"The police, the local newspapers, and respectable townspeople often spoke out against the gangs of young men who formed in country areas ...One of the things they hated most about youths like Ned (Kelly) and his friends was their 'flashness'. The Ovens and Murray Advertiser was critical of the mobs and their 'flashness'. On 22 July 1876 it had described the youths involved as having '...a disregard for authority and a tendency to vicious and unmanly pursuits'.

To mark themselves out as different, a distinct group, these young men wore a 'uniform', gathered in gangs, behaved in a high-spirited way, and liked to ride horses in a showy manner. The gang of young men which gathered in the Kelly country was called the Greta Mob.

The police tried to take the 'flashness' out of families like the Kellys ...which gave the greta Mob ...a ready-made model to follow. There were about forty mambers in the greta Mob. They dressed and acted 'flashily', travelled on horseback, and gathered at pubs and horse-race meetings. Part of their 'uniform' included wearing a hat with a chin strap under the nose. They gave information to the Kellys, and the size of the mob and their activities meant that they often drew public attention away from the Kellys.' (Disher 1981, pp66-67)

"The Crimean Shirt"

Worn by many of the bushrangers, including the Kelly gang, the shirt is a large shirt that could double up as a loose smock. It was worn either tucked into trousers or loose outside and tied at the waist with a belt, sometimes over another shirt. It has straight hanging sides with a wide soft Peter Pan style collar.

The sleeves are what is known as Leg O' Mutton, that is they were narrow at the wrist but widened out about a quarter to half way along to the shoulder,  They were multi-pleated. The front was somewhat like a polo shirt as they were secured by only three or four buttons at the front. These were horn, pearl shell or wood normally.  They were normally made of cotton but I have heard of serge and flannel  variants. They came in a wide range of colours and often very 'busy' designs including checks, stripes (normally vertical), large polka dots, etc.  However, solid colour variants were also commonplace.