The Outlaw
Pretty Sally

During the 1840s, Pretty Sally Smith lived just up the road. But as is the case with most bush legends, details about her life are sketchy.

It’s been said she was fond of a drink. That she was ‘as ugly as you would meet on a day’s march’. And in his poem, Country Roads – Pretty Sally, C.J. Dennis described her as ‘brim-full of fun and laughter’.

What most people seem to agree on though is her occupation: she was the proprietor of an illegal wine shanty. It would have been a rickety shack frequented by weathered drovers passing through town, and by local farmers quenching their thirsts on the sly. Ned Kelly’s father was most likely one of her patrons as well. He and his wife settled in the area during the 1840s – and Ned was born at Wallan East in 1855.

For all the speculation about her life, there’s no doubt Ms Smith’s renegade ways earned her quite a reputation. Big Hill, where her shanty is said to have stood, was soon rechristened, Pretty Sally Hill, and it’s been that way ever since.

Pretty Sally Bakehouse is our nod to Wallan’s first outlaw.