Kelly was born in Victoria to an Irish convict
father, and as a young man he clashed with the Victoria Police.
Following an incident at his home in 1878, police parties searched
for him in the bush. After he killed three policemen, the colony
proclaimed Kelly and his gang wanted outlaws.
A final violent confrontation with police took
place at Glenrowan on 28 June 1880. Kelly, dressed in home-made
plate metal armour and a helmet, was captured and sent to jail. He
was convicted of three counts of wilful murder and hanged at Old
Melbourne Gaol in November 1880. His daring and notoriety made him
an iconic figure in Australian history, folklore, literature, art
and film.
In August 2011, anthropologists announced that
a skeleton found in a mass grave in Pentridge Prison had been
confirmed as Kelly's. His skull, however, remains missing.
Early life
Kelly's father, John Kelly (better known as
"Red"), was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, and was transported
in 1841 from Tipperary to Tasmania for stealing two pigs, not for
shooting at a landlord as the Victorian Royal Commission indicated
in "an unwarrantable piece of propaganda."
After his release in 1848, Red Kelly moved to
Victoria and found work at James Quinn's farm at Wallan Wallan,
where he worked as a bush carpenter. He subsequently turned his
attention to gold-digging, at which he was successful and which
enabled him to purchase a small freehold at Beveridge.
In 1851, at the age of 30, Red Kelly married
Ellen Quinn, his employer's 18-year-old daughter, in Ballarat.
Their first child, Mary Jane, died at six months in 1850, but
Ellen Kelly then gave birth to a daughter, Annie, in 1853.
The Kellys' first son, Edward ("Ned"), was born
in Beveridge, just north of Melbourne. His date of birth is not
known, but at Beveridge he said to an officer, "Look across there
to the left. Do you see a little hill there?", "That is where I
was born about 28 years ago. Now, I am passing through it, I
suppose, to my doom."
Kelly was baptised by an Augustinian priest,
Charles O'Hea. As a boy he obtained basic schooling and once
risked his life to save another boy, Richard Shelton, from
drowning. As a reward he was given a green sash by the boy's
family, which he wore under his armour during his final showdown
with police in 1880.
Kelly's family moved to Avenel, near Seymour,
where Red Kelly became noted as an expert cattle-stealer. In 1865
he was convicted of cattle duffing and imprisoned. Red Kelly died
at Avenel on 27 December 1866 shortly after his release from
Kilmore gaol. When Red Kelly died he was survived by his wife and
seven offspring, Ned and Dan, James, Mrs Gunn, Mrs Skillion, Kate
and Grace. Several months later the Kelly family acquired 80 acres
(320,000 m2) of uncultivated farmland at Eleven Mile
Creek near the Greta area of Victoria, which to this day is known
as "Kelly Country".
The Kellys were suspected many times of cattle
or horse stealing, but never convicted. Ned Kelly himself claimed
that he had stolen over 280 horses as a boy. Red Kelly was
arrested when he killed and skinned a calf claimed to be the
property of his neighbour. He was found innocent of theft, but
guilty of removing the brand from the skin and given the option of
a twenty-five pound fine or a sentence of six months with hard
labour. Unable to pay the fine, Red served his sentence, which had
an ultimately fatal effect on his health. The saga surrounding
Red, and his treatment by the police, made a strong impression on
his son Ned.
In all, eighteen charges were brought against
members of Ned's immediate family before he was declared an
outlaw, while only half that number resulted in guilty verdicts.
This is a highly unusual ratio for the time, and led to claims
that Ned's family was unfairly targeted from the time they moved
to northeast Victoria. Perhaps the move was necessary because of
Ellen's squabbles with family members and her appearances in court
over family disputes. Antony O'Brien argued that Victoria's
colonial police practices treated arrest as equivalent to proof of
guilt. Further, O'Brien argued, using the "Statistics of Victoria"
crime figures that the region's or family's or national
criminality was determined not by individual arrests, but rather
by the total number of arrests.
Rise to notoriety
Ned's first documented brush with the law was
on 15 October 1869 at the age of 14 when he was charged with the
assault and robbery of Ah Fook, a pig and fowl trader from a
Chinese camp near Bright. According to Ah Fook, as he was passing
the Kelly house, Ned approached him with a long bamboo stick,
announcing that he was a bushranger and would kill him if he did
not hand over his money. Ned then took him into the bush, beat him
with the stick and stole 10 shillings. According to Ned, his
sister Annie and two witnesses, Bill Skilling and Bill Grey, Annie
was sitting outside the house sewing when Ah Fook walked up and
asked for a drink of water. Given creek water, he abused Annie for
not giving him rain water and Ned came outside and pushed him. Ah
Fook then hit Ned three times with the bamboo stick, causing him
to run away. Ah Fook then walked away threatening to return and
burn the house down. Ned did not return until sundown. Historians
find neither account convincing and believe that Ned's account is
likely true up to being hit by Ah Fook but then Ned likely took
the stick from him and beat him with it.
Ned was arrested the following day for Highway
Robbery and locked up overnight in Benalla. He appeared in court
the following morning but Sergeant Whelan, despite using an
interpreter to translate Ah Fook's account, requested a remand to
allow time to find an interpreter. Ned was held for four days.
Appearing in court on 20 October he was again remanded after the
police failed to produce an interpreter. The charge was finally
dismissed on 26 October and Ned was released. Sergeant Whelan
disliked Ned. Three months earlier when he had prosecuted Yeaman
Gunn for possession of stolen mutton, Ned testified that he had
sold several sheep to Gunn that same day. In a controversial
judgement, the magistrate found Gunn guilty and fined him £10.
Furious that Ned was not convicted for the robbery, Whelan now
kept a careful watch on the Kelly family and, according to fellow
officers, became "a perfect encyclopedia of knowledge about them"
through his "diligence".
Following his court appearance, the Benalla
Ensign reported, "The cunning of himself [Ned] and his mates got
him off", the Beechworth Advertiser on the other hand reported
that "the charge of robbery has been trumped up by the Chinaman to
be revenged on Kelly, who had obviously assaulted him."
Interestingly, Ah Fook had described
14-year-old Ned as being aged around 20 years. Some 12 months
later a reporter wrote that Ned "gives his age as 15 but is
probably between 18 and 20". Although 5' 8" in height, Ned was
physically imposing. When arrested, a 224 pounds (102 kg) trooper
was purportedly unable to subdue the then 15-year old Ned until
several labourers ran to assist him and even then Ned had to be
knocked unconscious
Harry Power
On 16 March 1870, bushranger Harry Power and
Ned Kelly stuck up and robbed Mr M'Bean. Later that year on 2 May,
he was charged with robbery in company and accused of being
Power's accomplice. The victims could not identify Ned, and the
charges were dismissed. He was then charged with robbery under
arms, but the principal witness could not be located and the
charges were dismissed. He was then charged a third time, for a
hold-up with Power against a man named Murray. Although the
victims for the third charge were reported to have also failed to
identify Ned, they had in fact been refused a chance to identify
him by Superintendents Nicolas and Hare. Instead, superintendent
Nicolas told the magistrate that Ned fit the description and asked
for him to be remanded to the Kyneton court for trial. Instead of
being sent to Kyneton, he was sent to Melbourne where he spent the
weekend in the Richmond lock-up before transferring to Kyneton. No
evidence was produced in court and he was released after a month.
Historians tend to disagree over this episode: some see it as
evidence of police harassment; others believe that Kelly’s
relatives intimidated the witnesses, making them reluctant to give
evidence. Another factor in the lack of identification may have
been that the witnesses had described Power's accomplice as a
"half-caste". However, superintendent Nicholas and Captain
Standish believed this to be the result of Ned going unwashed.
Kelly's grandfather, James Quinn, owned a huge
piece of land at the headwaters of the King River known as
Glenmore Station, where Power was ultimately arrested. Following
Power's arrest it was rumoured that Kelly had informed on him and
Kelly was treated with hostility within the community. Kelly wrote
a letter to police Sergeant Babington pleading for his help in the
matter. The informant was in fact Kelly's uncle, Jack Lloyd.
In October 1870, Kelly was arrested again for
assaulting a hawker, Jeremiah McCormack, and for his part in
sending McCormack's childless wife a box containing calves'
testicles and an indecent note. This was a result of a row earlier
that day when McCormack accused a friend of the Kellys, Ben Gould,
of using his horse without permission. Gould wrote the note, and
Kelly passed it to one of his cousins to give to the woman. He was
sentenced to three months' hard labour on each charge.
Upon his release Kelly returned home. There he
met Isaiah "Wild" Wright who had arrived in the area on a chestnut
mare. While he was staying with the Kellys, the mare had gone
missing and Wright borrowed one of the Kelly horses to return to
Mansfield. He asked Ned to look for the horse and said he could
keep it until his return. Kelly found the mare and used it to go
to Wangaratta where he stayed for a few days but while riding
through Greta on his way home, Ned was approached by police
constable Hall who, from the description of the animal, knew the
horse was stolen property. When his attempt to arrest Kelly turned
into a fight, Hall drew his gun and tried to shoot him, but Kelly
overpowered the policeman and humiliated him by riding him like a
horse and driving his spurs into the back of his legs. Hall later
struck Kelly several times with his revolver after he had been
arrested. Ned always maintained that he had no idea that the mare
actually belonged to the Mansfield postmaster and that Wright had
stolen it. After just three weeks of freedom, 16-year-old Kelly,
along with his brother-in-law Alex Gunn, was sentenced to three
years imprisonment with hard labour for "feloniously receiving a
horse". "Wild" Wright escaped arrest for the theft on 2 May
following an "exchange of shots" with police, but was arrested the
following day. Wright received only eighteen months for stealing
the horse.
After his release from Pentridge Prison in
February 1874, Ned allegedly fought and won a bare-knuckled boxing
match with 'Wild' Wright that lasted 20 rounds.
While Kelly was in prison, his brothers Jim
(aged 12) and Dan (aged 10) were arrested by Constable Flood for
riding a horse that did not belong to them. The horse had been
lent to them by a farmer for whom they had been doing some work,
but the boys spent a night in the cells before the matter was
cleared.
Two years later, Jim Kelly was arrested for
cattle-duffing. He and his family claimed that he did not know
that some of the cattle did not belong to his employer and cousin
Tom Lloyd. Jim was given a five-year sentence, but as O'Brien
pointed out the receiver of the 'stolen stock' James Dixon was not
prosecuted as he was 'a gentleman'.
Shoemaker shop brawl
In September 1877 a drunk Kelly was arrested
for riding over a footpath and locked-up for the night. The next
day, while he was escorted by four policemen, he escaped and ran,
taking refuge in a shoemaker's shop. The police and the shop owner
tried to handcuff him but failed. During the struggle Kelly's
trousers were almost ripped off. Trying to get Kelly to submit,
Constable Lonigan, whom Kelly later shot dead, "black-balled" him
(grabbed and squeezed his testicles). During the struggle, a
miller walked in, and on seeing the behaviour of the police said
"You should be ashamed of themselves." The miller then tried to
pacify the situation and induced Kelly to put on the handcuffs.
Kelly said about the incident "It was in the
course of this attempted arrest Fitzpatrick endeavoured to catch
hold of me by the foot, and in the struggle he tore the sole and
heel of my boot clean off. With one well-directed blow, I sent him
sprawling against the wall, and the staggering blow I then gave
him partly accounts to me for his subsequent conduct towards my
family and myself."
Legend has it that Kelly told Lonigan that "If
I ever shoot a man, Lonigan, it'll be you!"
In October 1877, Gustav and William Baumgarten
were arrested for supplying stolen horses to Kelly and were
sentenced in 1878. Baumgarten served time in Pentridge Prison,
Melbourne.
Fitzpatrick incident
On 15 April 1878, Constable Strachan, the
officer in charge of the Greta police station, learned that Kelly
was at a certain shearing shed and went to apprehend him. As
lawlessness was rampant at Greta, it was recognised that the
police station could not be left without protection and Constable
Alexander Fitzpatrick was ordered there for relief duty. He was
instructed to proceed directly to Greta but instead rode to the
hotel at Winton, where he spent considerable time. On resuming his
journey he remembered that a couple of days previously he had seen
in The Police Gazette an arrest warrant for Dan Kelly for
horse stealing. He went to the Kelly house to arrest him. This
violated the police policy that at least two constables
participate in visits to the Kelly homestead. Finding Dan not at
home, he remained with Mrs Kelly and other family members, in
conversation, for about an hour. Upon hearing someone chopping
wood he went to ensure that the chopping was licensed. The man
proved to be William "Bricky" Williamson, a neighbour, who said
that he only needed a licence if he was chopping on Crown land.
Fitzpatrick then observed two horsemen making towards the house he
had just left. The men proved to be the teenager Dan Kelly and his
brother-in-law, Skillion. Fitzpatrick returned to the house and
made the arrest. Dan asked to be allowed to have dinner before
leaving. The constable consented, and took a seat near his
prisoner.
In an interview three months before his
execution, Kelly said that at the time of the incident he was 200
miles from home. His mother had asked Fitzpatrick if he had a
warrant and Fitzpatrick said that he had only a telegram to which
his mother said that Dan need not go. Fitzpatrick then said,
pulling out a revolver, "I will blow your brains out if you
interfere." His mother replied, "You would not be so handy with
that popgun of yours if Ned were here." Dan then said, trying to
trick Fitzpatrick "Here he (Ned) is coming along." While he was
pretending to look out of the window for Ned, Dan cornered
Fitzpatrick, took the revolver and claimed that he had released
Fitzpatrick unharmed. Kelly denied that Fitzpatrick could have
tried to take liberties with his sister she would not have stood
for it.
Fitzpatrick rode to Benalla where he claimed
that he had been attacked by Ned, Dan, Ellen, their associate
Bricky Williamson and Ned's brother-in-law, Bill Skillion.
Fitzpatrick claimed that all except Ellen had been armed with
revolvers and that Ned had shot him in the left wrist and that
Ellen had hit him on the helmet with a coal shovel. Williamson and
Skillion were arrested for their part in the affair. Ned and Dan
were nowhere to be found, but Ellen was taken into custody along
with her baby, Alice. She was still in prison at the time of Ned's
execution. (Ellen would outlive her most famous son by several
decades and died aged 95 on 27 March 1923.)
Kelly asserted that he was not present and that
Fitzpatrick's wounds were self-inflicted. Upon what Kelly claimed
was Fitzpatrick's false evidence, his mother, Skillian and
Williamson were convicted. A reward of £100 was offered for
Kelly's arrest. Kelly claimed that this injustice exasperated him,
and led to his taking to the bush. Just before Kelly was taken
away from Benalla after the Glenrowan shootout, Senior-constable
Kelly claimed he interviewed him in his cell. The Senior-constable
claims that Kelly admitted to shooting Fitzpatrick.
Trial
At the Benalla Police Court, on 17 May 1878,
William Williamson, alias "Brickey", William Skillion, and Ellen
Kelly while on remand, were charged with aiding and abetting
attempted murder. Ellen Kelly, Skillion and Williamson appeared on
9 October 1878 before Judge Redmond Barry charged with attempted
murder. Despite Fitzpatrick's doctor reporting a strong smell of
alcohol on the constable and his inability to confirm the wrist
wound was caused by a bullet, Fitzpatrick's evidence was accepted
by the police and the judge. They were all convicted on
Fitzpatrick's unsupported evidence. Skillion and Williamson both
received sentences of six years and Ellen three years. Barry
stated that if Ned were present he would "give him 15 years".
Fitzpatrick's legacy is coloured by the fact
that he was later dismissed from the force for drunkenness and
perjury and that after the trial Dr. Nicholson told Fitzpatrick
that his wound "was never caused by a bullet".
Killings at Stringybark Creek
Dan and Ned Kelly doubted they could convince
the police of their story. Instead they went into hiding, where
they were later joined by friends Joe Byrne and Steve Hart.
The police heard privately that the Kellys were
in the Wombat Ranges at the head of the King River. On Friday 25
October 1878, two parties of police were secretly despatched, one
from Greta, consisting of five men, with Sergeant Steele in
command, and one of four from Mansfield, with the intention of
executing a pincer movement.
Sergeant Kennedy from the Mansfield party set
off to search for the Kellys, accompanied by Constables McIntyre,
Lonigan, and Scanlon. All were in civilian dress. The police set
up a camp on an disused diggings near two miners huts at
Stringybark Creek in a heavily timbered area.
About six a.m. on Saturday, Kennedy and Scanlan
went down the creek to explore, and they stayed away nearly all
day. It was McIntyre's duty to cook, and he attended closely to
camp duty. During the morning a noise was heard, and McIntyre went
out to have a look, but found nothing. He fired two shots out of
his gun at a pair of parrots. This gunshot, he subsequently
learned, was heard by Kelly, who must have been on the lookout for
the police. At about 5 pm, McIntyre was at the fire making tea,
with Lonigan by him, when they were suddenly surprised with the
cry, "Bail up; throw up your arms."
They looked up, and saw four armed men on foot.
Three carried guns, and Ned Kelly two rifles. Two of the men they
did not know, but the fourth was the younger Kelly. They had
approached up the rises and long grass or rushes had provided them
with excellent cover until they got close. McIntyre had left his
revolver at the tent door, and was unarmed. He therefore held up
his hands as directed, and faced them. Lonigan started for shelter
behind a tree, and at the same time put his hand upon his
revolver. Before he had moved two paces, Edward Kelly shot him in
the temple. He fell at once, and as he laid on the ground said,
"Oh Christ, I am shot." He died in a few seconds. Kelly had
McIntyre searched, and when they found he was unarmed, they let
him drop his hands. They got possession of Lonigan and McIntyre's
revolvers. Kelly remarked, "What a pity; what made the fool run?"
The men helped themselves to articles from the tent. Kelly talked
to McIntyre, and expressed his wonder that the police should have
been so foolhardy as to look for him in the ranges. He made
inquiries about four men, and said he would roast each of them
alive if he caught them. Steele and Flood were two of the four. He
asked McIntyre what he fired at and said they must have been fools
not to suppose he was ready for them. It was evident that he knew
the exact state of the camp, the number of men, and the
description of the horses. He asked where the other two were, and
said he would put a hole through McIntyre if he told a lie.
McIntyre told him and hoped they would not be shot in cold blood.
Kelly replied "No, I am not a coward. I'll shoot no man if he
holds up his hands."
One of the gang told McIntyre to take some tea
and asked for tobacco. He gave them tobacco and had a smoke
himself. Dan Kelly suggested that he should be handcuffed, but Ned
pointed to his rifle and said, "I have got something better here.
Don't you attempt to go; if you do I'll track you to Mansfield and
shoot you at the police station." McIntyre asked whether he was to
be shot. Kelly replied, "No, why should I want to shoot you? Could
I not have done it half an hour ago if I had wanted?" He added,
"At first I thought you were Constable Flood. If you had been, I
would have roasted you in the fire." Kelly asked for news of the
Sydney man, the murderer of Sergeant Wallings. McIntyre said the
police had shot him. "I suppose you came out to shoot me?" "No,"
replied McIntyre, "we came to apprehend you." "What," asked Kelly,
"brings you out here at all? It is a shame to see fine big
strapping fellows like you in a lazy loafing billet like
policemen." He told McIntyre if he was let go he must leave the
police, and McIntyre said he would. The best thing McIntyre could
do was to get his comrades to surrender, for if they escaped he
would be shot. "If you attempt to let them know we are here, you
will be shot at once."
McIntyre asked what they would do if he induced
his comrades to surrender. Kelly said he would detain them all
night, as he wanted a sleep, and let them go next morning without
their arms or horses. McIntyre told Kelly that he would induce his
comrades to surrender if he would keep his word, but he would
rather be shot a thousand times than sell them. He added that one
of the two was father of a large family. Kelly said, "You can
depend on us." Kelly stated that Fitzpatrick, the man who tried to
arrest his brother in April, was the cause of all this; that his
(Kelly's) mother and the rest had been unjustly "lagged" at
Beechworth. Kelly then caught sound of the approach of Kennedy and
Scanlan, and the four men concealed themselves, some behind logs,
and one in the tent. They made McIntyre sit on a log, and Kelly
said, "Mind, I have a rifle for you if you give any alarm."
Kennedy and Scanlan rode into the camp. McIntyre went forward, and
said, "Sergeant, I think you had better dismount and surrender, as
you are surrounded." Kelly at the same time called out, "Put up
your hands." Kennedy appeared to think it was Lonigan who called
out, and that a jest was intended, for he smiled and put his hand
on his revolver case. He was instantly fired at, but not hit; and
Kennedy then realised the hopelessness of his position, jumped off
his horse, and said, "It's all right, stop it, stop it." Scanlan,
who carried the Spencer rifle, jumped down and tried to make for a
tree, but before he could unsling his rifle, he was shot down. A
number of shots were fired.
McIntyre found that the men intended to shoot
the whole of the party, so he jumped on Kennedy's horse, and
dashed down the creek. As he rode off he heard Daniel Kelly call
out, "Shoot that ******". Several shots were fired but none
reached him. Apparently the rifles were empty and only the
revolvers available, or he would have been hit. He galloped
through the scrub for two miles, and then his horse became
exhausted. It had evidently been wounded. He took off the saddle
and bridle, and wounded from a severe fall during his escape and
with his clothes in tatters, he concealed himself in a wombat hole
until dark. At dark, he started on foot, and walked for an hour
with his boots off to make no noise before collapsing from
exhaustion at Bridge's Creek, After a rest, and using a bright
star, and a small compass, he took a westerly course to strike the
Benalla and Mansfield telegraph line and on Sunday afternoon at
about 3 pm after a journey of about 20 miles, he reached John
McColl's place, about a mile from Mansfield. A neighbouring
farmer's buggy took him to the police camp at the township, where
be reported all he knew to Sub-Inspector Pewtress.
Two hours or so after McIntyre reported the
murder of the troopers, Sub-Inspector Pewtress set out for the
camp, accompanied by McIntyre and seven or eight townspeople. They
had only one revolver and one gun. They reached the camp with the
assistance of a guide, at half-past 2 in the morning. There they
found the bodies of Scanlan and Lonigan. They searched at daylight
for the sergeant, but found no trace of him. The tent had been
burnt and everything taken away or destroyed. The post-mortem, by
Dr. Reynolds, showed that Lonigan had received seven wounds, one
through the eyeball. Scanlan's body had four shot-marks with the
fatal wound was caused by a rifle ball which went clean through
the lungs. Scanlan was 33, Lonigan 37 years of age. Three
additional shots had been fired into Lonigan's dead body before
the men left the camp. The extra shots were fired so that all of
the gang might be equally implicated.
During the search for Kennedy, on 29 October,
two relatives of the Kellys known as "Dummy Wright" and "Wild
Wright" were arrested in Mansfield. Wild Wright had to be
threatened with a revolver before he consented to handcuffs. The
two Wrights were brought to the police court and charged with
using threatening language towards members of the search party.
The older brother, Wild Wright, was remanded for seven days and
the other released.
No trace had yet been discovered of Kennedy,
and the same day as Scanlan and Lonigan's funeral, another search
party was started, which also failed. At four o'clock on the
following Wednesday another party started, headed by James
Tomkins, president of the Mansfield shire, and Sub-Inspector
Pewtress, accompanied by several residents, and on the following
morning the body of the unfortunate sergeant was found by H. G.
Sparrow.
The exact place at Germans Creek where this
occurred was identified in 2006. On leaving the scene Ned stole
Sergeant Kennedy's handwritten note for his wife and his gold fob
watch. Asked later why he stole the watch, Ned replied, "What's
the use of a watch to a dead man?" Kennedy's watch was returned to
his kin many years later.
In response to these killings, the reward was
raised to £500 and the Victorian parliament passed the Felons'
Apprehension Act which outlawed the gang and made it possible
for anyone to shoot them. There was no need for the outlaws to be
arrested or for there to be a trial upon apprehension. The Act was
based on the 1865 Act passed in New South Wales which declared Ben
Hall and his gang outlaws.
Bank robberies
Following the killings at Stringybark, the gang committed two
major robberies, at Euroa, Victoria and Jerilderie, New South
Wales. Their strategy involved the taking of hostages and robbing
the bank safes. Euroa
At midday on 9 December 1878, Kelly walked into the homestead of
Gooram Gooram Gong Wool station, at Faithful's Creek, owned by Mr
Younghusband. They assured the people that they had nothing to
fear and only asked for food for themselves and their horses. An
employee named Fitzgerald, who was eating his dinner at the time,
looked at Kelly and at the large revolver that he was nonchalantly
toying with, and said, "Well, if the gentlemen want food I suppose
they have got to have it."
The other three outlaws, having attended to the
horses, joined their chief, and the four imprisoned the men at the
station in a spare building used as a store. No interference was
offered to the women. He assured the male captives time after time
that they had nothing whatever to fear. Late in the afternoon the
manager of the station, Mr Macauley, returned and was promptly
bailed up. He told Ned Kelly that it was not much use coming to
that station, because their own horses were better than any he
had. Kelly, however, told him that he did not want horses, only
food for themselves and for their cattle.
Towards evening a hawker named Gloster camped,
as usual, on the station. When he went to the kitchen, a station
hand said, "the Kelly's are here." Gloster replied, "I wish they
were, it would be £2,000 in my pocket." Kelly looked up and said,
"What is that you say." Gloster, without waiting to give an
explanation, rushed towards the wagon, and Kelly and Joe Byrne
followed. McCauley was for the safety of Gloster and he followed
them. Gloster on reaching his wagon, was making a search for his
revolver, but he was "covered" by the bushrangers, and McCauley
cried out, "Look out Gloster, you will be shot", at the same time
appealing to Kelly not to shoot him. Gloster turned and said, "Who
are you?" Kelly replied, "I am Ned Kelly, son of Red Kelly, as
good a blood as any in the land, and for two pins I would put a
match to your wagon and burn it." The stationhands and Gloster
were all placed in the storeroom, under guard. The time passed
quietly until two o'clock in the morning, and at that hour the
outlaws gave a peculiar whistle, and Steve Hart and Joe Byrne
rushed from the building. McCauley was surrounded by the
bushrangers and Kelly said, "You are armed, we have found a lot of
ammunition in the house." After this episode the outlaws retired
to sleep.
On the afternoon of the second day, 10 December
1878, leaving Byrne in charge of the prisoners, the other three
started out to work what they called their new gold mine. First
they cut the telegraph wires, chopping the posts down to make
sure, and were careful to rip off more wire than an ordinary
repairer would carry with him. Three or four railway men
endeavoured to interfere, but they too joined the other prisoners
in Younghusband's storeroom. Carrying a cheque drawn by Macauley
on the National Bank for a few pounds, the three bushrangers, all
heavily armed, went to the bank. In the meantime Byrne had
apprehended a telegraph-line repairer, who had begun to make
trouble. The others reached the bank after closing time,
travelling in the hawker's cart. Kelly knocked at the door and
persuaded the clerk to open and cash the cheque he had. They
balled up the unwise clerk and his manager, Mr. Scott. The robbers
took £700 in notes, gold, and silver. Ned Kelly insisted to the
manager that there was more money there, and eventually compelled
him to open the safe, from which the outlaws got £1,500 in paper,
£300 in gold, about £300 worth of gold dust and nearly £100 worth
of silver. The outlaws were polite and considerate to Mrs. Scott.
Mr. Scott, invited the outlaws to drink whisky with him, which
they did. The whole party went to Younghusband's where the rest of
the prisoners were. The evening seems to have passed quite
pleasantly. McCauley remarked to Ned Kelly that the police might
come along, which would mean a fight. Ned Kelly replied, "I wish
they would, of there is plenty of cover here."
In the evening tea was prepared, and at
half-past 8 the outlaws warned the prisoners not to move for three
hours, informing them that they were going. Just before they left
Kelly noticed that a Mr. McDougall was wearing a watch, and asked
for it. McDougall replied that it was a gift from his dead mother.
Kelly declared that he wouldn't take it under any consideration,
and very soon afterwards the four of the outlaws left. What is
unusual is that these stirring events happened without the people
in the town knowing of anything.
In January 1879 police arrested all known Kelly
friends and purported sympathisers and held them without charge
for three months. This action caused resentment of the
government's abuse of power that led to condemnation in the media
and a groundswell of support for the gang that was a factor in
their evading capture for so long.
Jerilderie Ned Kelly
had heard that an individual named Sullivan had given evidence,
and that he had travelled by train from Melbourne to Rutherglen.
The Kelly gang then followed him there, but was told that he went
to Uralla across the border in New South Wales. By the time they
got to Uralla, Sullivan had left for Wagga Wagga. They followed
him to Wagga Wagga but lost sight of him. Kelly thought they he
might have travelled to Hay, so they took off in that direction
but later gave up their chase. On their return home, they passed
through Jerilderie, and the gang then decided to stick up the
bank.
At midnight on Saturday 8 February 1879, Ned
Kelly, Dan Kelly, Hart and Byrne surrounded the Jerilderie police
barracks. Constables George Denis Devine and Henry Richards were
on duty that night. Hart, in a loud voice, shouted, "Devine,
there's a drunken man at Davidson's Hotel, who has committed
murder. Get up at once, all of you." Richards, who was sleeping at
the rear of the premises, came to the front door. Devine opened
the door, meeting Kelly who told him there was a great row at
Davidson's. Devine approached Kelly, who pointed two revolvers at
the policemen, telling them to hold up their hands. Immediately
the police were pounced upon by the other men and placed in the
lock-up cell, and Mrs Devine and children were put into the
sitting-room. Afterwards Mrs Devine, in her nightdress, was made
to deliver up all the firearms. After this the gang went into the
sitting room, where they kept watch till morning.
The next day, Sunday, there was a chapel in the
courthouse, 100 yards from the barracks. Mrs Devine's duty was to
prepare the courthouse for mass. She was allowed to do so, but was
accompanied by one of the Kellys, at about 10 am Kelly remained in
the courthouse while Mrs Devine prepared the altar and dusted the
forms. When this was done Kelly escorted her back to the barracks,
where the door was closed and the blinds all down. Hart and Dan
Kelly, dressed out in police uniform, walked to and from the
stables during the day without attracting notice.
On Monday morning Byrne brought two horses to
be shod, but the blacksmith thought there was something strange in
his manner, so he noted the horse's brands. About 10 am The
Kellys, in company with Constable Richards, went from the
barracks, closely followed on horseback by Hart and Byrne. They
all went to the Royal Hotel, where Cox, the landlord, told
Richards that his companions were the Kellys. Ned Kelly said they
wanted rooms at the Royal, as he intended to rob the bank. Hart
and Byrne rode to the back and told the groom to stable their
horses, but not to give them any feed. Hart went into the kitchen
of the hotel, a few yards from the back entrance to the bank.
Byrne then entered the rear of the back, when he met the
accountant, Mr Living, who told him to use the front entrance.
Byrne displayed his revolver and induced him to surrender. Byrne
then walked him and Mackie, the junior accountant, into the bar,
where Dan Kelly was on guard. Ned Kelly secured the bank manager,
Mr Tarleton, who was ordered to open the safes. When this was
done, he was put in with the others. All were liberated at a
quarter to three.
The gang took two thousand pounds from the
bank. The bushrangers then went to some of the hotels, treating
everyone civilly, and had drinks. Hart took a new saddle from the
saddler's. Several watches were taken, but afterwards returned.
Two splendid police horses were taken, and other horses were
wanted, but the residents claimed that they belonged to women, and
Kelly relented. The telegraph operators were also incarcerated.
Byrne took possession of the office, and overhauled all the
telegrams sent that day. The group left about 7 pm in an unknown
direction. The Kellys openly stated that they had come to shoot
Constable Devine, but his wife's entreaties saved him. Ned Kelly
stated that he intended to stick up the Urana coach and bank. Two
policemen and two civilians armed with guns offered to go in the
coach, but the driver declined. The disarmed and unhorsed police
had no other means of following the gang.
Ned Kelly, in company with a Mr Living and
Constable Richards went to the printing office. S. Gill,
journalist, when called upon to stand, ran instead and planted
himself in the creek. Richards said, "Mrs Gill, don't be afraid,
this is Kelly." Kelly said, "All I want him for is for your
husband to print this letter, the history of my life, and I wanted
to see him to explain it to him." Living said, "For God's sake,
Kelly, give me the papers, and I will give them to Gill." Later in
the day Kelly relaxed with townspeople at M'Dougall's, and said
any one could shoot him, but then they would kill every
inhabitant.
After the manager had been secured, Ned Kelly
took Living back to the bank. and asked him how much money they
had. Living admitted to between £600 and £700, but Kelly replied,
"You must have £10,000". Living then handed him the teller's cash,
£691. Kelly asked if they had more money, and Living answered
"No." Kelly tried to open the safe's treasure drawer, but was told
by Living that it contained nothing of value. Kelly insisted and
one of the keys was given to him; but need the second key. Byrne
wanted to break it open with a sledgehammer, but Kelly got the key
from the manager and found £1450. Kelly noticed a deed-box and was
told that it contained a few worthless documents. He replied that
he would burn the contents, but Tarleton convinced him to take
only one document. The group then went to the hotel. Kelly took
two of the party to the back of the hotel, where he made a fire
and burned three or four bank books.
Before leaving, Kelly told the group that when
Fitzpatrick, the Benalla constable, was shot, he was not within
400 miles of Greta. However, he admitted to stealing 280 horses
from Whitty's station and denied that he had committed any other
crime. The horses, he stated, were sold to Baumgarten. Kelly
showed the group his revolvers, and pointed out one which he had
taken from Constable Lonigan, and further stated that he had shot
Lonigan with a worn-out, crooked musket. He asked those present
how they would like detectives pointing revolvers at their mothers
and sisters, threatening to shoot them if they did not say where
they were. He blamed such treatment for turning him against the
law. He said that he had come only to shoot the two policemen,
Devine and Richards, calling them worse than any black trackers,
especially Richards, whom he intended to shoot immediately.
Tarleton remarked that Kelly should not blame Richards for doing
his duty. Kelly then replied, "Suppose you had your revolver ready
when I came in, would you not have shot me ?" Mr Tarleton replied
"Yes." "Well," said Kelly, "that's just what I am going to do with
Richards—shoot him before he shoots me." The party then interceded
for Richards, but Kelly said, "He must die." Before leaving Ned
Kelly remarked that he had made a great blunder which would likely
lead to their capture.
New South Wales issued rewards totalling
£4,000. The Victorian Government matched that amount, making the
total reward for the Kelly gang £8,000
Voyage to California
From early March 1879 to June 1880 nothing was heard of the gang's
whereabouts. However, in late March 1879 Ned's sisters Kate and
Margaret asked the captain of the Victoria Cross how much
he would charge to take four or five gentlemen friends to
California from Queenscliff. On 31 March, an unidentified man
arranged an appointment with the captain at the General Post
Office to give a definite answer for the cost. The captain
contacted police, who placed a large number of detectives and
plain-clothes police throughout the building, but the man failed
to appear. There is no evidence that Ned's sisters were enquiring
on behalf of the gang, and was reported in the Argus as "without
foundation".
In April 1880 a Notice of Withdrawal of
Reward was posted by Government. It stated that after 20 July
1880 the Government would "absolutely cancel and withdraw the
offer for the reward".
Jerilderie letter
Months prior to arriving in Jerilderie, Joe
Byrne helped Ned Kelly dictate a lengthy letter for publication
describing his view of his activities and the treatment of his
family and, more generally, the treatment of Irish Catholics by
the police and the English and Irish Protestant squatters.
The Jerilderie Letter, as it is called, is a
document of 7,391 words and became a famous piece of Australian
literature. Ned Kelly handed it to Mrs. Gill, on Monday 10
February 1879 during the time when the Kelly gang held up the town
of Jerilderie.
Before the Jerilderie Letter, Kelly had posted
a 20-page letter on 16 December 1878 to a member of Parliament, Mr
Donald Cameron M.L.A, stating his grievances, but only a synopsis
was published. The letter highlights the various incidents that
led to him becoming an outlaw (see Rise to notoriety).
Excerpts of the Jerilderie Letter were
published and then it was concealed until rediscovered in 1930. It
was then published in full by the Melbourne Herald.
The handwritten document was donated
anonymously to the State Library of Victoria in 2000. Historian
Alex McDermott stated that "even now it's hard to defy his voice.
With this letter Kelly inserts himself into history, on his own
terms, with his own voice. ... We hear the living speaker in a way
that no other document in our history achieves". Kelly's language
is colourful, rough and full of metaphors; it is "one of the most
extraordinary documents in Australian history".
Murder of Sherritt On
26 June 1880 the Felons' Apprehension Act 612 expired, and
the gang's outlaw status their arrest warrants expired with it.
While Ned and Dan still had prior warrants outstanding for the
attempted murder of Fitzpatrick, technically Hart and Byrne were
free men although the police still retained the right to re-issue
the murder warrants.
On Friday, 25 June 1880, Dan Kelly and Joe
Byrne rode into the valley known as 'The Woolshed,' where Aaron
Sherritt had a small farm. Ned had decided to rob the banks of
Benalla, headquarters of most of the police engaged in the Kelly
hunt. First he planned to kill or capture the Benalla police in a
pitched battle at the small town of Glenrowan, when they had been
lured there by a diversion further along the railway line.
Aaron Sherritt was to provide the necessary
diversion. Treacherous, brutal, immoral and vain, Sherritt was the
most dangerous of the many police informers. Police money had
bought him a thoroughbred horse, flash clothes, and a fatal
arrogance. Spurned as a traitor by Joe Byrne's younger sister, he
had approached Kate Kelly and had been threatened by an enraged
Mrs. Skillion. He had married a 15-year old girl and settled on
his parents' farm to spy for the police and work for the death of
his former friends. He thought that the gang still trusted him
although he had spoken of gaining the £8,000. Four policemen were
stationed at the Sherritt house for protection.
The gang decided to kill him, while knowing of
the protection. They had watched the hut the previous night and
seen Sherritt come to the door, alone, to talk to Anton Weekes, a
German who had a small farm nearby. The two outlaws captured and
handcuffed Weekes, reassuring him that he would not be hurt if he
obeyed them. They pushed him to the back door of the hut. Joe
rapped on the door and then stood back, with Dan in the darkness.
They could hear movement inside. Sherritt's voice asked: 'Who is
there?' Prompted by Joe, the German replied: 'It is me, I have
lost my way.' Young Mrs. Sherritt opened the door. Aaron stood
framed in the doorway and began to joke with Weekes. "You must be
drunk, Anton. You know that it's over that way," laughed Sherritt.
As he raised his arm to point the direction, Byrne fired at
point-blank range. Sherritt staggered back bleeding from a bullet
through the chest. Byrne followed him and fired again. Sherritt
died without a word. His wife screamed and ran to cradle his head
in her arms while her mother (Mrs. Barry) asked her son-in-law's
killer: 'Why did you do it, Joe? Why did you do it?' Mrs. Barry
knew the Byrne family well and had been a particular friend of
Mrs. Byrne, Joe's mother. "I won't hurt you, Ma'am," replied the
outlaw. 'But that ******* had it coming to him. He will never put
me away again.'
When Weeks had first knocked at the door
Constable Duross had been talking with Sherritt and his wife in
the kitchen. He joined the 3 other police men in the bedroom. They
remained there while Sherrit was shot. Byrne told Barry to open
the front door of the hut. She did and revealed Dan Kelly a few
feet away. The Sherritt home was a typical 2-room slab hut of the
period. Dan could see through the bedroom and kitchen to Joe at
the back. 'All right police,' he shouted. 'You've been looking for
the Kellys. Well, here we are.' Joe ordered the frightened women
to leave the house. When they had done so the outlaws began
shooting into the walls of the bedroom. The police threw
themselves to the floor.
The gang then surrounded the hut, and called
upon the police to surrender, firing eight shots into the house.
The police said they would rather die than surrender. The gang
kept the police trapped for twelve hours, threatening to burn the
house down and roast them alive, but left without doing so.
Glenrowan shootout
According to Ned Kelly, after shooting Sherritt at Sebastopol, the
gang rode openly through Beechworth to Glenrowan, with the
intention of wrecking any special train bringing additional police
to join in their pursuit. They descended on Glenrowan about 8 am
on Sunday 27 June 1880 and took over the township without meeting
resistance from the inhabitants. The gang compelled the
line-repairers and others to damage the track. They selected the
first turning after reaching Glenrowan, at a culvert and on an
incline. One rail was raised on each side, and the sleepers were
removed. At 3 o'clock on Monday morning, they gathered their
captives (as many as 47) at the hotel. Under duress, drinks were
provided to both gang members and townspeople while a piano
played.
The gang members were equipped with armour that
repelled bullets (but left the legs unprotected). The police knew
about the armour, and that the gang had tested it with bullets at
ten paces. (The armour had been made in the district by a man well
known to the police, although the proof was insufficient for a
conviction.) Each man's armour weighed about 44 kilograms (97 lb).
All four had helmets. Byrne's was said to be the best, with the
brow reaching down to the nose piece, almost forming two eye
slits. All wore grey cotton coats reaching past the knees over the
armour.
Following the killing of the informer Sherritt,
two special trains had been dispatched from Melbourne carrying
police reinforcements and reporters. The former included native
police, whose tracking skills were a matter of particular concern
to Ned Kelly. The Kelly gang's attempt to derail and ambush the
leading train failed because a released hostage, schoolmaster
Thomas Curnow who had convinced Kelly to let him go, stood on the
railway line waving a lantern wrapped in his red scarf. The engine
driver stopped the train short of the broken track and the police
disembarked, to lay siege to the inn at dawn.
According to on-scene reporters from The Argus,
the police and the gang fired at each other for about a quarter of
an hour. Then there was a lull but nothing could be seen for a
minute or two because of the smoke. Superintendent Hare returned
to the railway-station with a shattered left wrist from one of the
first shots fired. He bled profusely, but Mr. Carrington, artist
of The Sketcher, stopped the haemorrhage with his handkerchief.
Mr. Hare returned to the battle but he gradually lost so much
blood that he had to be conveyed to Benalla by a special railway
engine.
The police, black trackers and others watched
the surrounded hotel throughout the night. At about 5 o'clock in
the morning the landlady, Mrs. Jones, began loudly wailing over
the fate of her son, who had been shot in the back. She came out
from the hotel crying bitterly and wandered into the bush on
several occasions. With the assistance of one of the prisoners she
removed her son from the building, and sent him to Wangaratta for
treatment. The firing continued intermittently. Bullets lodged in
the station buildings and the train.
At daybreak police reinforcements arrived from
Benalla, Beechworth, and Wangaratta. Superintendent John Sadleir
came from Benalla with nine more men. Sergeant Steele, of
Wangaratta, brought six, for a total of about 30 men. Before
daylight Senior-constable Kelly found a revolving rifle and a cap
lying in the bush, about 100 yards from the hotel. The rifle was
covered with blood and a pool of blood lay near it. They believed
it to belong to one of the bushrangers, hinting that they had
escaped. They proved to be those of Ned Kelly himself. At daybreak
the women and children among the hostages were allowed to depart.
They were challenged as they approached the police line, to ensure
that the outlaws were not attempting to escape in disguise.
Capture
In the early morning light, Kelly then attacked
the police from the rear, dressed in a long grey overcoat and
wearing an iron mask. He was armed only with a revolver. He moved
coolly from tree to tree, returning fire. Sergeant Steele,
Senior-constable Kelly and a railway guard named Dowsett charged
him. The latter was only armed with a revolver. They fired at him
with no effect. Sergeant Steele realised that his legs were
unprotected and brought him down with two shots, with Kelly
crying, "I am done—I am done." Kelly howled and swore at the
police. Steele seized him, but Kelly fired again. Kelly gradually
became quiet, shot in the left foot, left leg, right hand, left
arm and twice in the region of the groin. But no bullet had
penetrated his armour. He was carried to the railway station, and
placed in a guard's van and then to the stationmaster's office,
where his wounds were dressed by a doctor from Benalla named
Nicholson. Release of hostages
In the meantime the siege continued. The female hostages confirmed
that the three other outlaws were still in the house. Byrne had
been shot while drinking whisky at the bar about half-past 5 am.
The remaining two kept shooting from the rear of the building
during the morning, exposing themselves to the bullets of the
police. Their armour protected them. At 10 o'clock a white flag or
handkerchief was held out at the front door, and immediately
afterwards about 30 male hostages emerged, while Kelly and Hart
were defending the back door. They were ordered to lie down and
were checked, one by one. Two brothers named M'Auliffe were
arrested as Kelly sympathisers. Conflagration
At 2 pm a 12 pound cannon and a company of militia were sent up by
a special train. By afternoon, the shooting from the hotel had
ceased. The police leader, Superintendent Sadleir, decided to set
fire to the hotel and received permission from the Chief
Secretary, Robert Ramsay. At 2:50 pm a final volley was fired into
the hotel, and under cover of the fire, Senior-constable Charles
Johnson, of Violet Town, placed a bundle of burning straw at the
hotel's west side. As the fire took hold, the police began to
close in on the building. Mrs. Skillion and Kate Kelly appeared on
the scene at this juncture. The former endeavoured to make way to
her brothers, declaring she would rather see them burned than shot
by the police. The police, however, ordered her to stop.
A light westerly wind carried the flames from
the straw underneath the wall and into the hotel, and the
building's calico lined floor allowed the fire to spread rapidly.
Father Gibney, vicar-general of Western Australia, entered the
burning structure. He discovered the bodies of Dan Kelly and Steve
Hart. He stated that based on their position, they must have
killed one another. The exact cause of their death, whether in
battle or by suicide was never determined.
Hostage Martin Cherry was found dying from a
groin wound in the outhouse or kitchen immediately behind the main
building. He was promptly taken from the burning hotel and laid on
the ground, where Father Gibney administered the last sacrament.
Cherry was insensible, and barely alive. He succumbed within half
an hour. He was fortunate to not have burned alive. He seems to
have been shot by the attacking force, of course unintentionally.
The unmarried Cherry was an old platelayer of the district who
resided about a mile from Glenrowan. He was born at Limerick,
Ireland and was about 58 years old.
All that was left standing of the hotel was the
lamp-post and the signboard.
A man named Rawlins, a reporter with a
newspaper at Benalla, was shot and wounded. A boy and girl, the
children of Mrs. Jones, were shot. The young girl survived, but
the boy later died in hospital the following day. A black tracker
also had a narrow escape with a ball grazing his forehead.
The Royal Commission recommended that
Superintendent Hare be allowed to retire from the force, as though
he had attained the age of 55 years, and that, owing to his wound,
he receive an additional allowance of £100 per annum. One of the
black trackers and several hostages were also shot, two fatally.
The body of Joe Byrne was strung up in Benalla
as a curiosity. Byrne's friends asked for the body but it was
instead secretly interred at night by police in an unmarked grave
in Benalla Cemetery.
The charred remains of Dan Kelly and Hart were
taken to Mrs. Skillion's place at Greta. They were then placed
into very expensive coffins, the lid of the one was lettered
"Daniel Kelly, died 28th June 1880, aged 19 years" and the other
"Stephen Hart, died 28th June 1880, aged 21 years." They were
buried in unmarked graves by their families in Greta Cemetery
30 km (19 mi) east of Benalla.
Statements to the press
"I was going down to meet the special
train with some of my mates, and intended to rake it
with shot; but it arrived before I expected, and I then
returned to the hotel. I expected the train would go on,
and I had the rails pulled up so that these ******
blacktrackers might be settled. I do not say what
brought me to Glenrowan, but it seems much. Anyhow I
could have got away last night, for I got into the bush
with my grey mare, and lay there all night. But I wanted
to see the thing end. In the first volley the police
fired I was wounded on the left foot; soon afterwards I
was shot through the left arm. I got these wounds in
front of the house. I do not care what people say about
Sergeant Kennedy's death. I have made my statement of
the affair, and if the public don't believe me I can't
help it; but I am satisfied it is not true that Scanlan
was shot kneeling. He never got off his horse. I fired
three or four shots from the front of Jones's hotel, but
who I was firing at I do not know. I simply fired where
I saw police. I escaped to the bush, and remained there
overnight. I could have shot several constables if I
liked. Two passed close to me. I could have shot them
before they could shoot. I was a good distance away at
one time, but came back. Why don't the police use
bullets instead of duck shot? I have got one charge of
duck-shot in my leg. One policeman who was firing at me
was a splendid shot, but I do not know his name. I
daresay I would have done well to have ridden away on my
grey mare. The bullets that struck my armour felt like
blows from a man's fist. I wanted to fire into the
carriages, but the police started on us too quickly. I
expected the police to come." Inspector Sadleir.—You
wanted, then, to kill the people in the train ?" Kelly.
—"Yes, of course I did; God help them, but they would
have got shot all the same. Would they not have tried to
kill me?
-
"The hotel was surrounded by police and black trackers, who kept
up a continuous firing at the hotel building. It was a futile, as
well as cruel, business, because the place was full of the Kellys'
prisoners as anyone could tell by the awful screams. I stopped as
much of the shooting as I could and did none myself except to let
go a couple of revolver shots at two of the bushrangers who walked
on to the verandah with their armor on and fired at the police. I
knew about this armour, and it was that knowledge that was Ned
Kelly's downfall."
"The firing went on all night. Some of the
people from, the hotel did get away, but they had to run fearful
risks of being shot by the police and trackers some of whom, crazy
with excitement would have blazed away at anything they saw. There
seemed to be no system, no organisation or direction about the
attack. It was all fearfully bungled. A. determined rush by a few
trusty men would have settled the whole business. This was
suggested but turned down because of the likelihood of lives being
lost. There was not much chance of that. And anyway, it was war,
and lives were being lost in the hotel – the lives of
non-combatants. But the officer in charge had to have his way."
"All that night I did little. I was waiting for
Ned, principally. I wanted to make sure of him; and I had a kind
of inspiration that I should see him before it was all over. "Now,
as I told you, I knew about the armour that the outlaws were
wearing that night -for the first and last time, and I knew that a
bullet would have to be most correctly aimed to disable one of
them. Anyone who has shot in the dark knows how difficult it is to
pick ap the sights of a rifle, even with something light in front
of the object aimed at. It might have been possible to have hit
one of the outlaws in the head through the slot in the headpiece
that they used to see through, but it would have been mighty
uncertain at night with the man moving.
"I had thought all this over before, many a
time. I one day remembered haying read the story of how a
notorious American outlaw, who for a long time had appeared to
lead a charmed life, but eventually been shot dead by the brother
of a man he had murdered, and who had used, not a rifle, but a
double-barrelled gun, double loaded with buckshot Also, I
remembered reading somewhere that it was the practice to use
shotguns and buckshot against train robbers in the States.
"Buckshot is not known here. But the big leaden pellets known as
"swan drops" are. And I laid in a stock of these. Oh the night of
the battle, as I lay waiting for an opportunity to do something
useful, that old gun that I have just put away – it was new then
was lying by my side, well charged with the little bullets.
"It was dawn when a fresh outbreak of firing,
accompanied by cries and shouts, announced some new development in
the proceedings, the firing having for some time slackened down.
Looking towards the house, I saw in the dim grey, light a spectral
sort of figure that looked human, as to its clothes, but
altogether inhuman as to its shape and general appearance. It came
forward slowly, peppered by all who saw it, and firing back from
what appeared to be a big revolver, held tightly against the
breast. Regarding not at all the heavy fire that was directed
towards it from all quarters, the strange figure, enveloped in a
huge overcoat, strode slowly on. I had already recognised the
unaccustomed sound of metallic impact of bullets upon iron, and
whilst the men in front of me were yelling, 'Look out! It's the
devil'. 'You can't kill it!' and things like that, I realised that
at last my chance was coming. Because the big, weird figure was
coming straight for me!"
"'Was it fate!' I wondered. 'Was this Ned, come
to settle the affair of our vendetta in person?' I will not deny
that I got a bit excited, or that I felt a creepy feeling about
the roots of my hair. It was a cold morning, and I was chilled
with the long night of it, I know I shivered when I saw that
ghostly apparition stand behind the lower part of a fallen tree,
and quietly proceed to take pot shots at two or three of us with
the queer-looking weapon that it carried. Once this weapon ran
empty, and the spectre calmly reloaded it from the bag that was
over its shoulders. Then it started to shoot again. I fired at the
headpiece with my revolver, but the mark was small, and my hand
was not quite steady, and I do not know if I hit the thing at all
– certainly I did not hit the slit in the top of it that I aimed
at But the man in the headpiece took no notice except to take
steady aim at me and fire again. I felt the breath of the bullet.
I tried another pistol shot, but just aimed at the main bulk of
the figure. I heard the ball strike the iron armour, and that was
all. There were three or four shooting at the apparition, but with
no effect at all, though it was close to us."
"Then, in the gathering daylight, I saw my
chance. The tree trunk behind which Ned Kelly was standing. I was
now certain that I had to do with that redoubtable chieftain
himself rose in a sloping fashion from the ground, and at its
upper extremity left an open space beneath of about 2ft. In the
growing light of the dawn I noticed, beneath the tree trank, the
outlaw's legs. They were plainly visible, and unprotected by
armour. "I win, Ned" was the fierce thought that surged through me
as I raised the shot-gun, lying over on my left side to do it. "It
was as though I had spoken aloud. For at that instant I heard the
outlaw make an exclamation inside his great clumsy helmet, and
when I put my fingers on the triggers of the gun he was taking a
very careful aim at me." 'Would he disable me before I could
fire?" This was the one thought I had. It all passed like
lightning. Instinctively I rolled over a little – just as he fired
and missed. Then, half raising myself, I fired the right barrel of
my gun point blank under the log – straight at his legs. I heard
him give an exclamation as though of pain, and waited a second to
see if be would fall, But he stood firm, and leaning against the
log for support, prepared to take aim again. "I fired the left
barrel as quickly as I knew how, and prepared to dodge behind the
tree on my left, and fight the matter out with my revolver. But
there was no need. No sooner had the smoke of the gun cleared away
than I saw the outlaw's pistol hand drop. He staggered, and then,
with a cry of "I'm done for!" that sounded strange and hollow in
the cylindrical iron helmet, fell with a crash behind the stump.
"Three or four rushed to him. I was the first to reach him, and to
lift the helmet off. "So, I've got you at last, Ned" as his eyes
met mine. "Yes; you've done for me" he moaned. "Don't let them
hurt me!"
Ned Kelly survived to stand trial on 19 October
1880, at Melbourne before Irish-born Justice Sir Redmond Barry.
Mr. Smyth and Mr. Chomley appeared for the crown, and Mr. Bindon
for the prisoner. The trial was adjourned to the 28th, where Kelly
was presented on the charge of the murder of Sergeant Kennedy,
Constable Scanlan and Lonigan, the various bank robberies, the
murder of Sherritt, and resistance to the police at Glenrowan,
together with a long catalogue of minor charges. He was convicted
of the wilful murder of Constable Lonigan and was sentenced to
death by hanging by Justice Barry. Several unusual exchanges
between the prisoner Kelly and the judge included the Judge's
customary words "May God have mercy on your soul", to which Kelly
replied "I will go a little further than that, and say I will see
you there when I go". At Ned's request, his picture was taken and
he was granted farewell interviews with family members. His
mother's last words to Ned were reported to be "Mind you die like
a Kelly". Death He was
hanged on 11 November 1880 at the Melbourne Gaol. Kelly's gaol
warden wrote in his diary that when Kelly was prompted to say his
last words, the prisoner opened his mouth and mumbled something
that he could not hear.
The Argus reported that Mr. Castieau,
the governor of the gaol, informed the condemned man that the hour
of execution had been fixed at ten o'clock. Kelly simply replied
"Such is life." His leg-irons were removed, and after a short time
he was marched out. He was submissive on the way, and when passing
the gaol's flower beds, he remarked "what a nice little garden,"
but said nothing further until reaching the Press room, where he
remained until the arrival of chaplain Dean Donaghy.
The Argus reported that Kelly intended
to make a speech, but he merely said, "Ah, well, I suppose it has
come to this," as the rope was being placed round his neck.
Although the exact number is unknown, it is
estimated that a petition to spare Kelly's life attracted over
30,000 signatures.
Reward
There was considerable controversy over the
division of the £8,000 (A$400,000 in 2008 dollars) reward. Most
commentators complained that Curnow should have received more
while many of the police deserved less. Public opposition was such
that Superintendent Hare and Sub-inspector O’Connor, who was in
charge of the black trackers, declined to collect their shares of
£800 and £237 respectively.
Despite being suspended for cowardice at
Glenrowan, Superintendent Hare was allocated the largest share
while Thomas Curnow, who alerted police to the ambush, thus saving
many lives, received £550. Seven senior police officers received
from £165 to £377 each, seven constables £137, Mr. C. C. Rawlins
(civilian volunteer) £137, one constable £125, 15 constables £115,
the three train engineers £104, one detective £100, one senior
constable £97, the train driver, fireman and guard £84 each,
assistant engine fireman £69, assistant engine driver £68, one
senior constable £48, 14 constables £42 each and Messrs Cheshire
and Osborne, £25 each. Nine civilians, 13 constables and two
police agents applied for a share of the reward but were rejected.
The board acknowledged that some who received nothing deserved a
share but adherence to the terms of the proclamation precluded
rewarding them. Four members of the media had accompanied the
police and the board stated that, had they applied for a share, it
would have been approved.
Seven native trackers also received £50 each
although the board deemed it undesirable to "place any sum of
money in the hands of persons unable to use it" and recommend that
"the sums set opposite the names of the black trackers be handed
to the Queensland and Victorian Governments to be dealt with at
their discretion".
Armour
The gang's armour was made of iron a quarter of
an inch thick, and consisted of a long breast-plate,
shoulder-plates, back-guard, and helmet. The helmet resembled a
nail can without a crown, and included a long slit for the eyes.
The suits' separate parts were strapped together on the body while
the helmet was separate and sat on the shoulders, allowing it to
be removed easily.
Ned Kelly's armour weighed 44 kilograms
(97 lb). His suit was the only one to have an apron at the back,
but all four had front aprons. Padding is only known from Ned's
armour and it is not clear if the other suits were similarly
padded. Ned wore a padded skull cap and his helmet also had
internal strapping so that his head could take some of the weight.
After the shootout there were five bullet marks on the helmet,
three on the breast-plate, nine on the back-plate, and one on the
shoulder-plate. All the men wore dustcoats over the armour.
The manufacture of the four suits occupied four
or five months. Two stolen circular saws and iron tacks were tried
and found not to be bulletproof. Mould boards for plough shares
were ultimately adopted. It was likely that the first suit made
was defective, and was therefore discarded.
About April 1880, the police learned of the
theft of mould boards from five farmers in the vicinity of Greta
and Oxley by the Kelly gang. About a month later the secret agent
known as "diseased stock" wrote a letter to the assistant
commissioner intimating that the object of the outlaws in stealing
the mould-boards was to manufacture armour. His message was an
important one: "Missing portions of cultivators are being worked
as jackets and fit splendidly. Tested previous to using, they can
withstand a bullet at 10 yards. A breakout may be anticipated as
feed is getting very scarce. Five are now bad ... other animals
are, I fear, diseased." One of the farmers later identified some
of the plates by marks on them.
The Victorian Police were told about the armour
three times by informants, but Hare and Sadleir both dismissed the
information as "nonsense" and "an impossibility". None of the
police realised the gang were wearing armour until Ned fell. The
police even questioned whether he was human. Constable Arthur, who
was closest, thought he was a "huge blackfellow wrapped in a
blanket", Someone said, "He is a madman!" Dowsett said. "He is the
devil!" Sergeant Kelly exclaimed, "Look out, boys, he is the
bunyip!" Constable Gascoigne, who recognised Ned's voice, told
Superintendent Sadleir he had "fired at him point blank and hit
him straight in the body. But there is no use firing at Ned Kelly;
he can't be hurt". Although aware of the information supplied by
the informant prior to the siege, Sadleir later wrote that even
after Gascoigne's comment "no thought of armour" had occurred to
him.
Following the siege of Glenrowan the media
reported the events and use of armour around the world. The gang
were admired in military circles and Arthur Conan Doyle commented
on the gang's imagination and recommended similar armour for use
by British infantry. The police announcement to the Australian
public that the armour was made from ploughshares was ridiculed,
disputed, and deemed impossible even by blacksmiths.
There was considerable debate over whether to
destroy the armour, but all four disassembled suits were
eventually stored in Melbourne. Hare gave Ned Kelly's armour to
Sir William Clarke, and it was later donated to the State Library
of Victoria. Joe Byrne's was kept by Hare and now belongs to his
descendants. Dan Kelly and Steve Hart's are still owned by the
Victorian Police force. As no effort was made to maintain the
armour's integrity while stored, the suits were reassembled by
guesswork. In 2002 several parts were identified from photographs
taken shortly after the siege and reunited with their original
suits. The State Library of Victoria was able to exchange Steve
Hart's breastplate for Ned Kelly's, making Kelly's suit currently
the most original. In January 2002 all four suits were displayed
together for an exhibition in the Old Melbourne Gaol.
According to legend the armour was made on a
Stringybark log by the gang themselves. Due to the quality of the
workmanship and the difficulties involved in forging, historians
and blacksmiths originally believed the armour could only have
been made by a professional blacksmith in a forge. A professional
blacksmith would have heated the steel to over
1,000 °C
(1,830 °F), before
shaping it. A bush forge could only reach
750 °C
(1,380 °F) which would
make shaping the metal very difficult. In 2003 Byrne's suit of
armour was disassembled and tested by ANSTO at the Lucas Heights
nuclear reactor in Sydney to determine how the armour was made and
what temperatures were involved. The results indicated that the
heating of the metal was "patchy". Some parts had been bent cold
while other parts had been subjected to extended periods in a heat
source of not much more than 700
°C (1,292 °F),
which is consistent with the bush forge theory. The quality of
forging was also determined to be less than believed, and it was
considered unlikely to have been done by a blacksmith. The bush
forge is now widely accepted. After heating, the mould boards were
likely beaten straight over a green log before being cut into
shape and riveted together to form each individual piece.
The Hobart Mercury reported that Glenrowan
district blacksmith Joe Grigg had made the armour from parts of
ploughs and harvesting machines while watched by Ned and Dan
Kelly. Ned paid for Grigg's work in gold sovereigns. Grigg
immediately told the authorities about it and was told to keep the
cash as he had earned it honestly. This information did not become
known until Grigg's death in 1934 as authorities apparently did
not want details known to the public and, apart from its mention
in Grigg's 1934 obituary, the story remained relatively unknown.
Remains and graves
In line with the practice of the day, no
records were kept regarding the disposal of an executed person's
remains. Kelly was buried in the "old men's yard", just inside the
walls of Old Melbourne Gaol. Dissection
A newspaper reported that Kelly's body was dissected by medical
students who removed his head and organs for study. Dissection
outside of a coronial enquiry was illegal. Public outrage at the
rumour raised real fears of public disorder, leading the
commissioner of police to write to the gaol's governor, who denied
that a dissection had taken place. His head was allegedly given to
phrenologists for study, then returned to the police, who used it
for a time as a paperweight. Grave robbery
In 1929, Melbourne Gaol was closed for renovation, and the bodies
in its graveyard were uncovered during demolition works. During
the recovery of the bodies, spectators and workers stole skeletal
parts from a grave marked with an arrow and the initials "E. K."
in the belief they belonged to Kelly. The site foreman, Harry
Franklin, retrieved the skull and gave it to the police. As no
provision had been made for the disposal of the remains, Franklin
had the bodies reburied in Pentridge prison at his own expense.
The skull which had been stored at the Victorian Penal Department
was taken to Canberra for research by thie first director of the
Australian Institute of Anatomy (Sir Colin Mackenzie) in 1934. For
a period of time it was lost, but was later found while cleaning
out an old safe in 1952. In 1971, the Institute gave it to the
National Trust. Theft of skull
This skull was displayed at the Old Melbourne Gaol until it was
stolen in December 1978. An investigation in 2010 proved that the
displayed skull was in fact the one recovered in April 1929. Tom
Baxter, a farmer from West Australia, claimed he had the skull
stolen in 1978 but refused to hand it over for identification or
burial. Despite attempts, the police were unable to locate the
stolen skull. The skull did not match photographs of the stolen
skull, and a facial reconstruction based on a cast made from the
skull in Baxter's possession did not resemble Kelly, but does
resemble the death mask of Ernest Knox, who was executed in 1894
for murder. If this was the skull stolen in 1978, it meant that
Kelly's skull was on display originally but was taken off display
at some time and replaced with Knox's skull.
On 9 March 2008 it was announced that
Australian archaeologists believed they had found Kelly's grave on
the site of Pentridge prison. The bones were uncovered at a mass
grave and Kelly's are among those of 32 felons who had been
executed by hanging. Jeremy Smith, a senior archaeologist with
Heritage Victoria said, "We believe we have conclusively found the
burial site but that is very different from finding the remains."
Ellen Hollow, Kelly's 62-year-old grand-niece, offered to supply
her own DNA to help identify Kelly's bones.
Historical and forensic investigation of
remains On the anniversary of Kelly's
hanging, 11 November 2009, Tom Baxter handed the skull in his
possession to police and it was historically and forensically
tested along with the Pentridge remains. The skull was compared to
a cast of the skull that had been stolen from the Old Melbourne
Gaol in 1978 and proved to be a match. The skull was then compared
to that in a newspaper photograph of worker Alex Talbot holding
the skull recovered in 1929 which showed a close resemblance.
Talbot was known to have taken a tooth from the skull as a
souvenir and a media campaign to find the whereabouts of the tooth
led to Talbot's grandson coming forward. The tooth was found to
belong to the skull confirming it was indeed the skull recovered
in 1929. The skull was next compared to the death masks of those
executed at Old Melbourne Gaol which eliminated all but two. The
two were those of Kelly and Frederick Deeming who had been
executed in 1892 and buried alongside Kelly, both were a close
match. The death masks and skull were then scanned to provide 3D
images which showed that the skull was a match for Deeming. This
proved to be a problem as Deeming's labelled skull cap was in
storage. Both the skull and Deeming's skull cap were DNA tested
and compared to that of Leigh Olver, great-grandson of Kelly's
mother Ellen by her second husband George King, with no match
being found. It is now accepted that the skull recovered in 1929
and later displayed in the Old Melbourne Gaol was not Kelly's. It
is likely the skull belongs to Deeming and that what was thought
to be Deeming's skull cap was mislabelled and actually belongs to
someone else.
Forensic pathologists also examined the bones
from Pentridge, which were much decayed and jumbled with the
remains of others, making identification difficult. The collar
bone was found to be the only bone that had survived in all the
skeletons and these were all DNA tested against that of Leigh
Olver. A match to Kelly was found and the associated skeleton
turned out to be one of the most complete. Kelly's remains were
additionally identified by partially healed foot, wrist bone and
left elbow injuries matching those caused by the bullet wounds at
Glenrowan as recorded by the Gaol surgeon in 1880 and by the fact
that his head was missing, likely removed for phrenological study.
A section from the back of a skull (the occipital) was recovered
from the grave that bore saw cuts that matched those present on
several neck vertebrae indicating that the skull section belonged
to the skeleton and that an illegal dissection had been performed.
In August 2011, scientists publicly confirmed a
skeleton exhumed from the old Pentridge Prison's mass graveyard
was indeed Kelly's, after comparing the DNA to that of Leigh
Olver. The DNA matching was based on mitochondrial DNA (HV1, HV2).
This is indicative of Mr Kelly's maternal line. The investigating
forensic pathologist has indicated that no adequate quality
somatic DNA was obtained that would enable a y-DNA profile to be
determined. This may be attempted at a later date. A y-DNA profile
would enable Mr Kelly's paternal genetic genealogy to be
determined with reference to the data already existing in the
Kelly y-DNA study. The skeleton was missing most of its skull, the
whereabouts of which are unknown
Final burial On 1
August 2012 the Victorian government issued a license for Kelly's
bones to be returned to the Kelly family, who made plans for their
final burial. They also appealed for the person who possessed
Kelly's skull to return it.
On 20 January 2013, Kelly's descendants granted
Kelly's final wish, and buried his remains within consecrated
ground at Greta cemetery, near his mother's unmarked grave. A
piece of Kelly's skull was also buried with his remains and was
surrounded by concrete to prevent looting. The burial followed a
Requiem Mass that was held on 18 January 2013 at St Patrick's
Catholic Church in Wangaratta.
Aftermath and lessons
After Ned Kelly's death, the Victorian Royal Commission (1881–83)
investigation of the Victorian Police Force led to many changes to
policing. The Commission took 18 months and its findings put many
of the police involved in the Kelly hunt in a less-than-favourable
light, yet it did not excuse or sanction the actions of the Kelly
Gang. The Commission's work led to reprimands, demotions, or
dismissal for a number of members of the Victorian police,
including senior staff.
Writers such as Boxhall, The Story of
Australian Bushrangers (1899) and Henry Giles Turner,
History of the Colony of Victoria (1904) dismiss the Kelly
Outbreak as simply a spate of criminality. Several police writers
of the time such as Hare and Penzig (1988) wrote legitimising
narratives about law and order and moral justification.
Others, commencing with Kenneally (1929),
McQuilton (1979) and Jones (1995), perceived the Kelly Outbreak
and the problems of Victoria's Land Selection Acts post-1860s as
interlinked. McQuilton identified Kelly as the "social bandit" who
was caught up in unresolved social contradictions—that is, the
selector-squatter conflicts over land—and that Kelly gave the
selectors the leadership they lacked. O'Brien (1999) identified a
leaderless rural malaise in Northeastern Victoria as early as
1872–73, around land, policing and the Impounding Act.
Though the Kelly Gang was destroyed in 1880,
for almost seven years a serious threat of a second outbreak
existed because of major problems around land settlement and
selection.
McQuilton suggested that two police officers
involved in the pursuit of the Kelly Gang – John Sadleir, author
of Recollections of a Victorian Police Officer, and
Inspector W.B. Montford – averted the Second Outbreak by coming to
understand that the unresolved social contradiction in
Northeastern Victoria was about land, not crime, and by their good
work in aiding small selectors.
Legacy
November 2007 auction
On 13 November 2007, a weapon claimed to be
Constable Fitzpatrick's service revolver was auctioned for
approximately $70,000 in Melbourne and is now located in Westbury,
Tasmania. The vendor's representative, Tom Thompson, claimed that
the revolver was left by Constable Fitzpatrick at the Kelly house
after the melee in 1878, given to Kate Kelly (outlaw), and then
(much later) found in a house or shed in Forbes, New South Wales.
According to press reports in the days
following the auction, firearms experts assessed the revolver as
being of a design (a copy of an English Webley .32 revolver) not
manufactured until 1884, well after the claimed provenance had the
weapon changing hands from Constable Fitzpatrick to the Kellys. In
addition, a stamp on the gun which the auction catalogue
interpreted as R*C, an indication that the revolver was of the
Royal Constabulary, was instead read as a European manufacturer's
proof mark. Further, evidence by Constable Fitzpatrick said that
when he left the Kelly homestead after the incident, he had his
revolver and handcuffs.(Cited in Keith McMenomy (1984), p. 69.)
Headstone
During the Great Depression the Bayside City
council built bluestone walls to protect local beaches from
erosion. The stones were taken from the outer walls of the Old
Melbourne Gaol and included the "headstones" of those executed and
buried on the grounds. Most, including Kelly's, were placed with
the engravings (initials and date of execution) facing inwards.
Cultural effect One of
the gaols in which Kelly was incarcerated has become the Ned
Kelly Museum in Glenrowan, Victoria, and many weapons and
artefacts used by him and his gang are on exhibit there. After his
death, Kelly became part of Australian folklore, and the subject
of a large number of books and several films. The Australian term
"as game as Ned Kelly" is a common expression.
Films included the first feature film, The
Story of the Kelly Gang (Australia, 1906), another with Mick
Jagger in the title role (1970), and more recently Ned Kelly
(2003) starring Heath Ledger, Orlando Bloom and Geoffrey Rush. A
TV mini series of four episodes The Last Outlaw (1980)
highlighted the plight of the selector and the social conflicts
and battles between selector and squatters. During the 1960s, Ned
Kelly graduated from folk lore into the academic arena. His story
and the social issues around land selection, squatters, national
identity, policing and his court case are studied at universities,
seminars and lectures.
Political icon In the
time since his execution, Ned Kelly has been mythologised among
some into a Robin Hood, a political revolutionary and a figure of
Irish Catholic and working-class resistance to the establishment
and British colonial ties. It is claimed that Kelly's bank
robberies were to fund the push for a "Republic of the North-East
of Victoria", and that the police found a declaration of the
republic in his pocket when he was captured, which led to his
status as an icon for some Australian republicans.
References
Wikipedia.org |