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| Ned Kelly, the day before his execution. |
Born in December 1854 into a large family, Edward 'Ned' Kelly was the son of an Irish convict, who had been sent to Van Diemen's Land - present day Tasmania - at the age of twenty-two, eleven years prior to his third child's birth, for pig stealing. His mother was the daughter of his father's, John 'Red' Kelly's, employer after he had been released from prison, from where he travelled to Beveridge, a town forty-two kilometres to the North of Melbourne, in Virginia. Red Kelly had purchased a freehold, a small amount of land with a farmhouse, there with money from his gold-digging success. Ned Kelly had two elder siblings, discounting Mary Jane Kelly, who had tragically perished aged six months, and, after his own birth, four younger ones. The first of these latter four was Dan Kelly, born in 1861, who would become his most famous partner in the years to come.
Aged eleven, the young Kelly was appraised for a heroic and selfless act - at his own personal risk. When he happened upon the young Richard Shelton drowning in a creek in Avenel, he leapt after him in order to prevent the boy's near inevitable fate. He was welcomed as a hero by both the boy's family and, ironically, the police and was presented with a Green Sash by the boy's family. This item became one of his most treasured possessions and he would wear it during many of the exploits during the life of notoriety that ensued.
Shortly after this incident, the Kelly family moved permanently to Avenel, where Ned was already a recognised character from his earlier actions. His family would soon, however, become noted for the opposite - criminality. John Kelly reverted to his erstwhile character as a thief of agricultural animals. His reputation as a cattle rustler quickly came to the attention of the police, who arrested him in 1865 after discovering stolen bullock hides at the Kelly residence. Sentenced to six months hard labour, John never recovered from his mistreatment by police officers during his incarceration and he died on the twenty-seventh of December 1866.
As of his father's death, Ned Kelly began to turn against the police. He took up John's mantle as a cattle and horse rustler and was convicted for it on numerous occasions, although he was never charged and nor did he receive any sentences. However, on the 15th of October 1869, aged fourteen, the young adolescent was arrested for the robbery and assault of pig-farmer Ah Fook, from whom he allegedly stole ten shillings after beating him with a bamboo rod. Kelly spent four days in prison before a six day long court case, which only endured for such a period due to the police's inability to locate an interpreter for Chinese-speaking Fook. Nine days after the incident, the case was dismissed when prosecutors failed to provide evidence against Kelly's adamance that Fook had first assaulted his sister, Annie Kelly.
Following a serious of subsequent convictions against Kelly, all of which were dismissed in court, Virginia police began near permanent surveillance of the Kelly family, all remaining nine of whom were suspected to be involved in criminal actions on a regular basis.
During the years that followed, Kelly's criminal activities became ever more sinister. According to some sources, he had struck up an alliance with the notorious bushranger and highwayman Harry Power, aiding him on several occasions during armed robberies. Although no proof could link Kelly to these numerous crimes, he was arrested many times for periods of up to a month. During these frequent imprisonments, Kelly reported abusive behaviour towards him by members of the police force. This almost certainly fuelled his growing hatred of them which would erupt viciously in later years.
In June 1870, Power was arrested on the land of James Quinn, Kelly's grandfather. Many suspected Kelly of informing on his former associate, although the young criminal maintained his denial of such accusations. Some consider this conspiracy theory to have been a police ploy to discredit Kelly and to prevent him from ever being involved in illegal activities again. Despite this period of mistrust, the actions of the establishment served only to further his loathing of it.
That October, Kelly was charged for several accounts of horse-rustling, earning a sentence of three months in prison. Barely days after his release, the young man was severely punished for the assault of Police Constable Hall, who, having seen Kelly riding a stolen horse, attempted to arrest him. The ensuing fight resulted in Kelly's humiliation and injuring of Hall and earned the former three years detention. Again he reported police brutality, but the voice of a convict meant little in the unjust Australia of the nineteenth century.
Seven years later, having been released from gaol, Kelly was arrested for drunk and disorderly behaviour. He started a fight with four police officers, amongst them Constables Fitzpatrick and Lonigan, both of whom would play large roles in his later escapades, with the latter perhaps also qualifying for the title of 'Kelly's nemesis'. A fine of three pounds and one shilling was imposed upon Kelly, who had ironically shouted to Lonigan during the confrontation that "I never shot a man yet. But if I ever do [...] you'll be the first.", a statement he unwittingly adhered to during his first major battle with the authorities in 1878.
On the fifteenth of April 1878, wayward Police Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick disobeyed orders from his superiors and made for the Kelly homestead in order to arrest Dan Kelly, who had been in possession of a stolen horse and was wanted for sentencing. With Dan not present, Fitzpatrick conversed with Kelly's mother and sisters for some time before the suspect arrived. After the accused'd arrival at the homestead, the constable confessed to not having an arrest warrant. Dan's refusal to accompany Fitzpatrick to the police station angered the policeman, who then threatened the teenager's mother with his revolver. Overpowering the aggressor, Dan drove him out of the homestead. Panicked, Fitzpatrick fled to the police station, claiming that he had been brutally attacked by both Ned, who had not even been present at the time, and Dan Kelly as well as their associate Bricky Williamson and half-brother Bill Skillion. He supported these claims with physical wounds he claimed to have sustained during the attack, although these were most likely self-induced after his eviction by Dan Kelly.
When the police, who had been beguiled by Fitzpatrick's claims, arrived at the homestead, they arrested Williamson and Skillion as well as the Kelly's mother, Ellen, who took her newborn child Alice to prison with her. Dan had escaped and Fitzpatrick, who was later expelled from the police force for perjury - the act of lying in court - and drunkness, maintained that Ned must have too. A price of £100 was placed upon the head of each of these outlaws, which was the final provocation of Ned Kelly that turned him from a minor crook into the most notorious criminal Australia has ever known.
Ostracised from society, the Kelly brothers, who had since reunited, and two other men by the names of Joe Byrne and Steve Hart, took to the bush. Determined as ever to apprehend these outcasts, on the twenty-fifth of Octiber 1878, the Victoria police force sent nine men to confront them at their camp in the Wombat Ranges, near Stringybark Creek.
Having been searching the Wombat Ranges for a day, the police camp was raided by the 'Kelly Gang' in the mid afternoon. Present at the camp during the raid were Constables McIntyre and Lonigan. McIntyre, who was cooking, was unable to reach his revolver and surrendered, but Lonigan made to shoot the mounted foes. Ned Kelly shot him in the forehead - fulfilling the seemingly worthless promise he had made a year beforehand. Both Lonigan's corpse and the living McIntyre were searched and stripped of their weaponry. Upon McIntyre's demand to know of his fate, Kelly simply replied "I'll shoot no man if he holds up his hands."
Sergeant Kennedy and Constable Scanlan then arrived at the camp, greeted by McIntyre, who told them to surrender. Believing this was a jest, Kennedy replied in kind and drew his revolver jokingly, but came under fire from the concealed Kelly Gang. Scanlan was shot as he attempted to return fire, while McIntyre then escaped on Kennedy's horse. What happened to Kennedy thereafter is unclear, but his body was found several days later at Germans Creek.
In response to this battle, prices of £500 were placed on the heads of all four Kelly Gang members, who were subsequently outlawed in an official act by the government of Victoria.
Later that year, on the ninth of December, the Kelly Gang staged an unforeseen bank robbery at Euroa, Victoria. They first imprisoned the police officers at the nearby station, locking them in their own cells. A day later, the heavily armed outlaws cut off communication systems in the town before holding up the bank, from which they stole around £2,200, supplemented by a 30 ounce ingot of gold. After returning to the station, where they enjoyed a meal with their hostages, all of whom were treated well during the ordeal, Kelly expressed a wish that the police would arrive in order that a battle be fought, although no such a confrontation occurred. They left at half past eight, instructing the prisoners, by then unbound, not to move for another three hours, lest they raise the alarm and have mounted search parties pursuing the Kelly Gang.
On the eighth of February the following year, the Kelly Gang, by then low on funds for ammunition and horses, decided to stage a bank hold up in Jerilderie, New South Wales. In the same fashion as they had carried out the raid on Euroa, the bushrangers first secured the police station, holding both constables hostage as well as the family of one of the aforementioned. Opposed as ever to brutality against detainees, Kelly made sure that all the hostages were well looked after and imposed no restrictions on them but those against attacking the gang or attempting to escape. The following day they held up the bank, stealing a total of £2,141.
After this robbery, Ned Kelly then made for the office of a local journalist, escorted by the bank manager and one of the disarmed police constables. Upon finding that the journalist had fled out of terror, Kelly revealed his intention to hand over a letter, in which he had had his life story written - as Kelly himself was unable to write, he had dictated his message to associate Joe Byrne - and have it published for public view. He later handed the letter to Mr. Living, the bank manager, who did not publish it but rather hand it to the police, who published it with alterations after Kelly's demise.
In response to the robbery at Jerilderie, an £8,000 reward was issued throughout Virginia and New South Wales for the capture or killing of the Kelly Gang. However, this sparked some controversy concerning the police, with some captains and super-intendents allegedly sabotaging their fellows' actions against Kelly in order that they might receive the reward. Due to this, a great wave of sympathy for the Kelly Gang swept across South Australia and the police noticed a great decline in the number of informers against the wanted bushrangers.
On Friday the twenty-fifth of June 1880, the Kelly Gang made to assassinate police informer Aaron Sherritt. Described by historians as "treacherous, brutal, immoral and vain", Sherritt had once been a friend of Kelly Gang member Joe Byrne. After killing the collaborator, they would proceed to hold-up the bank in nearby Benalla. Another aspect of their plan was to capture the three police super-intendents stationed at Benalla in order to trade them for the imprisoned Ellen Kelly, Bricky Williamson and Bill Skillion. However, despite successfully assassinating Sherritt, word reached the police that the Kelly Gang were in Benalla. Desperate to prevent support arriving by train, the notorious bushrangers rode to the small town of Glenrowan, where they damaged the rails of the train-track.
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| Ned Kelly's plough-blade armour. |
Using intimidation rather than violence, the Kelly Gang conquered Glenrowan. On the twenty-eighth of June 1880, they and their sixty-two hostages hid in a hotel as the police drew closer. As always, the outlaws were amicable towards their captives, even engaging in sporting events with them as they awaited a confrontation. Such an occurrence paints a curious image in the mind: four gangsters, armed with revolvers and sporting primitive armour fashioned from plough-blades, engaging in common sports, such as the triple and long jump, with hostages who ought to have been terrified. In fact, the Kelly Gang's reputation for respectful behaviour towards those who collaborated with them had become widely known over the course of their many escapades, a factor which perhaps lessened the crushing gravity of the battle which would inevitably ensue.
Near midnight that night, one of the hostages escaped and warned the advancing police of the Kelly's position. Accompanied by Aboriginal trackers, the police surrounded the hotel. In the late afternoon, after a night long stake out of the hotel, the first bullets were fired. Panicking, several hostages were hit and injured by stray bullets. Throughout the evening and the night that followed, the Kelly Gang and the Virginia police force exchanged fire, while the hostages hid desperately in the hotel, their world having become a battlefield.
As the morning wore on, a rifle and silk cap stained with Ned Kelly's blood were discovered outside the hotel. Whilst they searched for him, he appeared behind their lines, dressed in a long white coat and his iconic plough-blade armour. He was shot several times, but his armour's deflection of the bullets made the police frantic. Sergeant Steele soon realised that his legs were unprotected, ordering his men to aim for them instead of the head or chest. Kelly was quickly immobilised. Under guard, he was taken to a hospital in Benalla while at Glenrowan, the battle raged on. Joe Byrne was shot dead at around five o'clock in the morning. Unable to enter the hotel without risking the lives of the hostages - who evacuated themselves shortly after Byrne's death - the police cut off Hart and Dan Kelly's escaped by surrounding the hotel with fire. These flames soon blew into the building, setting alight the wooden furnishings. Dan Kelly's charred corpse was found after the battle, while Steve Hart supposedly died of smoke inhalation - a tame death, one could say, for so mighty a villain. Three hostages were injured during the battle, with another two dying from bullet wounds.
Edward 'Ned' Kelly was convicted of numerous charges of murder and robbery at his rial on the twenty-eighth of October 1880. He was granted a final conversation with his mother, Ellen Kelly, whose last words to him were "Mind you die like a Kelly."
On the eleventh of November 1880, the detained Kelly was informed that his execution was set for ten o'clock that morning. In response, the hero-cum-outlaw uttered his most famous words: "Such is life."
As had been arranged, Ned Kelly, the bushranger, outlaw and defier of the police was hung at Melbourne Gaol at ten o'clock in the morning on the eleventh of November 1880. His last words were befitting of his surprisingly noble character:
"Ah, well, I suppose it has come to this."
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| A historically accurate depiction of Ned Kelly in his armour. |
