“It wasn’t… an aesthetic choice; it was about not getting shot!” costume designer Alice Babidge said about the Kelly Gang’s legendary armour. Set during the late 1880s, the armour worn in True History of the Kelly Gang (2019) would’ve been made by unskilled outlaws and the costumes’ tarnished, heavy steel reflects that rough and ready aesthetic. They also reflect the collaborative design approach and characters – actor George McKay (Ned Kelly) wrote reams of poetry in character, which Babidge carved into the armour with a key. Along with the hammered steel, these personal touches give the armour authenticity – something Babidge aimed for by sticking to the story’s realism and avoiding any previous Ned Kelly films so she wasn’t influenced.
Curator Notes
Alice Babidge is a costume, set and production designer. She has designed for the theatre and opera (including working with Sydney Theatre Company, Opera Australia and English National Opera). She has also recently turned to working in films, including Justin Kurzel’s previous release Snowtown.
When setting out on a production, Alice often starts by reading the script before an initial conversation with the director. “I work quite intuitively… I read something and get a feel for how it should roll itself out”, she told us.
Next step is gathering images, without necessarily knowing what she’s looking for – something that feels right or has the right tone, palette, mood or energy. She collects all these, at times random images, and uses them to map out the whole of the world of the film. They're then consolidated and reduced into specific characters and scenarios.
For The True History of the Kelly Gang, Alice wanted the design to feel that it “was of the period and spoke to the histrionics of what was going on but approached with a definite contemporary eye”. She used the setting as a point of reference but also incorporated looks and ideas from the 1930s and 1970s. “I drew from whatever I felt could make the landscape authentic to our mode of storytelling, playing on the fictional quality of our story that has incredibly true aspects”. Like the Peter Carey book the film is based on, which is a fictional account of true events, the costumes are at times anachronistic but based on a core time period.
These armour pieces were hammered by NSW blacksmith Guido Gouverneur.
– Assistant Curator Jim Fishwick
True History of the Kelly Gang trailer from Stan
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Previously on display
10 February 2022
ACMI: Gallery 1
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The Story of the Moving Image → Moving Worlds → MW-04. Costume Design → MW-04-C01