‘Joe Byrne was physically the finest, and morally the least objectionable member of the gang, and he carried the brains of the entire party. Tall, straight, good looking, fairly well educated, and certainly clever, he might have had an honourable and successful career but for the bias towards crime, or the fascination of adventure, that drew him into partnership with the Kellys. Byrne was, in a sense, the apologist, and even the poet of the gang. He wrote accounts of their doings, in both prose and verse, and even tried to get his literary efforts published’
From ‘Ned Kelly: After a Century of Acrimony.’
An Outlaw’s Journal 