Edward (Ned) Kelly was
born in June 1855 at Beveridge, Victoria. He was hung in Old Melbourne Gaol on
11 November, 1880. The son of an Irish
convict who had been transported to Australia for stealing 2 pigs, Ned often
clashed with the police in his younger days. Ned had 5 sisters, 2 half-sisters,
2 brothers, and 1 half-brother. Before Ned was declared an outlaw, there were
18 charges brought against his immediate family but only half of them resulted
in guilty verdicts. This led many to believe that the Kelly family were
unfairly targeted.
Following an extremely
controversial incident at the Kelly home on 15 April, 1878, Ned became a
fugitive. The incident involved Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick who violated
police policy and went alone to the house to arrest Ned's brother, Dan Kelly.
After an incident, Constable Fitzpatrick rode to Benalla where he
claimed that he was attacked by the Kelly family and shot by Ned. However, Ned
is reported to have been 200 miles away at the time. The incident led to the
conviction of his mother, brother-in-law, and a family associate. A reward of
£100 was offered for Ned's arrest. After the trial, a doctor had told
Fitzpatrick that his wounds were not caused by a bullet and Fitzpatrick was
later dismissed from the police force for drunkenness and perjury. In the
meantime, Ned and Dan feared that their story would not be believed and they
went into hiding with friends, Joe Byrne and Steve Hart. And the notorious
Kelly Gang is born!
In October of that same
year, there was a shoot-out between a police party and the Kelly Gang which led
to the death of 3 police officers at Stringybark Creek. The reward was raised
to £500. The gang then committed two major robberies which included taking
hostages and robbing bank safes. After the first robbery, the government round
up and arrested all known friends and supporters of the Kelly's. This led to
major condemnation of the government for abusing their power, including in the
media. The Jerilderie Letter is a famous piece of Australian literature. It is
a letter of over 7000 words that was written by Ned, describing his views and
the treatment of his family. Excerpts of the letter were published but then it
was hidden until 1930.
Ned was finally captured
in Glenrowan in June 1880. The gang had been equipped with metal armour that
could withstand bullets. Each set of armour weighed 44kg (97lb) and it was worn
under long grey coats. They had the train tracks disabled so that extra police
would not be able to get through and then took over the town of Glenrowan. Their
plans failed when they released the local school teacher who went to warn the
police of the disabled train track. The Kelly gang were held up in the local
hotel and a siege ensued. Joe Byrne was shot and his body was later strung
up in the town of Benalla as a curiousity. The bodies of Dan Kelly and Steve
Hart were later found in the burnt out hotel and while the circumstances of
their deaths are not known, it is believed that they may have committed
suicide. Ned had attacked the police from behind. He was shot a total of 28
times but not one of the bullets had pierced his armour. He had been shot in
the left foot, left leg, left arm, right hand and in the groin. He
survived to stand trial on 19 October 1880.
Ned Kelly has been
immortalized as an Australian icon. He was the subject of the first Australian
feature film in 1906. Mick Jagger played Ned in the 1970 film while Heath
Ledger had the starring role in 2003. That first film, The Story of the Kelly
Gang, was inscribed on the UNESCO Memory
of the World Register for being the world's first full-length feature film.
Today, his memory lives on. For some, Ned was just a cold-blooded killer. To
others, he is a folk hero, not unlike Robin Hood. I
belong to the latter group.
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