It’s hard to fathom that 25 years have passed since Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang was published to such acclaim. A glance at the novel’s entry in the AustLit database gives a sense of the phenomenon. It has gone through 15 editions, won 17 awards – including the Booker Prize and the Commonwealth Writers Prize – and been the subject of more than 200 reviews and articles. It has been translated into 28 languages and regularly finds itself on must-read lists of Australian novels.
Even before Carey’s novel, Ned Kelly was a cultural icon – a beloved (by some) rogue and outlaw, with a status both historical and mythological. His story was well known; his life had been subject to numerous treatments, fictional and non-fictional, across a range of media, including Sidney Nolan’s powerful series of paintings.
