Glenrowan-Ned Kelly Series

Such is life. Historical record

This is subtitled, as it were, ‘Such is life!’ Muster up yourspirits and go out as well as you can. The police thoughtthey were an army so I gave them, satirically, a regimentalgoat. The Aboriginal trackers are there with tribal markings.Irish police and non-Irish police, Aborigines from a remoteculture and outlaws all meeting on this fateful stage, likethe final act of an opera, all lined up. No wonder the skywent crimson. Mrs Reardon is still there, the baby with adifferent shawl. She changed it as she ran along; a good mother.Sidney Nolan Text © National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 2010