Kelly
The third of eight children born to transported Irish convict, John "Red" Kelly (sent from Ireland to Australia for stealing two pigs) and his wife, Ellen Quinn, Ned begins life in the small community of Beveridge in December of 1854, baptized by Augustinian priest Charles O'hea, who will also give him his last rites before his execution. Experiencing a normal childhood for the area that sees the youth receiving a basic education while also learning wilderness skills, 11-year-old Kelly risks his life and saves a fellow youngster from drowning in Hughes Creek in 1864 (delighted, the boy's family awards Kelly with a green sash that the outlaw will wear under his armor during his final gunbattle). In 1865 however, things go wrong for the Kelly Family when "Red" is arrested for having meat he can not prove is his, and unable to pay the fine of twenty-five pounds, is sent away for six months. Heavily drinking upon his release, Ned's father dies at the end of 1866, and a bitter Ned and family are forced to move to a 88-acre homestead of uncultivated and untitled farmland at Eleven Mile Creek near the Greta region of Victoria. There, they run afoul of some of the neighbors and authorities, who accuse the family of cattle and horse rustling. Giving in to the calling of his genes, previous experiences with the local colonial police, and bad associates (he is mentored on the ways of a bushranger by transplanted Irish convict, Harry Power), Kelly becomes a full fledged outlaw at the age of fourteen in 1869.
Kelly
Power - 1870
Avoiding jail time for an altercation with a traveling Chinese pig and fowl dealer named Ah Fook (who claims Kelly beats him with a stick and steals ten shillings, while Kelly claims he was the one beaten by a stick for coming to the defense of his sister when she is verbally abused for giving Fook creek water instead of well water when the traveler requests a drink at the family's farm), and the series of robberies he participates in with Power, Kelly is finally sentenced to three months of hard labor for each of the three charges against him for his role in passing on a vile note wrapped around calf testicle's for a jailed friend to the wife of the man's accuser (for horse theft), Jeremiah McCormack, Released in 1871, in a dispute over a missing horse Kelly finds on his property and is in the process of returning, Ned is arrested by Constable Edward Hall. Resisting the arrest for a crime he didn't commit (Kelly is still behind bars when the horse goes missing), Hall draws his weapon and fires three times at Kelly, misfires all that incense the outlaw, who overpowers the lawman, only to be beaten to a pulp by Hall and his pistol when seven bystanders come to the aid of the constable. Sentenced to three years of hard labor, the youth serves his time and is out again in 1874, six months ahead of time for good behavior. Not done yet though with the horse "theft," to settle the score with the man who originally lost the horse, Kelly takes on his opponent, horse-breaker Isaiah "Wild" Wright in a bare-knuckle boxing match at the town of Beechworth's Imperial Hotel, which Ned wins in twenty rounds (Wright will consequently become a firm supporter of the outlaw).
Mugshot At 15
The Boxer
Troubles accelerating, in 1877 in the town of Benalla, Kelly is arrested by four policemen for public drunkenness, flees, and is caught again hiding in a shoemaker's shop after a brawl that has Ned finally subdued when his pants are torn off and Constable Thomas Lonigan puts a lock grip on his testicles (Kelly will tell the constable, "Well Lonigan, I never shot a man yet, but if I ever do, so help me God, you'll be my first." And sure enough, Lonigan will be killed by Kelly in 1878). Fine paid for being drunk and then destroying the officers' uniforms in the fight, Kelly next problem with the law arises in April of 1878. Attempting to arrest Ned's brother Dan for horse theft (after spending time drinking in a Winton public house) without backup, Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick will get into a brawl at the Kelly farm that involves Ned's mother, neighbor William Williamson (in trouble for not having a license to chop wood on Crown land, Kelly brother-in-law Bill Skillian, Dan Kelly, and Ned Kelly, who the lawman will claim shoots him in the arm before beating Fitzpatrick insensible (waking from his slumber, the constable will state that Kelly forces him to cut the bullet out of his arm with a knife to prevent the slug from being used as evidence against the outlaw, while Kelly will claim he is miles away and that the fight is brought on by Fitzpatrick making a pass at Ellen Kelly). On Fitzpatrick's testimony (he will later be dismissed from the force for drunkenness and perjury) before a jury of former police and enemies of the family, the brawlers will be found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to hard labor (his mother will still be serving her sentence when her son is executed), and arrest warrants for Dan and Ned are issued.
Fitzpatrick
Hiding from the authorities in the wilds at the head of the King River, the Kellys are soon joined by two friends, Joe Byrne and Steve Hart, and the Kelly Gang is created. Tip received as to the gang's location, in October of 1878 two groups of officers (a group of five men from Greta and four men from Mansfield) from different directions close in on the area, using an abandoned mining camp on Stringybark Creek as a base camp. Hunting for dinner in the area (a repast of parrot meat when kangaroos had been wanted), on 10/26 the sound of gunfire draws the outlaws to the lawmen, whom they surprise while the lawmen are brewing tea. Trying to hide behind a tree while drawing his gun, Constable Lonigran does indeed become Ned's first murder, dead from a slug that hits the lawman in the temple (later, seven bullets will be found in his body). Constable McIntyre captured, aware that more men are using the camp, the outlaws wait for the other lawmen to appear ... when they do, and Kennedy seemingly makes a move to draw his gun, the outlaws open fire and kill Sergeant Kennedy and Constable Scanion, while McIntyre jumps on a horse and gallops away (after a twenty mile journey on foot, part without one of his boots, through the bush to reach civilization) to spread the word of the killings. There is no going back for the gang from the killings (or the increase in reward monies offered for the men's capture).
Dan Kelly, Steve Hart, And Joe Byrne
Ambush
Clockwise From Left - Lonigan,
Kennedy, McIntyre, Scanion
Officer Memorial In Mansfield
Outlaws acting like outlaws, now with murder charges on their heads, closing out the year, in December, Ned and his gang rob the bank at Younghusband's Station, near the town of Euroa, getting away with cash, gold ingots, gold dust, and silver. The authorities respond to the robbery by arresting all known friends and sympathizers in the region, 23 people in all, and hold them without trial for three months. Outlaws turn, in February of 1879, the Kelly Gang pulls off a three day raid on the town of Jerilderie in which they capture the police, help set up the chapel in the courthouse for Sunday services, enjoy resting at the town's Royal Hotel, rob the local bank of its cash, burn mortgage documents, share drinks with the locals, give a personal letter Ned has written about why he fell into a life of crime to a bank accountant for later publication (it is 56 pages and 7,391 words long and is now on display at the State Library of Victoria) and steal a saddle and two police horses. Then, though sought by thousands, the gang seemingly vanishes. They resurface in June of 1880 after precipitating another murder.
Taking The Police Barracks
Bounty Notice
Convinced that a former Greta friend has turned traitor and is providing information on the gang to the authorities, on 6/26, Dan Kelly and Joe Byrne show up at the Woolshed Valley home of Aaron Sherritt, force a kidnapped neighbor to knock on the door, and in front of the man's mother and wife, gun him down with bullets in his neck and chest before fleeing the area (there are four policemen staying at Sherritt's home that soon spread the news of the gang's reappearance). Expecting the reaction of the authorities will be swift and violent (it is), featuring officers flooding the area via a special police train, Kelly concocts a plan to take a large number of his tormentors out ... the gang will wreck the train at the small town of Glenrowan in the Warby Ranges, kill any survivors, then ride to the town of Benalla, which they believe will be stripped of police from supplying men for the train, and there, they will rob the bank, burn down the courthouse, blow up the town's police barracks, release anyone in the town's jail, and generally raise chaos in the region. It is a plan that will instead see to the gang's undoing.
Sherritt
The Death Of Sherritt
At first, things go well for the Kelly bandits; a sharp curve in the railroad line that runs over a deep ravine is selected for the train's derailment, the selected tracks are damaged, the town of Glenrowan is taken over (in all, the gang will take 62 citizens hostage and confine them in the town's Glenrowan Inn), supplies are readied (including homemade suits of bullet-repelling armor), and while waiting for the train to show up, the bushrangers relax with the locals by dancing, singing, playing cards, and drinking. The problem is that the police find out about the gang's plans thanks to the efforts of a man the outlaws believe is a sympathizer of the outfit's activities, Thomas Curnow, the local schoolmaster. Not confined to the inn like the rest of the town, Curnow uses his freedom to warn the train before it reaches the kill curve, and with the knowledge provided, the gang (all in their armor) is soon confronted at McDonnell's Railway Hotel by an advanced party of police that includes a commanding superintendent, six constables, and five native trackers. Battle on, the warring parties exchange gunfire for fifteen minutes, a time period during which Superintendent Hare has his left wrist shattered, and Ned is wounded in the left elbow and right foot, before slipping away from the the hotel undetected. Hotel soon surrounded by police, trackers, and civilian volunteers, Byrne is the first bandit to go, bleeding to death after a bullet enters a weak spot in his armor and severs his femoral artery (just after he drinks a whiskey toast at the hotel's bar, "Many more years in the bush for the Kelly Gang!").
Messing With The Tracks
Battle
At daybreak, in his armor, and armed with three handguns, rises out of his nearby hiding place in the bush and attacks the police from their rear, stalking slowly through the morning mists towards the hotel. The sight causes fright and wonder as bullets bounce off the apparition (later the armor will show eighteen bullet hits). Laughing and taunting the police, as the gang opens fire from the hotel on their adversaries once more, in ten minutes of madness, Kelly advances about fifty yards before Sergeant Steele of Wangaratta realizes the outlaw's legs are unprotected and sends twin shotgun blasts Ned's way, savaging the bushranger's hip and thigh. Collapsing against a fallen tree, Kelly exclaims, "I'm done! I'm done!" But not quite, when Steele moves forward to take Kelly into custody, the outlaw sends a slug at the sergeant that knocks his hat off and burns the lawman's face. Too weak from blood lose for more action, when Kelly's armor is taken off officers discover the bandit has wounds to his left foot, left leg, left arm, right hand, and groin, all of which are treated when he is moved to the local stationmaster's office. Two bushrangers down, two yet to go.
Kelly
The Capture Of Kelly
Monument At The Site Of The Capture
Kelly's Armor
Hostages released by Dan Kelly and Hart (whether by police fire or from the outlaws, three members of the Glenrowan community will die during the siege, an old man named Martin Cherry, shot in the groin, George Metcalf, shot in the face, and 13-year-old John Jones, the son of the hotel's landlady, from a hip wound, additionally, three other civilians are wounded, but survive) the remaining members of the gang continue to fire on the police from the hotel. Unwilling to storm the hotel and risk the lives of his men, Superintendent Sadleir requests a 12-pound Armstrong cannon by trained to Glenrowan from Melbourne, but before it can arrive, changes his mind and decides to burn the pair out. Gunfire keeping the outlaws busy, Senior Constable Charles Johnson places a burning bundle of straw against the hotel's west side and the structure is soon ablaze. Watching the hotel burn, Matthew Gibney, a priest out of Western Australia, decides to enter the structure to rescue anyone still left inside. Smoke and fire all around, he instead finds that the battle is over, both Dan Kelly and Hart are dead (it is never established if they mutually commit suicide, or have fallen victim to police bullets).
The Hotel After
Brought to trial before Sir Redmond Berry on a host of charges, Ned Kelly is of course sentenced to death, and when the judge states, "May God have mercy on your soul," the outlaw responds, "I will go a little further than that, and say I will see you there where I go." In Melbourne, thousands march in the streets seeking clemency for Kelly, and 32,000 sign a petition asking for the same ... to no avail. On the morning of 11/11/1880, Kelly's leg irons are removed and he is marched to the jail's scaffold and hung. His last words are purported to be either, "Such is life," or, "Ah, well, I suppose it had to come to this."
Execution
Death Mask
Outlaw removed, Kelly somehow manages in death to become a Robin Hood to Australia. A cottage industry in death, there will be magazine articles, books (the Ned Kelly Awards are now given annually for the best fictional and true crime writing in Australia), movies about the bushranger, songs from a host of musicians that includes Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and the band, Midnight Oil (along with a country band being named Reckless Kelly after the outlaw), hundreds of performers at the opening ceremonies of 2000 Olympic Summer Games will dance before an international audience of millions wearing stylist Kelly helmets designed by visual artist Sidney Nolan, and even tourist tours of the areas where Kelly once reigned (rural districts in northeastern Victoria are called "Kelly Country"). By the way in which his brief life is played out ("As game as Ned Kelly" is now an Australian term for bravery), in hanging Kelly, the authorities actually insure that Kelly will never leave the consciousness of Australia, a dubious kind of immortality to be sure.
1906 - The Story Of The Kelly Gang
1950 - The Glenrowan Affair
Mick Jagger As Kelly - 1970
Heath Ledger As Kelly - 2003
Opening Ceremonies
The Real Ned Kelly
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