The Last of the Bushrangers: An Account of the Capture of the Kelly Gang

Hare, Francis AugustusProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.3
Word count
408K words
Chapters
41

Tags

English Originals Documentary Literature Historical ReappraisalAustralian OutbackBushrangersBandit SagaPolice and CrimePursuit OperationThrilling NarrativeLaw EnforcementDocumentary NarrativeExotic Culture

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Last of the Bushrangers: An Account of the Capture of the Kelly Gang by HareAuthor: Hare, Francis Augustus,Language: English, Class: HV: Social sciences: Social pathology, Social and Public Welfare, Release Date: Apr 23, 2018

Editor's review

This book is Francis Augustus Hare's firsthand account of the hunt for the Kelly Gang. Writing as a participant, the author recalls the pursuit as it unfolded, and his narrative carries the unmistakable standpoint and personal judgments of his time. It is therefore both a primary source from the historical scene and a text that calls for critical reading. Readers can see the complex face of nineteenth-century Australian bush law enforcement, police–outlaw confrontations, and public opinion. This edition is the public-domain English eBook from Project Gutenberg and preserves the original narrative voice. It is best read as a blend of historical source and narrative literature: follow the timeline and relationships of the events, while noting the author's biases in wording; comparing it with later accounts of the Kelly Gang will be all the more rewarding.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. Learn the basic timeline of the Kelly Gang first, then read the author's account to avoid confusion over who's who.
  2. Mark the author's subjective judgments and emotional language as you read, distinguishing factual statements from expressions of stance.
  3. Use a map or related historical background material to reconstruct the geography of the pursuit.
  4. After finishing, compare it with later accounts of the Kelly Gang to form your own judgment.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
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  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
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  15. 15
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  19. 19
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  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41

FAQ

Is this book a novel or a true story? It is the author's firsthand recollection of the hunt for the Kelly Gang, historical narrative nonfiction rather than a novel. But the account carries personal biases and the prejudices of its era, so it requires critical reading.
What was the Kelly Gang? The Kelly Gang was a group of bushrangers in the nineteenth-century Australian colony of Victoria, led by Ned Kelly. It was involved in numerous police–outlaw clashes and left a deep mark on Australian history and folklore. This book recounts the hunt for and capture of the gang.
Is the English difficult? The original is late nineteenth-century English prose, with long sentences and some wording that feels distant from modern English. Readers with upper-intermediate to advanced English can read it smoothly; beginners are advised to use a dictionary and background materials.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Hare, Francis Augustus Author

Francis Augustus Hare is an author about whom little is publicly documented; his nationality and dates of birth and death remain uncertain from available records. According to library records, only one work is attributed to him: The Last of the Bushrangers: An Account of the Capture of the Kelly Gang. As the title indicates, it is a factual account of the downfall of the notorious Australian bushranger Kelly Gang, belonging to the same colonial-era bushranger subject matter. Such works are typically written from the perspective of a participant or law-enforcement officer, emphasizing the details and immediacy of the pursuit and capture, and combining historical value with narrative readability. Judging by the title, Hare's style leans toward plain, documentary reporting rather than literary fiction. The book stands as an early account of the Kelly Gang affair and retains some reference value for later research and popular writing. Given the limited material, further verification of his life and full body of work is needed.