John Rosanowski

A useful book, covering much of the story of the Burgess-Kelly gang and their murderous exploits on the NZ goldfields. Unfortunately the book tends to accept the Informer Sullivan's version of events and gives little respect for the story as told by gang-leader, Burgess. A closer analysis of the trial evidence would have disclosed the authorities' successful attempts to "massage" the evidence to gain the convictions of Kelly and Levy. There was witness tampering, as well as false and concealed evidence of Moller's journey to Nelson on which Sullivan's version fundamentally relied. The sophistry of summing-up by the Judge requires close scrutiny, as does the second trial - this time of Sullivan himself - which gives support to the notion that the authorities used Sullivan to gain convictions on his confederates, and then ignored that evidence to convict Sullivan himself. John Rosanowski