The police shootings at Stringybark Creek in 1878 changed the course of the Ned Kelly story irreversibly. Ambushing the police party sent to pursue them, the Kelly Gang killed three of the four officers, prompting the government to declare them outlaws and offer a handsome reward for their capture — setting the stage for the Kelly Gang's notorious last stand at Glenrowan.
"Poor Ned" was originally written by Trevor Lucas and later made famous by Redgum. Told through the lens of Ned's own account of his life and the Stringybark events, the song offers a fierce condemnation of police power while celebrating his enduring legend.
Mast Gully Fellers have been playing "Poor Ned" live for many years. But the one-sided view of the Stringybark killings — both in the song and in Ned's own Jerilderie Letter — compelled the band to write a song from the other side, like a counterweight to the legend, because behind those three men who fell that day were three families, left without a father or husband, alone in the harsh landscape of 1878..
There are two sides to every story.
‘Poor Ned’ tells one of them.
The new original single ‘No Escaping’ tells the other - Set for release on May 8