Ned Kelly

How it all began

Kelly’s criminal life started early. In 1869, when he was 14, he was arrested for allegedly assaulting a Chinese man. In 1870 he was arrested again, this time for being a suspected accomplice of bushranger Harry Power. The assault charge was dismissed and the accomplice charges with Power were also dropped after witnesses could not identify Kelly. Power was also of the belief that Kelly had given him up in exchange for his freedom. It was not long before Kelly was in trouble with the law again. In 1871 he served 3 months in prison for assault and later that year received a 3-year prison sentence for receiving a stolen horse.

The Fitzpatrick Incident

After his release from gaol Kelly worked as timber cutter and in other labouring jobs. In April 1878, a police officer named Fitzpatrick went to the Kelly home to arrest Kelly’s brother Dan for stealing horses. Fitzpatrick was shot in the wrist by Ned Kelly, and their mother Ellen was arrested for aiding and abetting an attempted murder.

Ellen was sentenced to three years' imprisonment by Judge Redmond Barry (who also sentenced Ned Kelly to death by hanging). Ned and Dan went into hiding, and were later joined by Ned's friend Joe Byrne, and Dan's friend Steve Hart.

Stringybark Creek

In October 1878, Ned, Dan, Joe and Steve headed for Bullock Creek, where they hoped to earn enough money to appeal Ellen Kelly’s sentence by running a whisky distillery.

Shortly after their arrival, they received a warning that four policemen were planning to track them down. Ned rode around the surrounding areas and found sets of horse tracks leading to Stringybark Creek, close to where the gang was camped.

The gang ambushed the police camp at Stringybark Creek and found two of the four policemen – Constables Lonigan and McIntyre – standing around a fire. The gang drew their guns and Ned shot Lonigan. McIntyre surrendered.

When the other two policemen Sergeant Kennedy and Constable Scanlan returned they were shot by the gang. From this moment on, these four men were officially outlaws: the notorious Kelly gang.

Where Sergt. Kennedy was murdered by Kelly [between 1878 and 1880] H2634

The image above depicts a re-enactment showing the actual tree where Sergeant Kennedy's body was found: Two men standing in bush setting looking down at a body covered with a blanket.

After the Stringybark Creek incident, the Victorian Government issued an official proclamation declaring both Ned and Dan outlaws, and a reward of £500 was offered for information leading to the capture of each of the four members of the gang.

Finding themselves in need of funds, the gang held up Younghusband Station, about 6 km outside Euroa, and held a number of people hostage overnight. On 10 December 1878, with Joe Byrne left behind to guard the prisoners, the gang rode into Euroa and raided the local branch of the National Bank of Australasia, netting themselves over £2000 in cash and gold.

In response, the government increased the reward for the apprehension of Ned to £1000, bringing the total reward offered for the gang to £2500.

In February 1879, the gang crossed the Murray River into New South Wales, and early in the morning of 8th February they held up the Jerilderie police station and took the two constables hostage. The gang spent the night in the station and the following day, dressed in police uniforms, they walk around the town to familiarise themselves with the layout. After a second night at the station, the gang once again put on uniforms and headed into town. They first held up the Royal Mail Hotel, then Ned and Joe headed next door and robbed the Bank of New South Wales, once again walking away with over £2000.

While in Jerilderie, Ned had planned to deliver the letter he'd had Joe Byrne write at his dictation, which later became know as the Jerilderie letter, to the Jerilderie Gazette editor, Samuel Gill. Unable to find Gill during the bank raid, Ned gave the letter to Edwin Living, the bank's accountant, with strict instructions to pass it on to Gill make sure it was printed.

Image credit: THE KELLYS' VISIT TO THE POLICE STATION, JERILDERIE, N.S.W. (February 21, 1879) IAN21/02/79/17

There's no denying that Ned Kelly was a notorious criminal, feared around Victoria and beyond as a robber and murderer. However, while it is not known how many sympathisers Kelly had in his day, over time a national myth emerged that pitched Kelly as a victim of police harassment and an underdog with the courage to challenge the authorities.

This perception was no doubt fuelled by Kelly's Jerilderie letter, an 8000-word document in which he tried to justify his crimes and make a case for unfair police persecution of himself and his family. Kelly dictated the letter to Joe Byrne, who later rewrote it in clearer handwriting.

The letter was written in 1879, around the time that the gang robbed the Jerilderie Bank. Kelly gave the letter to the bank's accountant, Edward Living, and told him to have it published. Living, however, hopped on a train to Melbourne and passed the letter on to the police.

Despite its rough language and lack of grammar or punctuation, the Jerilderie letter offers a valuable insight into Ned Kelly's personality. It documents Kelly’s version of several incidents leading up to the Fitzpatrick incident and the murders of the police by the gang at Stringybark Creek. The language is at times very vivid and arguments are not always expressed coherently but Kelly’s chief belief that he was acting in self-defence is clearly evident. Also evident is his sense of aggrievement at what he saw as a long history of oppression of the Irish people by the British.

The events described in the letter, and in particular the colloquial language and passionate tone, also provided inspiration for Peter Carey's prize-winning novel, True history of the Kelly gang (2000).

Image credit: Letter written by Joe Byrne at the dictation of Ned Kelly [1879 Feb.]. Page 1. MS 13361

Sometime in Autumn 1880, Ned, Dan, Joe and Steve had their iconic suits of armour fashioned in preparation for a planned attack on police at Glenrowan.

The plan was relatively simply: kill Aaron Sherritt, who was suspected to be a police informant, to goad Melbourne police into sending a special train north to Beechworth; derail the train just outside of Glenrowan and kill any of the survivors; ride to Benalla to lay siege to the town and rob the banks; head back into hiding in the Victorian bush.

On 26th June 1880, Dan and Joe shot Aaron Sherritt dead in his own doorway in Woolshed Valley near Wangaratta. Meanwhile, Ned and Steve made their way to Glenrowan, intending to pull up a section of track at a sharply curving incline just to the north of the town where the anticipated police special train would derail into a deep gully. But the pair had no tools and their initial attempts to sabotage the rail line failed. Early in the morning of Sunday 27th June, a group of labourers who were sleeping nearby in tents were press-ganged into service, but neither they, nor the stationmaster, John Stanistreet, whose assistance was also sought, were able to pull up the track. Eventually, at around three in the morning, two nearby railway platelayers were put to work and the section of track was removed.

Dan and Joe rejoined Ned and Steve in Glenrowan, and throughout the day the townsfolk were rounded up and bought into the Glenrowan Inn. The gang was expecting the arrival of the special train from Melbourne at anytime, but in the end it didn't get underway until 10pm that night. With little to do but wait, the men organised games and held a dance at the Inn. Later into the night, Ned allowed local schoolteacher Thomas Curnow to leave the Inn to care for his ill wife, but Thomas had other plans. Making his way out to the railway line, he signalled the train with a candle and scarf and the driver bought the engine to a safe stop before reaching the wrecked section of track.

Early in the morning of Monday 28th June 1880, the police charged the Inn, but Ned and the gang had been alerted. They'd put on their armour and walked out of the Inn to meet the charge. The first shot was fired by Ned, hitting Superintendent Hare in the arm. A volley of shots from both sides followed and despite their armour, Ned was hit in the left arm and right foot and Joe took a shot to the leg. The gang retreated into the Inn. A lull in the battle allowed many of the hostages to escape from the hotel. Ned shot his way out and headed into the bush behind the Inn. Police had the Inn surrounded and continued to fire sporadically into the building. Joe Byrne was fatally struck by a bullet while drinking whiskey at the bar. Seriously injured but presenting a frightful appearance, Ned strode out of the dawn mist behind the police line. Police returned fire on Ned while Dan and Steve provided covering fire from the Inn, but two shotgun blasts to the legs brought Ned to the ground and he was surrounded and disarmed.

The standoff at the Inn continued into the day. News of the siege had reached far and wide and a crowd of hundreds of spectators began arriving in the town. A cannon had been requested from Melbourne to blast the two remaining gang members out of the Inn, but with the remaining hostages safely out of the hotel, it was instead decided to burn them out. The Inn was set ablaze, but a priest who had been passing through and had joined the crowd of spectators, ran into the building with several policemen to rescue any remaining survivors, but Dan Kelly and Steve Hart were already dead.

The capture of Ned Kelly (July 3, 1880) IAN03/07/80/105

Read the letter written by Donald Sutherland to his parents back home in Scotland, featuring an eye-witness account of Ned Kelly's capture.

Image credits:

• Top-right - The Kelly's at Glenrowan, preparing to "smash the train" (1880) APW10/07/80/41
• Middle-left - A STRANGE APPARITION - NED KELLY'S FIGHT AND CAPTURE (July 17, 1880) IAN17/07/80/120

Kelly in the dock. - A sketch from life. (August 28, 1880) IAN28/08/80/145

After his capture at Glenrowan, Kelly was taken to Melbourne where he stood trial in late October, 1880. He was found guilty of the murder of Constable Thomas Lonigan and sentenced to execution by hanging by Judge Redmond Barry.

The image from the Illustrated Australian News above depicts Ned in the dock at his committal hearing held in Beechworth in August 1880.

Visit the Trial and execution page to learn more about the trial.

Execution

Ned Kelly was hanged in the Old Melbourne Gaol on 11 November 1880. His execution was witnessed by various prison and police officials and by a number of journalists. His final words were reported by most observers to be ‘ah well I suppose’ or ‘ah well I suppose it has come to this’. One observer reported Kelly’s final words as ‘such is life’, but these words are now strongly contested and dismissed as invented (Dawson, S. E. (2016). Ned Kelly's last words: 'Ah, well, I suppose'. Eras, 18(1), 38-50).

Death mask

After the execution of Ned Kelly several death masks were made of his skull.

One Kelly death mask was put on display at the Wax Museum in Bourke Street owned by Maximilian Kreitmayer the day after Kelly’s hanging. It was no doubt a source of fascination for the Victorian public. Another is now in the Library's collection.

In the 19th century, it was common for plaster 'death masks' to be made of the face and skull of executed criminals. At the time, these masks served several purposes.

Firstly, death masks were used for phrenological analysis, whereby the shape of a person's head was studied to determine their character traits. Secondly, they were often put on display in public places to serve as a reminder of the power of the police force.

Visit the Trial and execution page to learn more about Kelly's death mask.

Image credit: [Death mask of Ned Kelly] [not dated] H2001.241

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For a different overview of Ned Kelly's story, explore this online exhibition created by Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) titled 'Ned Kelly: Australia's Original Iron Man'. It features images of Ned Kelly, his family, the Kelly Gang, as well as original records relating to key events in the Kelly story from PROV's own vast collection.