The night was dark and stormy-wild, my students had gone home
I had the spooky feeling that I was not alone
I looked towards the portrait heads all lined up in a row
My sculpture students have such fun in my bush studio
A clap of thunder took the light, my heart-beat froze in fear
The hair stood up upon my head, I knew someone was near
I struck a match in need of all the courage I could rally
Then an eerie light lit up the portrait of Ned Kelly.
The atmosphere around it grew, I noted with a start
I heard his voice inside my head, it nearly stopped my heart
‘Write a ballad for a man the public never heard
I’ll tell the people how it felt with every flamin’ word.’
I gasped, ‘I’m just a nobody, I can’t write well for you.’
He snapped, ‘We’re all a nobody, and yet somebody too!’
His presence was so very strong, I could say overbearing
It made me doubt I had a choice about what we were sharing
I begged, ‘Allow me freedom, if you want me to connect’
‘Freedom. Yes!’ He took a bow, ‘now that I do respect.’
His attitude seemed quite polite - for a wild bush ranger
Though dark and wilful, angry too, I felt I liked the stranger
She told us tales about the pranks Kelly’s gang got up to’
There’s one about the policeman’s ball, hidden from archives
You locked the cops in their own cells, and then waltzed with their wives.
His smile was grim, ‘We lively lads, were only out for fun
The silly gendarmes took offence, and kept us on the run
In time the problem escalated, turned out for the worst
But anything we did to them, I say they did it first.
What they really wanted was to take my family’s lands
Won by honest sweat and work, with bare and calloused hands
They told the town I was a thief, and passed around the rumour
When little men abuse their power, I lose my sense of humour
But those up high saw fit to cry, ‘selectors are invalid
It wasn’t bought, your work means naught, because we want to sell it’
To see gross greed and unjust gain, masquerade as justice
Us Kellys took the brunt of it, it really did disgust us.’
Well, the coppers had their day, Ward, Steele and Goebles
Flouncing with the ‘upper crust’- folks they saw as ‘nobles’
I’ve no respect for little men who carry out the plan
For the vultures on the top - we had to make a stand!’
I saw that Ned was quite a man, handsome, vain and proud
Who would defend right to the end, all the Kelly crowd
I had the thought to ask of him, what it was he wanted
He turned on me the haunted look of a creature hunted
‘To work my family’s fields in peace, a pretty bride beside me
The same as any other man, but all that was denied me
Day and night they’d not let up, they harried and they hounded
They came in greater numbers till they had us boys surrounded
I didn’t fire first amid the turmoil angst and strife
Before I knew it I was trapped and fighting for my life
I vowed that if they wanted war, then a war I’d give
‘Come and get me, do your worst, but let my family live.’
And while they spewed such hogwash as ‘Australia fair and free’
I swore that I would make them pay for what they did to me
Oh, God, I want to curse those men, curse them all to hell
To break their bones and flay their hides and purge their rotten smell
His outrage grew to fill my shed, and though it terrified
At last I saw the reason why he felt so justified
My wish was then to give him voice, his message to relay
‘They praise me as a legend and my memory they anoint
They make of me a hero, yet they damn well miss the point!
Wake up my strong and hearty lads, get up and seize the reins
Let the greedy rule you, and you’ll all end up in chains
Many doleful hours spent, a-sitting in the clink
Awaiting execution gives a man much time to think
When you hear a free bird calling just outside your cell
Freedom will mean more to you, I learned that lesson well
And while I beat on midnight’s door with deep despair around me
The legal bandits went Scott free, a fact that still astounds me
My kindly chaplain always preached ‘these souls you must forgive’
I couldn’t do it - I was young and just wanted to live.’
Kelly bowed, he’d said his bit, I offered a salute
To this man of spirit, fame and disrepute
An angry gust and he was gone as wind roared through the valley
I won’t forget that stormy night, the night I met Ned Kelly.