Regular readers of this blog will know that I don’t spend a lot of time on Ned Kelly. Blogs and websites dedicated to the Kellys explore the subject in great depth. The history of north eastern Victoria is so much bigger than the story of the Kelly Gang and so I have focused on things that interest me and that I can relate to my family history and my own experience. 

Early in 2015 I had the opportunity to research some letters written in early 1879 in order to authenticate them. The letters were written by a bank teller named George Vernon McCracken when he was working at the Colonial Bank of Australasia in Benalla. The letters mention a whole host of interesting things, one of which was the Kelly Gang. The letters had been brought to the attention of Wangaratta solicitor John Suta, known for his work in the repatriation of Ned Kelly’s remains, and a self confessed “Kelly tragic”. John immediately saw the value in the letters and determined to have the letters authenticated. He enlisted Jamie Kronborg, a journalist for North Eastern Media  who published an article, in January 2015.

Not long after Jamie’s article I was hard at work, analysing every part of the letters and verifying their provenance. Using dozens of research questions I was able to verify the letters as genuine, with a solid provenance. The story and information that came out of this research is complex and very interesting. The connections to Wangaratta come in the most unexpected form and every aspect of the letters and of their provenance has its own story, but these do NOT relate to the Kelly Gang!

The letters give an insight into the life of a young man making his way in the world and reporting back to his parents during his first job away from home. Just one of the comments young McCracken makes on bank letterhead is that there was “great dissatisfaction at the movements of the police in the matter of the Kellys and people are beginning to declare against the force in general”. He makes a few other comments about the Kelly Gang, one of which is significant in substantiating one small event in the Kelly saga. The letters are MOSTLY about his home and family, and about ordinary life in the bank. They are a lovely insight into the life of a young man, away from home, connecting with his family members in the late 1870s. They record the relationship between a young teller, his work mates and the bank manager. I was fascinated by the personal connections and the glimpses of colonial bank life. 

While you’re waiting for the bigger story, a truncated version of Jamie’s latest newspaper article on my findings can be found for free here.  You can read a slightly more detailed review of the research on page 6 of the edition of the Wangaratta Chronicle published on Friday 26th June 2015. You may also find the article in the Beechworth based Ovens and Murray Advertiser. 

Needless to say the writing up of this research will take quite a while, and as at August 2021 it hasn’t been completed. I will not respond to specific questions, nor debate about the content of the letters or the author. Comments making ignorant, crass and moronic statements about the letters, my research or qualifications will be ignored. 

**Postscript 3rd July 2015** Some readers have chosen to ignore the above information regarding refraining from making stupid comments, so all comments have been disabled on this post. As a result of some people from various Kelly factions behaving like complete jerks, the very minor content of the letters relating to the Kelly Gang will be removed from the final publication.

This post was first published on https://conversationswithgrandma.com.au. If you see it anywhere else, please contact the author of this blog.