13th Congress of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research

Presentation Abstracts

SEAL, Graham

Narrating Nation: Ned Kelly and the ambivalence of folk heroism

The opening ceremony of the 2 000 Olympics in Sydney provided an opportunity for the organisers to parade to the rest of the world the popular images of Australian national identity. These included such apparently bizarre items - at least to overseas guests and viewers - as a lawnmower and a clothesline. These and other icons of nation were accompanied by dozens of what appeared to be walking black letterboxes. These oddities were, in fact, representations of what has so far been the most abiding Australian symbol - the bushranger Ned Kelly.

This paper does not propose to explain why lawnmowers and clotheslines are symbols of Australian identity or how and why a man who robbed banks and murdered three policemen has come to be Australia's national hero. It does, however, examine aspects of folk hero narratives, especially their qualities of ambivalence, contradiction and transgression. These are applied mainly to the enigmatic figure of Ned Kelly, Australian outlaw hero, popular icon and national identity.

Ned Kelly is seen as an extreme, and therefore illuminating, example of the processes and imperatives that have produced folk heroes and heroines in all times and places. While Kelly is a central figure in Australian national identity, his roles and functions can be seen in many other folk hero narratives.

Ned Kelly is one of Australia's most important national conversations. He is part of our folklore, our popular culture and our high art. Our narrative about Ned Kelly is characterised by his ambivalent status as both a hero and a villain. The ways in which we talk about Ned Kelly, the ways we 'story' him, reveal an Australian manifestation of a process often found in relation to folk heroes. That is an ability - perhaps an imperative - to mediate, negotiate, straddle often-contradictory cultural spaces and meanings.

These include, among other things, 'Irishness', authority, class, violence, the bush/city dichotomy and notions of national identity.

From these contestations and conflicts - and for them - we have produced a hero who not only embodies many of our cherished myths of national identity but who, through the contradictions and ambivalence inherent in his own image, negotiates and mediates those inherent in our culture.