Wonder what the kid in the photo below thought years later about being present for the trophy photo shoot of a dead member of the Kelly Gang?
Today, a child being present when terrorists pose corpses for photos is deemed a foul and disgusting outrage, which, of course, it is. But there's something just so casual and everyday about the people in the photo you get the sense this was not uncommon
Background on this extraordinary pic, which turns out to be Australia's First Press Photo:
Captured by J.W, Lindt in 1880, the photo shows the dead body of a member of Ned Kelly's infamous gang, strung up on a door outside the jail house in Benalla in regional Victoria.
Joe Byrne died from loss of blood after being shot in the groin during the siege of Glenrowan pub. Another photographer is pictured mid-shot, while an illustrator walks away from the new technology with his hat on and portfolio tucked under his arm.
The image is part of an exhibition called The Photograph and Australia at the Art Gallery of NSW, open now until June 8
