What Ned Kelly Relevance?
If the reader has read the true story of Ned Kelly, then they will have a sense of what relentless persecution and hate can do to someone’s mindset to drive them to retaliate in kind.
This is perhaps the best factual account written of Ned Kelly.
Relevance to Julian Knight? WTF! you may say.
Research into the historical truth of the notorious Kelly Gang will reveal that there are many more things different between Ned Kelly (1854-1880) himself and with Julian Knight (1968- ), without indulging into an essay of the details here. However, separate research and insight gained into each of these two unrelated men of a century apart, reveals to this author some key similarities.
This is deserving comparative analysis paper for another time, but appropriately for this website. To many, this will seem a bizarre comparison. But don’t be immediately presumptively dismissive. Don’t be ignorant. Wait for the paper!
This author from Victorian rural heritage of the 1840s has became a long close and loyal mate of fellow Victorian Julian Knight, pre-Hoddle Street.
His crimes remain unforgivable and inexcusable. He knows that, agrees, is genuinely remorseful, has tried to convey his sincere apologies to the victims and their families, has served his criminal sentence. Victoria no longer has the death penalty as in 1880 – that’s one key difference from Ned.
Also, very unrelated, this author has long studied the life and times of Ned Kelly (1854-1880) the Victorian bushranger, including have read the above book and recommend it honestly to others. This book was sitting on a bookshelf in an historic old schoolhouse restored into current self-contained boutique accommodation situated on an avenue of honour on the outskirts of the rural village of Woodend located in rural central Victoria. One was on a deserved getaway sitting by an open fire in the renovated old large classroom during the cooler months and once lifted this book simply couldn’t put this book down. It was a late night and followed up over the weekend, but there was ironbark aplenty, fridge full and no work commitments – one was on holidays.
Result: I finished the book cover-to-cover and congratulate Peter Carey’s literary masterpiece of Australian truth. I think the Kellys would be thankful.
This author has previously written a number of papers on this historical subject of Ned Kelly. English police of the then British Victorian colony, culturally hated and persecuted the abject poor Catholic Irish immigrants with a specially targeted contempt toward the Irish Catholic Kelly family that had settled in rural Beverage, Victoria.
Ned Kelly and his gang would later shoot some of his persecutors dead (three police at Stringybark Creek 1878 who were out hunting down the Kelly gang. Was this the media “ambush” propaganda to kowtow to the government of the day. Else, was it a self defence tactic by ‘preemptive strike’ by Ned to avert his certain remote murder by same?)
This author has read numerous books on the Kelly Gang, many disappointingly displaying uniformed bias (Peter FitzSimons), except in Peter Cary’s book (above). To those who may take an interest in the relevant history of the Kelly’s, one has done the walking tour of Glenrowan, Beechworth Gaol, stayed at Jerilderie, Euroa, read and studied Ned Kelly’s Jerilderie Letter, rode horseback through the wild stoney Kelly country where he and his brother Dan had tried legitimately to farm turnips, and walked through Greta, etc, etc.
Ned Kelly was never in the army of an English colonial Victoria, and his family being persecuted by same never obviously desired to be. The Victoria Police became a hated enemy of Ned Kelly.
For those still interested, here’s some uncertified background info on Ned Kelly: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kelly-edward-ned-3933
What Julian Knight Comparison?
Over a century after Ned’s hanging in 1880 at now the ‘old’ Melbourne Gaol, and his headless corpse being interred in the grounds of HM Prison Pentridge, Julian Knight also Victorian-born was by stark contrast destined from an early age to become a lifetime soldier with the Australian Regular Army.
Julian was adamant to advance in infantry skills, command leadership and experience to as far as he could go with what the Army would allow him.
Julian’s background prior to being accepted in late 1986 into the Royal Military College, Duntroon is detailed elsewhere on this website. Check this link within this website:
Julian Knight’s retaliation to Duntroon Bastardisation
Army Officer Cadets were banned by the ADF obviously to bring any personal weapons on to the Duntroon college campus. Likely, very few junior cadets (designated age range 18-23) even owned a firearm, let alone possessed a firearms license.
The Army must have acted under some special unique legislation to issue assault rifles to all cadets, specifically in 1987 the SLR L1A1 (with block and bayonet) and M16 automatic assault rifles. Many junior cadet (freshmen) would never have fired a rifle before arriving at Duntroon, let alone an automatic assault rifle.
The contemptuous hate by a certain cohort of senior cadets of Kokoda Company in 1987 (as identified in Julian Knight’s ‘Personal Account’ to the Defence Abuse Response Taskforce, had been palpably vitriolic and manifestly violent and criminal.
Had Knight’s assailants, the identified Duntroon senior cadets of Kokoda company not vandalised and disabled Knight’s Torana V8 SLR5000 car back at barracks following Knight’s retaliatory late night stabbing of his lead tormentor Mungo Reed at the Bin nightclub (Sunday 31 May 1987 at 0225 hrs); then Knight would have still had this car after he was forced to resign from Duntroon and from the Army altogether.
But the persecuted Julian Knight, then banished by Duntroon and the Army from his chosen lifetime career on 24th July 1987, with no car had to resort to travelling back down to his home in Melbourne with his tail between his legs so to speak by public transport. He was understandably dejected, humiliated and despondent. The Army had shunt him into oblivion to never return.
The Army had no idea of the PTSD it had unilaterally caused and inflicted upon one of its own keen and capable recruits in Julian Knight.
Knight had personally owned three long arms. He had stored them for safekeeping in his mother’s home under the bed. Back in 1987 in Victoria, installation of in-house locked steel ‘gun safes’ were not mandatory for licensed firearms holders to secure their firearms and ammunition in the home.
…to be continued…