The Story of the Kelly Gang — Complete Cut
Australia created the world's first feature-length narrative film; roughly an hour was once screened, but only fragments can be assembled today.
Quick facts
- Existence state
- Officially Gone
- Peak stage
- general availability
- Research confidence
- high
- Last verified
What it was
The complete original release of Charles Tait's 1906 bushranger film, rather than its surviving reconstructed fragments.
The production staged Ned Kelly's robberies, pursuit and last stand across locations around Melbourne.
Existence timeline
The Tait family stages the Kelly story in Victoria.
The feature begins a highly successful run.
Prints travel across Australia and overseas.
Only isolated pieces remain known.
Several finds expand the surviving reconstruction.
The remains enter the international Memory of the World register.
Why it ended
Most reels disappeared after exhibition and reuse, leaving only incomplete material discovered in several later finds.
Last confirmed trace
The National Film and Sound Archive preserves authenticated fragments, stills, a poster and the original programme.
What it left behind
UNESCO recognises the surviving material as evidence of the birth of feature narrative cinema and an early Australian screen identity.
How we classified it
The archive unit reached normal public release or operation and is no longer obtainable in its original public form.
Verified normal public availability maps to 100 under Arrival Score V1.
Sources & verification
Last reviewed 2026-08-01. Sources are linked so readers can inspect the evidence directly.