were a famous comedic opera duo whose works were performed by both JC Williamson and Fuller’s (the latter also having music by an Arthur Sullivan).
A Sir Thomas Barry Sullivan (b. 1821) who performed in Australia, England and America became knighted, but his genealogy is very well scrubbed.
Famous actor Richard Burton also once performed a Sir Arthur Sullivan piece.
Miles:
Then of course there is Ed Sullivan, who I showed in my paper on Presley was probably not Irish but Jewish.
Sullivan in 1955
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View full-sizeDownload Edward Vincent Sullivan (September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974) was an American television host, impresario, sports and entertainment reporter, and syndicated columnist for the New York Daily News and the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate. He was the creator and host of the television variety program The Toast of the Town, which in 1955 was renamed The Ed Sullivan Show. Broadcast from 1948 to 1971, it set a record as the longest-running variety show in U.S. broadcast history. "It was, by almost any measure, the last great American TV show", said television critic David Hinckley. "It's one of our fondest, dearest pop culture memories."
Also, the Moores are one of the families, as I show in my paper on C. S. Lewis.
They are from the peerage, and Lewis' fake mother was a Moore. I’m sure all these Sullivan’s could be found to be related, along with famous American movie actor Barry Sullivan and television host Ed Sullivan, to name a couple, but to be quite honest its been a lot of difficult research to reach this point and I’m getting lazy.
Barry Sullivan in Harbormaster (1957)
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View full-sizeDownload Patrick Barry Sullivan (August 29, 1912 – June 6, 1994)[1] was an American actor of film, television, theatre, and radio. In a career that spanned over 40 years, Sullivan appeared in over 100 movies from the 1930s to the 1980s, primarily as a leading actor after establishing himself in the industry, and later as a character actor.
Meanwhile David Letterman hosted his show in the Ed Sullivan theatre.
Letterman in 2016
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View full-sizeDownload David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He hosted late-night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC and ending with the May 20, 2015, broadcast of Late Show with David Letterman on CBS. In total, Letterman hosted 6,080 episodes of Late Night and Late Show, surpassing his friend and mentor Johnny Carson as the longest-serving late-night talk show host in American television history.
If you follow his line back long enough it leads to Leathermans in Germany in the 1700’s.
Miles:
I just found Leathermans in Daniel Day-Lewis' line.
A circus performer named Matthew St Leon (changed his name to John Jones before being shipped to Australia from London) performed at Barry Sullivan’s Theatre Royal in Melbourne.
This St Leon joined Henry Burton at one point, was joined by Wirth family members at another, and had a son who married an Ashton.
One of America’s greatest variety troupes was also a Kelly and Leon’s Minstrels, formed in Chicago in 1863.
They toured Australia, opened their own opera house in Sydney (not the famous one with sails design, another one), and produced Australia’s first ever Gilbert and Sullivan show HMS Pinafore.
After ending their partnership in 1880, Kelly remained in the country, specializing in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas for J. C. Williamson’s.
That was Edwin Kelly (b. 1830’s), who happened to be from Ireland, same place as Ned’s family.
The name Leon is also interesting because Madonna has a daughter named Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon, and her own surname, Ciccone, is shared by winery owners in the fertile King Valley region today.
The name Perry, seen in Miles' papers, comes up as well, with a Perry’s Circus active at the time, while a Mervyn King (of Silver Circus) married a Phyllis Perry. King's theatre in Melbourne [which became a multiplex cinema in 1977] had notable lessees the Taits, JC Williamson, and Carroll-Fuller.
There is a Mervyn King who was recently governor of the Bank of England.
Can't be the same Mervyn King but may be a descendant. But were these Fitzgeralds related to the Circus Fitzgeralds?
Well, some sources say they were brothers while other sources deny it, but the answer is probably yes.
Firstly, they were all involved in showbiz.
Secondly, there is a connection with a young Jim Gerald—an apprentice of Oscar Pagel—who had a team touring with Fitzgerald’s Circus.
Thirdly, there is confusion over the names.
Dan and Tom Fitzgerald of the Circus apparently had both a father and brother named John Daniel (from Ireland), who married a Mary Ann (nee Cullen).
Meanwhile, Stephen Australia Fitzgerald (Theatre-Film) had a father named Stephen (from England), who also married a Mary Ann (albeit nee Ingram).
Stephen Australia was born in Clifton (Gloucester, England), yet had a son called Clifton Steven Australia.
My reading of this is that Clifton and Stephen Australia are the same person.
The other Stephen is probably the father to all of them, while there is only one John Daniel, who was just a brother not a father.
In all of this I hope you can see that while I have not made a direct link from the Fitzgeralds in this paper to those in Miles', I have linked them to so many familiar names, in a such a familiar industry, that it is beyond reasonable doubt.
Robin Hood:
To finish, you may recall in the opening paragraphs I compared Ned Kelly to Robin Hood, which is a comparison suggested on the Internet, but never expanded upon.
Given that Ned Kelly looks to be a fictional character, my guess is he was directly based on Robin Hood.
A clue to that is given on Wiki, where we learn Ned (aged 11) saved a boy named Richard Shelton from drowning and was awarded with a green sash by the family, which he later wore under his armor in the final shoot out.
I know, I know, it's an incredibly touching story and my heart is full to overflowing, but we must de-mist our eyes for a second and try to view this in a composed manner, at which point we might remember that Ned Kelly never existed, therefore this story is made up.
So, in a planted tale, why the green sash?
Might it be a connection to Robin Hood’s famous outfit?
Furthermore, searching Wiki for ‘Richard Shelton’ gives us the options of either a writer born in 1933, an American Footballer born 1/2/66, a prominent actor/singer who is listed as 1984 – present, and a Solicitor General from the inner temple of the City of London who died in 1647.
None of them feature in the Kelly saga, but between the numerology and the professions, it’s a fairly circumspect list.
Miles has also touched upon the name Shelton in previous documents.
Miles went one step further, suggesting Robin Hood may be made up in the same way as Ned Kelly and for the same reason, and I tend to agree.
What outlaw who stole from the Kings would the Kings ever wish to make famous?
In fact, it seems experts agree that the origins of the ‘real’ Robin Hood can’t be traced, and that historical inaccuracies occur—as over the centuries his story has undergone vast changes depending on who commissioned them, or who wrote them, or who researched them.
A few things did catch my eye, so let’s have a look at them.
Starting with that outfit, the color of which is described as ‘Lincoln Green’.
Lincoln, interesting.
Google tells us President Lincoln’s name originally stems from
“The name of a city in England”,
as does this cloth.
Furthermore, at this blog, we find:
The fine cloths of Lincolnshire were dyed in scarlet and green.
The first or highest grade of cloth was dyed crimson from the abdomens of a small dried female beetle found in Persia (Iran) the Kermes (Arabic for ‘crimson’), which resembled grains of wheat.
This very ancient dye, (later superseded by that of the cochineal beetle), became known as ‘Lincoln(e) Graine’ (or Greyne), and because its dye was expensive to produce was used mainly by the wealthy or important people.
The terms to be noted there are ‘fine’ ‘expensive’ ‘wealthy’ and ‘important’. While also:
The popular ballad printed in the eighteenth-century compilations Robin Hood's Garland offers an unexpected picture of Robin as he presented himself at court:
He clothed his men in Lincoln green and himself in scarlet red.
Red is the same as crimson, therefore as seen above, the ‘highest grade of cloth.’
But if the story is fiction, who benefits from the hero being expensively clothed?
Why, cloth merchants of course.
Secondly, the first clear reference to 'rhymes of Robin Hood' is from the c. 1377 poem ‘Piers Plowman,’ written by a William Langland.
That poem is not about Robin Hood per se, it simply mentions his name, but we do learn that 'the attribution of Piers to Langland rests principally on the evidence of a manuscript held at Trinity College, Dublin.'
Trinity, interesting.
It is often cited as one the greatest works of literature in the Middle Ages, alongside Chaucer’s 'Canterbury Tales'.
Manuscript portrait, 1412
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View full-sizeDownload Geoffrey Chaucer (/ˈtʃɔːsər/ CHAW-sər; c. 1343 – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for The Canterbury Tales. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He was the first writer to be buried in what has since come to be called Poets' Corner, in Westminster Abbey. Chaucer also gained fame as a philosopher and astronomer, composing the scientific A Treatise on the Astrolabe for his 10-year-old son, Lewis. He maintained a career in the civil service as a bureaucrat, courtier, diplomat, and member of parliament.
Well, Miles has already mentioned Chaucer as suspicious in his paper on Henry VII, so we may look at Piers Plowman in the same light.
The name Piers has also become Pierce which is an 'Americanized version of a similar sounding Jewish surname', and also a name found as one of the clan, in Miles' recent papers.
I have only read the Wikipedia summary of that poem, which to put it very simply seems to be about a man named Will in search of goodness.
It is notable that when he goes in search of Truth, he gets lost at the same time Piers makes his first appearance.
Piers puts him and his penitents to work on his land and punishes them with hunger until they work: once hunger has been sated, they return to idleness.
He also tears up a pardon from Truth stating, 'Do well and have well and God shall have your soul' and 'Do evil and have evil, and expect nothing other than that after your death, the Devil shall have your soul'.
Yet later Will concludes that Piers is Christ.
Sounds a bit like a modus operandi for the Spooks, don’t you think?
Conclusion:
While it seems probable that a Kelly family moved into the King Valley region, my belief is that Ned was either completely made up or a heavily fictionalized character loosely based on real events.
The story served the purpose of calming the land disputes, while going on to earn a huge profit through the showbiz industry, which his family had prominent connections to.
There are some to this day who don’t view Kelly as a hero and are against his murderous deeds, but I suggest this argument just stems from controlled opposition.
They ultimately don’t care whether you think Kelly was a good guy or bad guy.
All they really care is that you believe he existed and did the things they tell you he did.
Or as Miles might say, they give you two doors to walk through, when the truth is actually through a third. ……………………………………………………………………………………….
Leftovers:
There are some odds and ends here that I couldn’t really fit into the main body of text above, but are nonetheless still interesting.
I shall list them here, in no particular order.
I.
I was going to look for photo discrepancies of the other Kelly Gang members, and although there is very little out there, I found them.
This link shows these mismatches are already known and in the open.
Whether you choose to believe their story or not is up to you, but either way, skullduggery is admitted to here, which is curious.
II.
Henry Burton was from Lincolnshire.
His mother was named Jane Blythe (c. 1790).
At Wiki we can find a Jane Blythe Chapman (abt. 1758) from Lincolnshire.
The name of her spouse and death date do not match those for Henry’s mother, but given they are from the same area, it may not be too much of a stretch to ask if they are related.
Anyway, here is what Wiki tells us of the surname Chapman:
Chapman is an English surname derived from the Old English occupational name céapmann “marketman, monger, merchant”, from the verbcéapan, cypan “to buy or sell” and the noun form ceap "barter, business; a purchase.”
Speaks for itself, doesn’t it?
Merchants popping up again.
A quick look at Wiki show a huge amount of people famous enough to have a Wiki page have had that surname.
A Mary Alice Weir was an actress in J.C Williamson.
The surname reminded me of prominent Aussie film director Peter Weir, who did Picnic At Hanging Rock, so I checked it out.
Weir in 2011
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View full-sizeDownload Peter Lindsay Weir AM (/wɪər/ WEER; born 21 August 1944) is an Australian retired film director. He is known for directing films crossing various genres over forty years with films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Gallipoli (1981), The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), Witness (1985), Dead Poets Society (1989), Fearless (1993), The Truman Show (1998), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), and The Way Back (2010). He has received six Academy Award nominations, ultimately being awarded the Academy Honorary Award in 2022 for his lifetime achievement career.
Peter has parents Lindsay and Peggy (nee Barnsley).
This page shows a Peggy Barnsley in the right timeframe and probably right location, being daughter to an Archibald Sutton.
The name Archibald will ring a bell to any Australian, 'The Archibald Prize' being our most famous art award.
Well, this Archibald was son of a William Williamson Sutton, the bio for whom mysteriously reads
"Lindsay Weir…"
It is obviously a clue that he fits in there somewhere, so it is a clear we are in the ballpark of Peter Weir's relatives – Williamson’s, Archibald’s and Sutton’s.
We know the Weir and Williamson families are tight as well, because after Maggie ditched JC, he married Mary Weir.
[It’s also worth noting that WWS married an Ellen McKechnie, which seems awfully similar to McKeachie, a name mentioned above that appears amongst Kelly relatives.]
Anyway, the above Archibald is not the one the prize was named after, that would be Jules François, or John Feltham Archibald, depending on which alias you wish to use, and he was actually not an artist but an editor.
Of course, art prizes would be named not after actual artists, but editors!
And who else was an Archibald?
How about Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson, whom you probably just know as Henry Lawson, one of Australia's most famous authors and poets, or the mustached man on all those ten dollar notes your wallet is overflowing with.
Not a bad way to honor a guy who spent time in jail!
[Interesting also to see his Geni is managed by a Rebecca TAYLOR.]
IV.
So, what's the connection between JF and Lawson?
Well firstly, JF founded The Bulletin (1880), which Lawson was a regular contributor to.
And secondly, the two also spent much time travelling together.
The point is we can see all these famous people, deserving of their fame or not, are interconnected through family.
In fact, a portrait of JC Williamson has won the Archibald prize.
It may also interest you that famous actor Cary Grant’s real name is Archibald Alec Leach, and he is Jewish.
Grant in a publicity still for Suspicion (1941)
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View full-sizeDownload Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904 – November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. Known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, lighthearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing, he was one of classic Hollywood's definitive leading men. He was nominated twice for the Academy Award, received an Academy Honorary Award in 1970, and received the Kennedy Center Honor in 1981. He was named the second greatest male star of the Golden Age of Hollywood by the American Film Institute in 1999.
There is also a children’s rhyme that begins with the line, “Archibald, King of the Jews”.
My guess is that both JF and Lawson were Jewish.
If Weir is related to the Archibalds, perhaps he is as well.
V.
Lawson once wrote a short story with a Chinaman named ‘Ah Dam’.
At Ned’s Wiki, we learn,
“Kelly's first documented brush with the law was on 15 October 1869 at the age of 14 when he was charged with the assault and robbery of Ah Fook, a pig and fowl trader of Chinese descent from Bright.”
The Phonebook of China suggests ‘Ah Fook’ is a legitimate Chinese name, but if we’re taking Ned’s story as false, then one can’t help but consider it an Irishman’s joke (the Kellys were Irish).
Imagine accidentally banging your toe against something, then read the name in an Irish accent.
VI.
Here we find a Lawson who performed the Gilbert and Sullivan opera for JC Williamson and was elected Vice-President of the Gilbert and Sullivan society in 1944.
As Phyllis in Iolanthe, 1924
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View full-sizeDownload Winifred Lawson (15 November 1892 – 30 November 1961) was an English opera and concert singer in the first half of the 20th century. She is particularly remembered for her performances in the soprano roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas as a member of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company between 1922 and 1932.
Her autobiography contained a foreword by a Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent, whose father was a coal merchant, and who has many red flags.
Malcolm Sargent in 1941
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View full-sizeDownload Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29 April 1895 – 3 October 1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated included the Ballets Russes, the Huddersfield Choral Society, the Royal Choral Society, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, and the London Philharmonic, Hallé, Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and Royal Philharmonic orchestras. Sargent was held in high esteem by choirs and instrumental soloists, but because of his high standards and a statement that he made in a 1936 interview disputing musicians' rights to tenure, his relationship with orchestral players was often uneasy. Despite this, he was co-founder of the London Philharmonic, was the first conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic as a full-time ensemble, and played an important part in saving the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from disbandment in the 1960s.
[I did briefly check to see if he was related to the famous painter John Singer Sargent and could find no connection, but as this paper is not on them my search here was far from exhaustive.
I did find red flags on JSS here however, should anyone wish to explore him further.
Said to be a merchant who inherited a prosperous business from his father, with many merchants in his genealogy, lived at 33 Tite St (of note: house previously owned by famous painter Whistler, which by association would bring into question many of the famous old master painters), offered Knighthood, mention of a Salem Courthouse by an Adams.
Enough to get anyone started, should they wish.]
Miles:
I generally leave the truly talented out of my sights, which is why Sargent has so far got a pass.
VII.
Here I've stumbled upon some random Fitzgeralds, and if you take the Wilson link you have Kings.
And if you follow these crazy links in order, you get from a Kelly (formerly Fitzgerald/Jerald) to a William Kelly that married a Zimmerman, which reminds us of Bob Dylan (aka Robert Zimmerman), who Miles has already outed.
A Taylor who is the wife of "Isaac Newton Joiner.”
I guess Joiner is not a real name, instead being a place mark for the anonymous person who joins the Taylors to Isaac Newton (who you also might have heard of, dabbled in science).
Miles:
I think what you should take from this paper is that wherever you go, there they are.
The same scamming families have infiltrated and infested every last square inch of this poor planet.
You could spelunk 100 miles below the surface of the Earth, light a match, and scorch the buns of some Fitzgerald or Fogg who had got there first and set up a bazaar.
You could balloon 80 miles above the surface, lost in darkness, breathing from a tank, and you would collide with some Bennett or Barnum trying to sell you a trombone and the accompanying insurance.
You could parachute from a commercial airliner over the mid-Pacific, halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand, swim ashore on an uncharted island, and find it was already paved from beach to beach by some prescient Payne or Stewart, crowned and sceptered.
I am sure that when they finally land a man on Mars, he will find the Cohens and Sterns already there, having filled all the subsurface caverns with mini-malls and ATMs.
