Sidney Nolan
Videos
Photos
Sir Sidney Robert Nolan was one of Australia's leading artists of the 20th century. Working in a wide variety of media, his oeuvre is among the most diverse and prolific in all of modern art. He is best known for his series of paintings on legends from Australian history, most famously Ned Kelly, the bushranger and outlaw. Nolan's stylised depiction of Kelly's armour has become an icon of Australian art.
Sidney Nolan, 1940s, by Albert Tucker
Heide I, where Nolan painted the majority of his early Ned Kelly works
The Trial, held at the National Gallery of Australia, is one of 27 paintings comprising Nolan's 1946–47 Ned Kelly series.
In 1952, Nolan documented the effects of drought in outback Queensland. His photographs of desiccated animals were a catalyst for his later drought paintings.
Ned Kelly
Videos
Photos
Edward Kelly was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout with the police.
Kelly's boyhood home, built by his father in Beveridge in 1859
At age 11, Kelly saved a young boy from drowning in a creek, and was awarded this green sash in recognition of his bravery. Kelly wore the sash under his armour during his last stand at Glenrowan. It remains stained with his blood. (Benalla Museum)
Harry Power has been described as Kelly's bushranging "mentor".
Power's capture. Kelly was accused of informing on the bushranger.