As a boy, I remember reading a story in the Wizard – a weekly boys’ magazine – about Ned Kelly. It came with an illustration of a man who looked like a robot, with a metal head and an armoured body, withstanding a furious hail of bullets as he battled against overwhelming government forces, the last man left standing after an assault on his hide-out. I had not heard the name before, but nowadays I suspect most will know of this famous bushranger.
Nineteenth-century Australia was a rough place. In the mid 1800s, it was also the place to be after gold was discovered and fortunes were just waiting on the ground to be collected. Tens of thousands of prospectors from around the world flocked to Port Phillip (Melbourne’s harbour) to join
