At the invitation of the National Museum of Australia in Canberra, I had the opportunity to travel to the land down under in early February 2004 to participate in an international conference, Representing Outlaws: Bushrangers, Rebels, and Revolutionaries in Popular Culture. This invitation grew out of the museum's interest in our 2003 (volume 33) issues on American West(s) in Film, Television, and History. I had the pleasure of guest editing those issues and the privilege of working with many fine scholars. Those issues resulted from Film & History's successful conference in Kansas City in November 2002. The National Museum's interdisciplinary conference on the outlaw in popular culture included film, history, literature, folklore, music, and art. After a welcoming speech by aboriginal representative Mrs. Ruth Bell, keynote speakers, folklorist and cultural historian Graham Seal and Professor Stephen Knight of Cardiff University opened the conference by exploring what is an outlaw hero, and how are they made? Warren Fahey, a prominent Australian folklorist, performer and broadcaster offered lively folk tune serenades celebrating outlaws and national culture. Film events included Ned Kelly (2003) by feature film producer Nelson Woss and Besieged: The Kelly Legacy (2003) by documentary producer and director Gregory Miller. Both of these Australian filmmakers provided a behind-the-scenes look at film productions based on historical, yet legendary subjects. Marilyn Dooley of Screensound Australia, the National Screen and Sound Archive, provided rare silent footage and underscored the problems of preservation efforts facing film archivists. (My visit to the permanent exhibition on the history of Australian broadcasting and film at Screensound offered a comprehensive media study.) Novelist Gary Langford spoke on his fictionalization of the Kelly story, The Adventures of Dreaded Ned (1980). Langford also shares scriptwriting credit for the television movie The Bushrangers (1975). Although Ned Kelly, Australia's preeminent outlaw, loomed large in the presentations, participants also discussed international figures as well. Professor Stephen Knight, British expert on the legend of Robin Hood, outlined the metamorphoses of the leading brand-image in outlaw tradition, tracing the legend's affinity to outlaw stories found in other cultures. Dr. Zhang Ye of the Australian Chinese Times discussed traditional codes and values of the Water Margin Bandits from 12th century China. Barry Carr of Latrobe University examined the cultural interpretations of Pancho Villa in traditional 19th century corridas and 20th century narco-corridos music. Stephen Foster of the Australian National University examined the controversial cinematic representation of Indian Bandit Queen Phoolan Devi. In addition to the outlaw as portrayed in art, history, and media, representatives of the National Museum of Australia, the National Trust (Victoria) and the State Library of Victoria-Ian Coates, Diane Gardiner, and Allison Holland-discussed the difficult problem of avoiding a validation of violence when planning an exhibit featuring criminal subjects. As cultural repositories serving a diverse audience that task requires a difficult balance in presentation. Although officially outlaws, the likes of a Ned Kelly or Phoolan Devi were considered folk heroes to their contemporaries, as well as to the generations who grow up with the embellished legends of these criminals. Because there are more popular culture tales than physical artifacts available, a curator's task becomes even more complicated. all of these are issues that those of us beyond the museum walls may not appreciate. This brief description of some of the many excellent presentations cannot do justice to the diverse 'conversation this conference produced. I'm sure we all departed with new research projects in mind, as well as questions to be sorted out in later reflection. …