Brillant new chapter uncovered about Australia’s famous outlaw
By Aaron Cordy
RIDING the high country with the Kelly Gang is a romantic notion that’s captivated Aussies for nearly 150 years. The names of Ned Kelly, Dan Kelly, Jack and Tom Lloyd, Joe Byrne, Steve Hart and Aaron Sherritt are part of Australian folklore. But what of those lesser names who didn’t ride with the gang or get shot down and become part of the myth that is the Kelly Gang?
James Wallace: The Kelly Gang Sympathiser is a brilliant new book by Peter L. Newman, which uncovers the crucial role played by one of those lesser-known names that kept the Kelly Gang at large for two years.
James Wallace was a respectable teacher when Ned Kelly terrorised the state, but he was also a lifelong friend of Joe Byrne. That friendship led Wallace to work behind the scenes to keep the gang provisioned, feed misleading information to the police, help collect the plough shares used to make Ned armour and was suspected in far more sinister dealings with the Kelly Gang.
Peter L. Newman’s years of research bring this exciting but little-known chapter of Australian folklore to life in a page-turner any Ned Kelly enthusiast or history buff will not want to miss.
You can find James Wallace: The Kelly Gang Sympathiser online at Booktopia or Collins Booksellers in Maude Street Shepparton.
