Sidney Nolan Australia in 2013, following those of Brett Whiteley and Russell Drysdale. Sidney Nolan Sir Sidney Robert Nolan (; 22 April 191728 November 1992) was one of Australia's leading artists of the 20th century. His oeuvre is among the most diverse and prolific in all of modern art. He is best known for his series of paintings on legends from Australian history, most famously Ned Kelly, the bushranger and outlaw. Nolan's stylised depiction of Kelly's armour has become an icon of Australian art. Sidney Nolan was born in Carlton, at that time an inner working-class suburb of Melbourne, on 22 April
Ned Kelly Richards—shoot him before he shoots me". The party then interceded for Richards, but Kelly said, "He must die". Before leaving Ned Kelly remarked that he had made a great blunder which would likely lead to their capture. Months prior to arriving in Jerilderie, Kelly composed a lengthy letter with the aim of tracing his path to outlawry, justifying his actions, and outlining the injustices he and his family suffered at the hands of the police. He also decries the treatment of poor selector families by Victoria's Squattocracy, and, in "an escalating promise of revenge and retribution", invokes "a mythical tradition