AustLit

'Near the end of his rollicking account of Australia’s most notorious outlaw family, Grantlee Kieza zooms in on Ned Kelly’s last words:

'The reporters are all too far away to hear with any certainty what Ned says. One thinks it is “Ah well, I suppose it has come to this”, while another thinks that he has stopped in mid-sentence and simply said, ‘‘Ah well, I suppose …” As the seven stunned journalists … quiz each other in whispers about what Ned might have said with his last desperate breath, [Melbourne Herald reporter Jim] Middleton tells himself he has a great quote. He jots down three words: “Such is life”.' (Introduction)