employed by Lord Ormonde, a wealthy aristocrat who owned the estate of Killarney.
A farmer who lived in the Golden Vale of Tipperary complained to the police
that two pigs, valued at ten shillings each, had been stolen from his farm.
The police were soon on the trail and arrested John Kelly on suspicion of
theft. On 1st January 1841 John, aged twenty-one, was found guilty by a jury
and sentenced to seven years� transportation to Australia.
After several months in gaol, John Kelly was placed on board the convict
ship Prince Regent with 182 fellow convicts, shackled and manacled hand
and foot. They were bound for Van Dieman�s Land, later known as Tasmania,
and few, if any, ever returned to the land of their birth. Almost one year
after John Kelly�s conviction the Prince Regent dropped anchor in the Derwent
River, hard by the port of Hobart.
John Kelly served his sentence for seven years on the island. When at last
he was set free he raised the fare to pay his passage to the mainland of
Australia, and farewelled Van Dieman�s Land forever.
After crossing Bass Strait in a sailing ship, John Kelly, known as Red,
arrived in Melbourne the capital of the Port Phillip District. He found
work as a bush carpenter and met Ellen Quinn, an attractive lass aged eighteen,
daughter of struggling migrants from County Antrim. It was love at first
sight between Red and Ellen, but her parents did not approve of a son-in-law
who had been a convict and had served his time in Van Dieman�s Land.
But the lovers eloped on horseback to Melbourne, one jump ahead of Ellen�
s furious parents. In June 1855 a male child was born to Ellen. This tiny
infant was �Edward�, soon to be �Ned�.
Ned began life in times of turmoil, defiance of the law, and rebellion.
His boyhood would be wild, wide and free ━ not for him the advantages of
a gentleman�s education and opportunities. Ned would have to take life
in the raw. But he was a happy baby, stumbling after his father, who was
now a quiet, descent citizen working hard as a fencer and carpenter.
John Kelly moved his family to Avenel, a small village eighty miles north
of Melbourne on the busy Sydney Road in order to get away from his wife�
s troublesome relatives. Here he started a diary. Ned was old enough to
go to school, and here he learnt his three Rs ━ reading, �riting, and
�rithmetic ━ from the school master, Richardson. He was a bright pupil,
and well-behaved.
But his father was to meet misfortune. On 28 May 1865 John Kelly made a
desperate effort to get food for his hungry family, now six children. He
killed a heifer-calf that had strayed into his paddock. Next day his neighbour,
Morgan, told the police. A search warrant was issued against John Kelly.
Constable Doxey found part of the heifer hanging on a hook and, worse still,
the hide of the beast was found under the bed with Morgan�s brand cut out.
On 29 May 1865, at Avenal police station, John Kelly was fined 25 or six
months in prison with hard labour.
At the time of this heavy blow John Kelly was forty five and had �gone
straight� ever since he was released from his convict sentence. Only twice
in his life had he stolen, each time for food. A kindly neighbour paid for
the fine, and he was released from gaol. Two months later, on 10 August 1865,
Ellen gave birth to her seventh child. On 27th December John Kelly, who
had been ill for some time, died from consumption. Ned, the eldest son,
who was now nearly twelve, had to go to the police station to sign the form
for his father�s death, and now took on all the worries and responsibilities
of the family.
While still only twelve years old Ned achieved local fame for a deed of courage.
A farmer, who was a neighbour of the Kelly�s, fell into a creek and was
on the verge of drowning when young Ned plunged into the river, swam out
to the man and pulled him to the bank. The brave rescue became the talk
of the countryside.
Some time after the death of his father his mother made a decision that
was to alter Ned�s whole life. She decided to leave Avenel and move back
to her family, the Quinns. Her father, now living at Glenmore, thirty miles
south-east of Benalla, arranged for a home for his daughter and her children
not far away at Eleven Mile Creek. Ned left school and, without a father
or schoolmaster to guide him, fell into bad company. He was influenced by
the talk and behaviour of Uncle Jimmy Quinn (who had been in prison and
was known as �The Wild One� and his mates, bragging about how they would
�get even� with the police. Everyone seemed determined to get square with
the policemen who had put them behind bars, for they all felt unjustly imprisoned.
Ned, a high spirited, intelligent boy, began to see things their way.
A Scrape With The Law
Real trouble struck the Kelly family on 14th October 1869, when Ned was
fourteen. A Chinese hawker named Ah Fook stopped at Mrs Kelly�s house and
asked for a drink of water. He could have easily got it from the creek,
but it was said that he was a police informer and was trying to find out
whether Ellen Kelly sold liquor. Since she had no licence to do so, this
would have been against the law. Ned�s sister Anne offered Ah Fook a pannikin
of water from the creek, the hawker tasted it, spat it out, and began waving
his arms wildly.
Anne told him to go away, but Ah Fook went on waving his arms furiously
and shouting loudly at her. Ned, working close by in the paddock, came over
to his sister, and asked why Ah Fook was so excited. �He�s insulting me!�
said Anne. �Clear out!� said Ned to Ah Fook. Ah Fook angrily turned on
Ned, waving a bamboo stick. The boy took it from him, belted him on the shins,
and chased him down the road.
Ah Fook went screaching down the road, reached Benalla , and reported the
assault to the police. The following day Sergeant Whelan arrived at Eleven
Mile Creek, arrested Ned Kelly, and took him to the Benella lock-up. Next
morning, 16th October 1869, Ned was placed in the dock before a Justice
of the Peace, charged with robbery and violence. Sergeant Whelan stated that
the prisoner had robbed Ah Fook of ten shillings and threatened to beat
him to death. Young Kelly was remanded, without bail and locked up. Five
days later he was brought before the Justice of the peace again. A further
remand was granted. Ned was returned to prison for a further ten days. On
26th October a magistrate dismissed the charge. But in the eyes of the police,
Ned was a �juvenile bushranger�.
Highway Robbery
About this time Harry Power, an escaped convict, was enraged in the profession
of robbery under arms. Convicted in 1855 for stealing horses, he had nearly
served his sentence of fourteen years when, a couple of months before his
release, he escaped and became a bushranger ━ a �polite� bushranger,
who respected women, and joked with his victims, after he had taken their
wallets and watches. A superb horseman, Power easily threw off police pursuit,
though the police were eager to collect the 500 offered for his capture.
Power�s hide-out was in dense scrub in the Kelly country, where he seemed
to be able to get plenty of food, and also the tip-off when mounted troopers
were around. For about a year after his escape he was a lone prowler ; then
early in 1870, it was noticed that he had a mate, a mounted youth who stayed
a little distance from the scene of Power�s stick-ups, and held his horse
ready for a quick getaway.
The young accomplice was Ned Kelly.
Power�s secret camp was on a hill about a mile from the homestead, and
he had made a pact with the Quinns for their help and provisions. It was
Uncle Jimmy Quinn who had persuaded Ned, who was trying desperately to earn
enough money to keep his mother, brothers and sisters, that he should join
Power as his offsider.
On 5th May 1870 Ned Kelly, aged fifteen, was arrested for �highway robbery
under arms�. On 12th May people gathered at the Benella Court house �to
find out the fate of Edward Kelly, charged with two separate counts of highway
robbery�.
The magistrate dismissed the case for lack of evidence. The police, however,
had the boy remanded, stating� Ned Kelly had been concerned in a highway
robbery under arms with Power�. And so the supposed juvenile bushranger
was manacled to the police coach, taken to Kyneton under heavy armed guard,
and held in custody. He remained in prison until 23rd June, when the case
against him was again dismissed for lack of evidence. But he had been held
a prisoner for seven weeks, which was the idea of a cleaver police officer
who thought that he could get information about Power from Ned, but Ned
said nothing.
Several months passed, until October 1870, when Ned was charged with assaulting
a neighbour and sentenced to three months� gaol. In the same Court he was
given a further three months, on a second charge arising from the same incident.
When he was released and arrived home he had an unlucky home-coming. Wild
Wright, a neighbour, had borrowed a chestnut horse at Mansfield and rode
to Mrs Kelly�s for a spree, then left, asking the Kellys to mind the horse
until his return. Ned innocently rode the horse into Greta, where he was
pounced upon by Constable Hall, torn off his horse, knocked unconsciously
five men, handcuffed by Hall, trussed hand and foot, and taken to Wangaratta.
Tried on a charge of receiving a stolen horse, he was found guilty, and
sentenced to three years� hard labour at Pentridge gaol. Ned was then sixteen.
In February 1874 Ned Kelly was released from Pentridge. He was a few months
under nineteen years of age. When he had entered the gaol he was a beardless
lad; but no razor caressed his chin at Pentridge and he had a well grown
beard.
Ned Kelly was a desperado, with a chip on his shoulder. From the moment he
was released, he was at war with the community that had spoilt his life.
There was now a rail-way line linking Melbourne with Glenrowan, a few kilometres
from Greta. Ned alighted from the train at Glenrowan and hurried along the
brush track to his house, and the fond, tearful welcome waiting for him there.
After working for almost two years in a sawmill, which eventually had to
close down, Ned went prospecting for gold on the King River, but had no
luck.
Horse Stealing
Out of work, he began horde and cattle duffing ━ stealing horses and cattle
from squatters and driving them across the Murray River into New South Wales,
where there was a ready marked for stolen goods. Several months passed,
in which Ned had some minor trouble with the police, and his brother, Dan,
aged fifteen, was found �not guilty of stealing a saddle and bridle�. The
police awaited their chance and issued another warrant for Dan�s arrest,
this time for cattle and horse duffing.
The 15th of April 1878 was a day of disaster for the Kelly family and the
police of Victoria. On than day Constable Fitzpatrick rode from Benalla
to Greta, a journey of fifteen miles. Arriving at Greta, he asked Ellen
Kelly if Dan was home and at that moment Dan entered and after some heated
exchange of words, Fitzgerald was attacked by Ned and Dan Kelly and all their
relatives, who attempted to murder him. Somehow he managed to escape and
reached Benalla where he told his story.
Next day, Sergeant Steele and two policemen arrived at Greta, and arrested
Ellen Kelly and two of her friends. On 9th October, at Beechworth, nearly
five months later, they were charged with aiding and abetting an attempt
to murder Constable Fitzpatrick. On the sole evidence of Fitzpatrick, the
jury found them guilty. After gaoling Ellen Kelly, the police thought of
a plan to capture Ned and hid Comrades in crime. Four police, disguised
as gold prospectors, rode from Mansfield to the Wombat Ranges and made camp
at Stringybark Creek, seventeen miles away. This was to be their base camp
while they made armed patrols in search of the wanted men.
Murder
On 25th October Sergeant Kennedy and Constables Lonigan, Scanlon and McIntyre
rode into Stringybark Creek and made camp. But Ned had already seen them
and in his dairy he wrote �I crossed their tracks and rode to our camp,
and told my brother and his mates.� His brother was Dan, and his mates
Joe Byrne, aged twenty-one and Steve Hart, aged eighteen. At twenty-three,
Ned was the natural leader because of his superior strength, his intelligence
and his reckless courage.
On Saturday, 26th October, Sergeant Kennedy and Constable Scanlon mounted
their horsed and went on patrol, leaving Lonigan and McIntyre to hold the
fort. While Lonigan was in the tent making bread McIntyre shot parrots,
a sure sign that the police had no idea the Kelly�s were nearby. A grave
error
Creeping up to the camp, Ned shouted, �Bail up! Put up your hands!� McIntyre
obeyed, but Lonigan, a brave man, drew his revolver ━ and one of the Kelly
Gang shot him dead. McIntyre surrendered. Then into the picture rode Kennedy
and Scanlon. McIntyre shouted a warning, �You had better surrender, sergeant,
we are surrounded!� Kennedy, thinking it was a joke, put his hand on his
revolver as Kelly shouted, � Put up your hands!�
Kennedy leapt off his horse and took cover behind a fallen tree, and Scanlon
spurred forward, unslinging his rifle. As he did so Kelly fired his shot
gun and Scanlon fell dead. McIntyre, in terror, leapt on Scanlon's horse
and bolted away through the bush to Mansfield to report the murders. Ned
and Dan started a grim dual with Kennedy, a brave man who refused to surrender,
but dodged from tree to tree, firing his revolver, reloading, and firing
again. One of Kennedy�s bullets grazed Dan�s shoulder, another went through
Ned�s beard. The fight continued untill Kennedy fell, struck below the
armpit by a bullet fired by Ned. He was seriously wounded and could not move.
As night came on Ned saw that he would probably not survive his injuries
and, on an impulse, which he may of thought kind of kind and humane, decided
that he could not leave him at the mercy of the dingoes. He shot Kennedy
through the heart.
Then he walked back to camp, got Kennedy�s overcoat, and covered him with
it as a sign of respect for a brave foe.
When the news of the murders reached Melbourne the Government proclaimed
the Kelly Gang as outlaws, and offered a reward of 500 for each of them,
dead or alive. Over two hundred policemen were drafted into the district,
and scores of Kelly friends were arrested and held in gaol for weeks while
the police tried to find out the outlaws� hiding-place.
Bank Robbery
Ned now decided to be an outlaw in earnest. To maintain supplies of arms
and food he needed money, so he decided to rob a bank. He chose a bank at
Euroa and decided that the right moment for a robbery would be when the
court was in session. He reasoned that few people would be in the streets
on a mid-summer afternoon, when most would either be at home or in the courthouse.
He had also found that there was only one foot constable stationed at Euroa
to protect the bank, post office, railway station, two or three hotels,
and all the stores. Despite several warnings, the police had made no attempt
to get more of their men stationed at Euroa, though they knew the Kellys
were at large.
Having completed their preparations, the four outlaws, mounted on splendid
horses, rode towards Euroa with every detail of the robbery worked out in
advance. The dismounted at Faithfull�s Creek sheep-station, four miles
from Euroa. Ned and his mates went to the kitchen door and spoke to Fitzgerald,
a rouseabout, and his wife, the housekeeper. His first words reckoned them.
�I�m Ned Kelly,� he said. He had a revolver in his hand, but he did not
point it at them. �You�ll have to bail up, but we wont hurt you if you
do as you�re told. We would like to have some dinner.� The outlaws sat
at the table enjoying a hearty meal. Mrs Fitzgerald was impressed with their
polite manners, and Ned won her mother sympathy at once by telling how badly
his own mother and sisters had been treated by the police.
For the rest of the day and night Ned and his gang held everyone prisoner,
capturing, but not hurting, the various men as they returned to the homestead.
A lantern was lit and kept burning all night, and the sixteen prisoners
lay on the floor, smoking or dozing. For several hours Ned sat inside, too,
talking in a friendly way and answering the many questions they asked him
about his encounters with the police. He was an entertaining story teller
and kept his audience enthralled. He even told them that the gang intended
to rob the bank the next day, and the purpose in sticking up Faithfull�
s Creek was to give their horses a good feed overnight, so that they would
be fresh for a quick get-away after the bank had been robbed.
Next day the outlaws took their horses out of the stables and turned them
out to graze in the house paddock. Then they harnessed a covered wagon and
a spring cart, helped themselves to a brand new outfit of clothes from a
hawker they were holding prisoner, collected some ammunition, and set out
for Euroa. They arrived at four o�clock. The street was deserted, the town
drowsy in the heat. Ned and Hart entered the bank while Dan went round to
the back door. �I�m Ned Kelly!� said Ned. �I am an outlaw, and my orders
must be obeyed. Make no noise. Raise no alarm. Keep your hands up and stand
against the wall.� Hart was soon joined by Dan, and they kept everyone
covered at gun-point while Ned filled a sugar-bag with gold and silver coins,
bank notes and about 31 ounces of unminted gold. The total haul was about
2000, and the raid had only taken half an hour.
Their prisoners were then taken out to the covered wagon and driven back
to Faithfull�s Creek. Here they were held captive with the other members
of the homestead. Supper was served to the outlaws and their captives in
the cool of the evening, then the brigands saddled their horses and prepared
to depart. Before doing so they entertained their guests to an astonishing
display of trick-riding in the house paddock.
At about half past eight, as the last flicker of twilight faded, the outlaws
rode away, with the money and gold safely strapped to their horses. News
of the bank robbery created intense excitement, and on 13th December 1878
the Government increased the reward to 1000 on each of the outlaws. Now
for the first time Stephen Hart and Joseph Byrne were named as part of the
Kelly Gang. After hiding for a few weeks in one of their camps, the four
popped up again in Jerilderie, thirty miles north of the Murray River in
New South Wales.
At about 10p.m., the bandits rode quietly into the township. A couple of
hundred of metres away from the police station three of them tethered their
horses and advanced on foot. Ned spurred his horse to a gallop along the
road. There was no light showing at the police station. The occupants were
all in bed. Dismounting, Ned knocked at the front door and called out in
a tone of great excitement. When Mr Devine opened the door Ned said that
he was Ned Kelly and under the duress of having a revolver in each hand
Devine put his hands up. From the darkness the other three rushed forward
with revolvers. All went inside and the door was closed. Ned assured the
policemen and their families that they will not be hurt.
Dan then found some handcuffs and gleefully manacled the police, who were
put into the lock-up for the night. Next morning the outlaws dressed themselves
in police uniform ━ and none of the locals had any idea what had happened.
During the next few hours they took everyone prisoner in the Royal hotel
nearby and put them all in the dining room under armed guard. Then they robbed
the bank, and when they returned to the Royal Hotel, Ned, a bearded young
outlaw in police uniform, told his captive audience the terrible story of
his audience in words of fierce sincerity and power, mixed with sarcasm
and humour. Then the Kelly Gang galloped away singing, �Hurrah for the
good old days of Morgan and Ben Hall!�.
Suits Of Armour
For some reason best known to themselves they stopped their war against
the law for more than sixteen months. But the law continued in its efforts
to capture the Kellys. The Government in Melbourne had asked the Queensland
Government for a party of black trackers to help in the hunt for the Kelly
Gang. The nervous strain of dodging these invisible pursuers affected Ned�
s morale and judgement.
Early in 1880the police were told that mould-boards of ploughs had been
stolen from the neighbourhood of Greta and Oxley. They did not know, and
could not guess, what the purpose of these strange thefts, but they sent
parties with black trackers to investigate. The trackers discovered marks
of high-heeled riding boots near the farms where the mould-boards of ploughs
had been stolen.
At a hide-out in the Greta Swamps, Ned and his mates heated the metal mould-boards
and hammered them over a green log to a round shape, to protect their bodies
in the pitched battle with the police which they believed must come soon.
Each suit of Armour consisted of two main sections, front and back; these
were held together at the sides by leather laces, and supported from the
shoulders by strong straps. An apron made from part of the mould-board was
attached to the edge of the front piece by a bolt and swivel to protect
the groin and thighs. The weight of the armour suits was about eighty pounds,
a heavy load for these slightly build youths to carry. Only one helmet
was made ━ for Ned, who had the physical strength to carry the extra weight
of fifteen pounds.
After the successful raid on Jerilderie, the Government of New South Wales
offered a reward of 2000 each for the bodies of the outlaws, dead or alive.
This, added to the Victorian offer, meant a grand total of 8000. But where
were they? Months passed, a year passed, while informers, greedy for the
reward, passed information to police. One informer was Aaron Sherritt, who
was engaged to Byrne�s sister. His informing cost him his life. He was
spotted entering a police camp. On Saturday, 27th June 1880, though guarded
in his home four constables, Sherritt was shot dead by Byrne and Dan Kelly.
Ned Kelly was realising that his days were also numbered. For 8000 friends
could become enemies. He began to make plans.
Attack On The Police Train
He guessed that when news of the death of Sherritt reached Melbourne, a
train carrying police officers would be sent to Glenrowan. He was right.
At about one o�clock in the morning, by moonlight, Ned and Steve Hart arrived
at the spot where they intended to wreck the train -━three quarters of
a mile from Glenrowan railway station, where they was a curve in the line,
with an embankment thirty to forty feet high.
Leaving their horses and armour in a clump of trees. Ned and Steve tried
with hand spanners to take up some of the rails, but the nuts were rusted
and could not be budged. At any moment the two desperados expected the special
train to arrive. It was a cold and frosty morning in midwinter, and Ned
and Steve, wearing overcoats, ran along the line to Glenrowan station, hoping
to find there the proper tools for lifting the rails.
Near the level crossing, a gang of eight navvies were camped in tents. Ned
and Steve bailed them up, and then knocked on the gatehouse door. The station-
master, Stanistreet, came to the door. Ned ordered him to get dressed and
direct the men to remove the rails. They protested that it was a platelayer�
s job. Cursing at the loss of time, Ned left the prisoners with Hart and
went off to find the platelayers.
After many delays, they walked in the frosty moonlight back to the gatehouse
with the platelayers and their families under guard. Hart in the meantime,
had forced the station master to find the right tools, and now angry words
passed between Ned and the platelayers when they were told to tear up the
rails. The crime they were being asked to carry out made their blood run
cold. They delayed as long as they dared, but they knew very well that Ned
Kelly was not a man to be trifled with.
Presently Joe Burne and Dan arrived, after a long nights ride from Sherritt�
s home. But the train did not arrive As the people of the township were
beginning to wake up, a new plan had to be quickly made. It was important
to prevent any warning being sent to Benalla or Wangaratta. No one could
be allowed to leave Glenrowan. As the sun came up, the prisoners were taken
to Mrs Jones�s hotel. The lady, obeying Ned�s orders, opened the bar and
made the prisoners welcome ━ and anyone in the township who stirred out
of doors were grabbed and added to the group. The postmaster was grabbed
early to prevent him from sending telegrams, but Constable Bracken, at the
police station, was sick in bed and had no idea that anything unusual was
happening.
The hours passed. During the morning the armour was brought in and placed
in a room which the outlaws kept for themselves. The train still did not
arrive. Foolishly the outlaws began to drink at the bar with the prisoners,
and when darkness fell Ned allowed some of the residents home. Among those
he trusted ━ for he had told everyone of his plans to wreck the train ━
was the schoolmaster, Curnow, and his family.
Towards dawn, Ned decided that his plans to wreck the train had failed. He
announced that everyone could go home and at that very moment, he heard
a shrieking whistle. The train laden with police, had left Benalla, and
was thundering towards Glenrowan ━ at last. Hurriedly the four outlaws
buckled on their armour. But when the train was about one and a half miles
from the station the driver saw a red light flickering dimly ahead on the
moonlit track. He blew a long blast on his whistle.
The train came to a standstill. What was wrong? There, standing between
the rails, was the schoolmaster, Tom Curnow, holding a lighted candle behind
a red scarf. This moment he knew would be the most dangerous in his life,
for the white light of the candle on his face would make him an easy mark
for the Kelly Gang.
But his luck held ━ and he gasped out his story.
The battle of Glenrowan was about to begin.
Battle Of Glenrowan
Back at the hotel, Ned, dressed in his armour, addressed the prisoners, and
while doing so Constable Bracken escaped through the front door and alerted
that the Kelly�s were in Glenrowan. Had Superintendent Hare paused a moment
to form up his men and give them orders to throw a cordon round the hotel,
things might have been different, but he thought of only storming the hotel
by a frontal charge. At this moment, the outlaws, encased in their armour
beneath their overcoats, came round the end of the hotel. Their plan had
been to sneak forward and attack the police at the railway station. Instead
they saw the sixteen policemen advancing towards them.
Hare halted at thirty paces and, seeing the figures in the shadows, called
out, �Don�t be foolish. I want to speak to you!�, Ned�s voice boomed
back in reply: �I don�t want to speak to you!�. Hare discharged both
barrels of his shot-gun. The other police opened fire at the figures in armour.
The four outlaws, all armed with rifles, returned the fire in a hot volley.
With his first shot Ned Kelly sent a rifle bullet through Hare�s wrist,
but a bullet also struck Ned in the forearm. This was the most decisive
shot in the whole battle, for it prevented Ned from using his Spencer repeating
rifle, which must be supported by the left arm. He was also struck in the
upper part of the arm and also in the foot. Most fatal of all, the heavy
armour destroyed the outlaws freedom of movement.
Ned bleeding freely, hopped around to the north side of the hotel. The other
three went through the front door into the hotel. It was not Ned�s idea
that his gang should take shelter behind the people imprisoned there. Then
Ned decided on a bold stroke to draw the police away from the hotel. He
staggered into the stockyard and tried to mount a horse, but it was impossible
in his armour, so he lurched away into the bush where his grey mare was
tethered. There he sat down and tried to unfasten his armour, but because
of his injured hands he could not get the bolts undone. After much struggling,
he eased the helmet off his head. Next he tried to load the rifle, but could
not do that, either. He decided to lie hidden in the bush for a while, so
he untethered his mare and let her go. This was a bad decision, for Ned
now had no way of retreat.
Feeling very weak, he put on his helmet again. He lay, half fainting from
loss of blood. Footsteps were coming towards him! Would he be found? But
the policemen were thinking of only surrounding the hotel, and did not look
in the bushes where Ned lay hidden.
Kelly�s Courage
After lying encased in his armour on the frosty ground for three and a half
hours, Ned came fully to his senses and decided to return to battle. Desperately
wounded as he was, weakened by loss of blood, his limbs frozen and encumbered
by nearly a hundredweight of iron, he managed to stand up and walk ━ not
away from the fight, in the direction of safety for himself, but back to
the hotel to rescue his mates.
It was at that moment and by that decision, that Ned Kelly�s name was fixed
in Australia�s lore as a symbol of reckless courage.
As game as Ned Kelly
This was the supreme moment of his life, and perhaps he knew it. It was
one of the policemen who first noticed the seemingly gigantic figure lurching
among the saplings. In the mist and grey overcoat over the armour, and wearing
the rounded helmet with a slit in it, appeared to be about nine feet tall.
The police opened fire, aiming at the head and chest. The bullets struck
with a metallic clang. The tall figure staggered at each impact but continued
to advance. A loud muffled voice came from the slit in the helmet.
�Fire away, you can�t hurt me!�
The police closed in rapidly, firing at the outlaw�s legs and arms, and
a charge of gunshot fired from Sergeant Steele finally brought him crashing
to the ground. The police seized his wrist and wrenched the revolver from
him. Then they pulled off his helmet.
�Oh my God, it�s Ned!�
They were more than sixty yards from the hotel where Dan and Hart could have
fired upon them with deadly effect if they had chosen. But those two dazed
and drink-stupefied youths did not take this opportunity of helping Ned.
And so the outlaw was carried to the railway station and placed on a mattress
in the station master�s office. There the police tried to persuade Ned to
make his mates surrender ━ but he knew they never would, and there was
nothing he could do.
At about 10a.m. after the police had been firing at the hotel for about
seven hours, the order was given to cease fire. A strange silence settled
on the scene. No shots came from the hotel. Then a loud voice called from
the police positions : �we will give you ten minutes. All innocent person
t come out.�
After about three minutes the people who had been kept prisoner at the hotel
came out. Everyone was identified, searched and questioned, and the police
learnt for the first time that Joe Burne was dead. The other two, still
wearing their armour, were apparently quiet and miserable and talking together
in low tones. They knew that Ned was captured and that their own position
was hopeless
The police now decided to set fire to the hotel and smoke them out. Under
a heavy burst of fire, a policeman ran forward with a bundle of straw and
placed it against the weatherboard wall. The rifle-fire ceased. As the flames
licked at the wall, fanned by the southerly breeze, a hush of awe fell on
the spectators. Now or never the outlaws must emerge.
Dean Gibney, a Roman Catholic priest, who happened to be on the train, and
who had already spoken with Ned, now showed great personal heroism. �May
God protect me,� he said �I�m going into that house, to give those men
a chance to have a little time to prepare themselves before they die.�
And as the flames crackles and black smoke billowed, he walked forward alone
to the burning building. �In the name of God,� he called out to the outlaws,
�I am a Catholic priest, do not shoot me.�
Inside he ran quickly from room to room. He saw the dead body of Joe Burne,
and there in a little room at the back he saw two bodies lying side by side
on the floor. Their armour was off and laid beside them. They were Dan Kelly
and Steve Hart. They had been dead for some time and it appeared that they
had committed suicide. The priest emerged and told the police what he had
found. A few minutes later the hotel became a raging mass of flames.
So the Kelly Gang was ended in that strange battle which lasted for twelve
and a half hours on Monday, 28th June 1880.
Ned�s Trail
Ned Kelly was taken by the police to the Melbourne Gaol hospital, and carefully
nursed back to health. On 28th October 1880, he was put on trial. A jury
was chosen, evidence was heard, and the �twelve good men and true� gave
their verdict ━ guilty.
The judge, Sir Redmond Barry, asked the formal question, �Prisoner at the
bar, have you anything to say why sentence of death should not be passed
upon you?�
Ned looked at the judge thoughtfully.
�Well,� he said, �it is rather too late for me to speak now. I wish I
had insisted on examining the witnesses myself. I could have thrown a different
light on the case ━ but I thought if I did so it would look like bravado
and flashiness.�
This interruption of the death sentence was something quite new. Ned continued
to argue quietly and coolly with the judge. At last he said, �A day will
come, at a bigger Court than this, when we shall see which is right and
which is wrong. No matter how long a man lives, he has to come to judgement
somewhere. If I had examined the witnesses, I would have stopped a lot of
the reward, I assure you!�
After a few more exchanges, the judge decided the fantastic argument to
a close. He looked at his notes, prepared in advance, and read in solemn
tones a homily on the miseries of an outlaw�s lot and on Ned�s misdeeds.
He ended on pronouncing the sentence, �You will be taken from here to the
place from whence you came, and thence to a place of execution, and there
you will be hanged by the neck until you be dead, and may the Lord have
mercy on your soul!�
Ned looked fixedly at the ageing judge. � I will add something to that,�
he said, as the court listened in awe-struck silence. � I will see you
where I am going!�
Many people remembered these words when Sir Redmond Barry was suddenly taken
ill two days after Ned was hanged, and died soon afterwards.
The date fixed on Ned�s execution was 11 November 1880. On the day before
his brother and sisters were allowed to visit him, and after this, his mother.
Her last words to him were: �Mind you die like a Kelly, Ned!�.
The morning of Thursday, 11th November, dawned fine and clear. Ned was taken
to the gallows. As the hangman adjusted the noose Ned looked round him resignedly
and said, �Ah well, I suppose it had to come to this!�.
A white cap was put over his head and face. As it was pulled down over his
eyes Ned spoke three words, with a sigh:
�Such is Life�