Ned Kelly's exact
birthdate is not known. He was born around 1855 in
Beveridge, a small town north of Melbourne. His parents
were Irish Catholic immigrants, and his father was an
ex-convict. The Kelly family moved to the north-east
Victorian hamlet of Greta where Ned attended school
until age 11, when his father died.
Three years
later, he had his first run-in with the law. Kelly was
accused of assault and held for 10 days, but charges
were dismissed. One year later, in 1870, he was again
arrested, this time accused of being an accomplice to
bushranger Harry Power. Again, charges were dropped.
Still in his teens, Kelly had already developed a strong
resentment towards authority, and authority had begun to
resent him. Later that year, he was again charged with
assault, and sentenced to six months jail. The following
year, he was charged with receiving a stolen horse,
though he claimed the horse belonged to his friend
Isaiah "Wild" Wright. Kelly was sentenced to three years
gaol in Melbourne's notorious Pentridge
prison.
After his release, Ned allegedly kept
stealing horses. A trooper called Alexander
Fitzpatrick arrived at the Kelly home with a warrant
for Ned's arrest. What happened next is subject to
debate. The trooper claimed that Ned came home and shot
him. The Kellys, however, maintained the trooper had
behaved inappropriately towards Ned's sister Kate. His
brother Dan scuffled with the policeman, and a gun went
off in the process.
As a consequence of this
incident, troopers were sent to arrest the Kelly boys.
They disappeared into the bush, but others were
arrested, including their mother who was sentenced to
three years in prison. The government posted a £100
reward for the apprehension of either Kelly, and the
pair became outlaws. They were soon joined by old
friends, including Joe Byrne and Steve Hart. Four
troopers set out to capture the gang at Stringybark
Creek, but the gang ambushed them. Three of the troopers
were killed in the ensuing gun fight: Sergeant Kennedy,
Constable Scanlon and Constable Lonigan. The fourth
policeman, Constable McIntyre, escaped. Following the
killings, the government increased the reward to £500,
this time dead or alive.
The Kelly Gang responded
by audaciously robbing two banks, one in the Victorian
centre of Euroa and one over the New South Wales border
in Jerilderie. During the second robbery, the Kelly gang
held captive 60 people and Ned read from the Jerilderie
letter. This was a document Ned dictated to Byrne,
explaining the history of his problems with the law, and
outlining the persecution he thought he (and all poor
Irish Catholics in Victoria) had suffered at the hands
of the establishment.
The Kelly Gang remained at
large until 1880. Their final act was played out in the
small township of Glenrowan, on June 27. There they
took the community prisoner and herded them into the
local hotel. About 50 police arrived by rail and
surrounded the hotel. Ready for battle, the Kelly Gang
donned armour made from metal ploughshares. The bloody
shoot-out, including the burning down of the hotel,
claimed the lives of all the Kelly Gang but Ned, who was
shot numerous times.
Taken by the police, he
stood trial in Melbourne and was sentenced to death. On
November 11, 1880, he was hanged in the Old
Melbourne Gaol. His final words were, "Such is
life." | |
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The story of Ned Kelly has been
brought to the screen many times, beginning with The
Story of the Kelly Gang in 1906 - the world’s first
feature film |
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Heath
Ledger as Ned Kelly |
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