By Cara Waters
John McWhirter accompanied police on the train to the siege at Glenrowan, got involved in the fighting, then cut off Ned Kelly’s bloodied boot while he was interviewing the outlaw – perhaps odd behaviour for a journalist at The Age.
Research for a new exhibition on Australia’s most famous outlaw has revealed new details from McWhirter, whose coverage from Glenrowan was breathlessly awaited by his readers.
Curator Kate Rhodes with an original copy of The Age opened at the pages reporting on the Kelly Gang’s shootings.Credit: Joe Armao
State Library curator Dr Kate Rhodes and library staff uncovered new information about McWhirter’s involvement and reporting after finding an original edition of The Age covering the siege that was thought to have been partially destroyed.
Until now, historians and writers have mainly been relying on a copy of The Age uploaded to the online archive Trove that was badly damaged and missing in parts, but the full copy gives a more comprehensive account.
McWhirter accompanied police on the train to Glenrowan, filing stories under the headline “Extermination of the Kelly Gang”.
“There’s a note that it’s ‘from our own reporters’,” Rhodes said. “John McWhirter is not mentioned by name, but as far as we know, he is one of only four journalists and an illustrator who travel on the special train by invitation from the police. It’s really sort of gonzo journalism, they become very involved in the fighting, as opposed to reporting neutrally on it.”
The interest in the story was so great that the reporting in The Age is time stamped with new updates given on June 29, 1880 at 9.30am, 10.30am, 12.20pm, 1.20pm then 4pm.
“The narrative supplied by our special reporters contains a full account of the proceedings and will be read with extraordinary interest,” the report states. “Edition after edition was issued by The Age and the sheets were seized with avidity as the runners left our office.”
The reporting contains one of the most famous lines written about Kelly, describing him as ‘a fiend with a charmed life’.
“Nine police joined the conflict and fired point blank at Kelly, but although it was apparent that many of the shots hit him, the consequence was in the way in which he staggered, yet he always recovered himself and tapping his breast, he laughed derisively at his opponents, as he coolly returned the fire, fighting only with a revolver,” the report states. “It appeared as if he was a fiend with a charmed life.”
The Age reports on the “Extermination of the Kelly Gang”. Credit: Joe Armao
Rhodes points out that even in The Age’s coverage there is conflicting information, with the newspaper reporting that Kelly was shot in the right foot while Kelly himself said he was shot in the left.
The reports in The Age do not include details of McWhirter cutting off Kelly’s boot, but McWhirter gave evidence to a royal commission that this happened.
“He was helping the doctor,” Rhodes said. “Ned’s complaining of being cold, he probably has a fever at this point and lost a lot of blood. The reports are that they received 28 bullet wounds at this time and John McWhirter is actually one of the few people who report on all of this at the royal commission.”
Kate Rhodes reviews the original copy of The Age which the library found. Credit: Joe Armao
The newspaper reports were discovered as part of the State Library’s new Ned Kelly project, Mouthful of Dust, which marks Kelly’s armour and boot being moved into a new display in the Redmond Barry room at the library.
The library made 3D scans of the Kelly collection such as the armour, rifle and boot and commissioned five writers, including Sarah Krasnostein and Wesley Enoch.
Ned Kelly’s boot on display at the State Library of Victoria. Credit: Joe Armao
Rhodes says her research in the area shows how hard it is to know where the truth of a story lies.
“There are always multiple perspectives on history,” she said.
She hopes the project raises questions about Kelly’s continued relevance and why we still talk about him more than 150 years on.
“It keeps us talking about the birth of this country really about issues of colonialism and issues of power, and Kelly allows us to talk about all of these things,” she said.
Kelly’s armour and boot are displayed at the State Library and Mouthful of Dust is online.
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