Author(s): Charles Chomley

Australiana

The True Story of the Kelly Gang of Bushrangers, published in 1900, was a highly researched biography of the notorious 19th-century Victorian family of bushrangers. Chomley wrote the biography using court documents, police records and court evidence.] It is recognised as being one of the most accurate depictions of the story of Ned Kelly, particularly regarding the police involvement. In his discussion of The True Story of the Kelly Gang of Bushrangers, Paul Eggert writes: "He often expresses scepticism about the extant accounts of events and of motives, but his attitude is always one of confident understanding and conservative judgement". As the nephew of Arthur Wolfe Chomley, the Assistant prosecutor at Ned Kelly's trial in 1880, and the nephew of Hussey Malone Chomley, a police officer during the Kelly years, Chomley had a unique insight into the case