99-451: Edward Kelly (December 1854 – 11 November 1880) was an Australian bushranger , outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout with the police. Kelly was born and raised in rural Victoria , the third of eight children to Irish parents. His father, a transported convict , died in 1866, leaving Kelly, then aged 12, as
198-526: A cultural icon , inspiring numerous works in the arts and popular culture , and is the subject of more biographies than any other Australian. Kelly continues to cause division in his homeland: he is variously considered a Robin Hood -like folk hero and crusader against oppression, and a murderous villain and terrorist . Journalist Martin Flanagan wrote: "What makes Ned a legend is not that everyone sees him
297-465: A " half-caste ", but the police believed this to be the result of Kelly going unwashed. Power often camped at Glenmore Station on the King River , owned by Kelly's maternal grandfather, James Quinn. In June 1870, while resting in a mountainside gunyah (bark shelter) that overlooked the property, Power was captured and arrested by police. Word soon spread that Kelly had informed on him. Kelly denied
396-599: A Victorian parliamentarian who Kelly mistook as sympathetic to the gang, and Superintendent John Sadleir. In the letter, Kelly gives his version of the Fitzpatrick incident and the Stringybark Creek killings, and describes cases of alleged police corruption and harassment of his family, signing off as "Edward Kelly, enforced outlaw". He expected Cameron to read it out in parliament, but the government only allowed summaries to be made public. The Argus called it
495-562: A bushranger was "an open villain who subsists by highway robbery, and will sooner be killed than taken alive". Over 2,000 bushrangers are estimated to have roamed the Australian countryside, beginning with the convict bolters and drawing to a close after Ned Kelly 's last stand at Glenrowan . Bushranging began soon after British settlement with the establishment of New South Wales as a penal colony in 1788. The majority of early bushrangers were convicts who had escaped prison, or from
594-473: A bushranger. In 1869, 14-year-old Kelly met Irish-born Harry Power (alias of Henry Johnson), a transported convict who turned to bushranging in north-eastern Victoria after escaping Melbourne's Pentridge Prison . The Kellys were Power sympathisers, and by May 1869 Ned had become his bushranging protégé. That month, they attempted to steal horses from the Mansfield property of squatter John Rowe as part of
693-488: A convict uprising, declared martial law in an effort to suppress Howe's influence. Most of the gang had either been captured or killed by 1818, the year Howe was clubbed to death by a soldier. Vandemonian bushranging peaked in the 1820s with hundreds of bolters at large, among the most notorious being Matthew Brady 's gang, cannibal serial killers Alexander Pearce and Thomas Jeffrey , and tracker-turned-resistance leader Musquito . Jackey Jackey (alias of William Westwood)
792-768: A corner on the Macintyre (1894) and Bailed Up (1895), both set in Inverell , the area where Captain Thunderbolt was once active. Although not the first Australian film with a bushranging theme, The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906)—the world's first feature-length narrative film —is regarded as having set the template for the genre. On the back of the film's success, its producers released one of two 1907 film adaptations of Boldrewood's Robbery Under Arms (the other being Charles MacMahon's version ). Entering
891-484: A dispute over the hawker's request for a drink of water. Family witnesses backed Ned and the charge was dismissed. Kelly and Power reconciled in March 1870 and, over the next month, committed a series of armed robberies. By the end of April, the press had named Kelly as Power's young accomplice, and a few days later he was captured by police and confined to Beechworth Gaol . Kelly fronted court on three robbery charges, with
990-535: A friend of the Kellys, Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick. Another constable involved, Thomas Lonigan, supposedly grabbed Kelly's testicles during the fraccas; legend has it that Kelly vowed, "If I ever shoot a man, Lonigan, it'll be you." Kelly was fined and released. In August 1877, Kelly and King sold six horses they had stolen from pastoralist James Whitty to William Baumgarten, a horse dealer in Barnawartha , near
1089-522: A group of bush larrikins known for stock theft. A violent confrontation with a policeman occurred at the Kelly family's home in 1878, and Kelly was indicted for his attempted murder. Fleeing to the bush, Kelly vowed to avenge his mother, who was imprisoned for her role in the incident. After he, his brother Dan , and associates Joe Byrne and Steve Hart shot dead three policemen, the government of Victoria proclaimed them outlaws. Kelly and his gang, with
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#17327876669701188-719: A group of armed locals in Bobin, NSW , and the death of his brother, Joe Governor, near Singleton, NSW a few days later. Jack Underwood (who had been caught shortly after the Breelong Massacre) was hanged in Dubbo Gaol on 14 January 1901, and Jimmy Governor was hanged in Darlinghurst Gaol on 18 January 1901. The final phase of bushranging was sustained by the so-called "boy bushrangers"—youths who sought to commit crimes, mostly armed robberies, modelled on
1287-469: A half years, one of the longest careers of any bushranger. He sometimes operated alone; at other times, he led gangs, and was accompanied by his Aboriginal 'wife', Mary Ann Bugg , who is credited with helping extend his career. The increasing push of settlement, increased police efficiency, improvements in rail transport and communications technology, such as telegraphy , made it more difficult for bushrangers to evade capture. In 1870, Captain Thunderbolt
1386-403: A horse", resulting in a three-year sentence. Wright received eighteen months for his part. Kelly served his sentence at Beechworth Gaol and Pentridge Prison, then aboard the prison hulk Sacramento , off Williamstown . He was freed on 2 February 1874, six months early for good behaviour, and returned to Greta. According to one possibly apocryphal story, Kelly, to settle the score with Wright over
1485-624: A plan to rob the Woods Point –Mansfield gold escort. They abandoned the idea after Rowe shot at them, and Kelly temporarily broke off his association with Power. Kelly's first brush with the law occurred in October 1869. A Chinese hawker named Ah Fook said that as he passed the Kelly family home, Ned brandished a long stick, declared himself a bushranger and robbed him of 10 shillings. Kelly, arrested and charged with highway robbery , claimed in court that Fook had abused him and his sister Annie in
1584-420: A revolver, missing him. Ellen then hit Fitzpatrick over the head with a fire shovel. A struggle ensued and Ned fired again, wounding Fitzpatrick above his left wrist. Skillion and Williamson came in, brandishing revolvers, and Dan disarmed Fitzpatrick. Ned apologised to Fitzpatrick, saying that he mistook him for another constable. Fitzpatrick fainted and when he regained consciousness Ned compelled him to extract
1683-677: A reward of £800 for the arrest of the gang; it was soon increased to £2,000. Three days later, the Parliament of Victoria passed the Felons Apprehension Act , which came into effect on 1 November. The bushrangers were given until 12 November to surrender. On 15 November, having remained at large, they were officially outlawed. As a result, anyone who encountered them armed, or had a reasonable suspicion that they were armed, could kill them without consequence. The act also penalised anyone who gave "any aid, shelter or sustenance" to
1782-510: A self-made book of kangaroo skin and written in kangaroo blood. In it was a dream diary and plans for a settlement he intended to found in the bush. Sometime bushranger Francis MacNamara, also known as Frank the Poet , wrote some of the best-known poems of the convict era. Several convict bushrangers also wrote autobiographies, including Jackey Jackey, Martin Cash and Owen Suffolk . Jack Donahue
1881-660: A shootout with the police. Ned Kelly, the only gang member to survive, was hanged at the Melbourne Gaol on 11 November 1880. In July 1900, the Governor brothers—a trio group consisting of an Aboriginal fencing contractor named Jimmy Governor and his associates, Joe Governor and Jack Underwood—perpetrated the Breelong Massacre, wounding one and killing five members of the Mawbey family. The massacre sparked
1980-408: A small number of documents and securities. Fourteen staff members were taken back to Younghusband Station as hostages. There the gang performed trick riding for the thirty-seven hostages, before leaving at about 8.30 p.m., warning their captives to stay put for three hours or suffer reprisals. Following the raid, a number of newspapers commented on the efficiency of its execution and compared it with
2079-543: A ten-year sentence in HM Prison Pentridge . Within a year of his release in 1879, he and his gang held up the town of Wantabadgery in the Riverina . Two of the gang (including Moonlite's "soulmate" and alleged lover, James Nesbitt) and one trooper were killed when the police attacked. Scott was found guilty of murder and hanged along with one of his accomplices on 20 January 1880. Among the last bushrangers
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#17327876669702178-652: A trooper in 1830. That same year, west of the Blue Mountains , convict Ralph Entwistle sparked a bushranging insurgency known as the Bathurst Rebellion . He and his gang raided farms, liberating assigned convicts by force in the process, and within a month, his personal army numbered 80 men. Following gun battles with vigilante posses, mounted policemen and soldiers of the 39th and 57th Regiment of Foot , he and nine of his men were captured and executed. Convict bushrangers were particularly prevalent in
2277-425: Is Ned coming along by the side of the house". While he was pretending to look out of the window for Ned, Dan cornered Fitzpatrick, took the revolver and released Fitzpatrick unharmed. If Fitzpatrick suffered any wounds they were possibly self-inflicted. Skillion and Williamson were not present. In 1879 Ned's sister Kate stated that Kelly shot Fitzpatrick after the constable had made a sexual advance to her. After Kelly
2376-446: Is a bus service from Barmah that serves Wallan to Southern Cross station . Wallan has parks in prominent locations, and within estates. It also has a small water park (running mainly in the warmer months) located in the town centre at Hadfield park, this is a large adventure playground with a small splash area and ample picnic spaces including sheltered seating with bbq facilities. There are very limited recreational facilities in
2475-610: Is a town in Victoria , 45 kilometres (28 miles) north of Melbourne's Central Business District. The town sits at the southern end of the large and diverse Shire of Mitchell which extends from the northern fringes of Melbourne into the farming country of north-central Victoria and the lower Goulburn Valley . The township flanks the Hume Freeway and is set against the backdrop of the Great Dividing Range . At
2574-634: Is considered a classic of Australian colonial literature. It also cited as an important influence on the American writer Owen Wister 's 1902 novel The Virginian , widely regarded as the first Western . Bushrangers were a favoured subject of colonial artists such as S. T. Gill , Frank P. Mahony and William Strutt . Tom Roberts , one of the leading figures of the Heidelberg School (also known as Australian Impressionism ), depicted bushrangers in some of his history paintings, including In
2673-618: The Benalla Ensign wrote: The effect of his example has already been to draw one young fellow into the open vortex of crime, and unless his career is speedily cut short, young Kelly will blossom into a declared enemy of society. In October 1870, a hawker, Jeremiah McCormack, accused a friend of the Kellys, Ben Gould, of stealing his horse. Gould responded by sending an indecent note and a parcel of calves' testicles to McCormack's wife, which Kelly helped deliver. When McCormack later confronted Kelly for assisting Gould, Kelly punched him and
2772-527: The American Old West , and their crimes typically included robbing small-town banks, bailing up coach services and plundering stations (pastoral estates). They also engaged in many shootouts with the police, resulting in deaths on both sides. The number of bushrangers declined in the 1870s due to better policing and improvements in rail transport and communication technology, such as telegraphy . The last major phase of bushranging occurred towards
2871-469: The Felons Apprehension Act 1879 . After the police killings, the gang tried to escape into New South Wales but, due to flooding of the Murray River , were forced to return to north-eastern Victoria. They narrowly avoided the police on several occasions and relied on the support of an extensive network of sympathisers. In need of funds, the gang decided to rob the bank of Euroa . Byrne reconnoitered
2970-541: The Parliament of New South Wales passed a bill, the Felons Apprehension Act 1865 , that effectively allowed anyone to shoot outlawed bushrangers on sight. By the time that the Clarke brothers were captured and hanged in 1867, organised gang bushranging in New South Wales had effectively ceased. Captain Thunderbolt (alias of Frederick Ward) robbed inns and mail-coaches across northern New South Wales for six and
3069-613: The Port Phillip District (modern-day Victoria ) and was employed as a carpenter by farmer James Quinn at Wallan Wallan . On 18 November 1850, at St Francis Church , Melbourne , Red married Ellen Quinn, his employer's 18-year-old daughter, who was born in County Antrim , Ireland and migrated as a child with her parents to the Port Phillip District. In the wake of the 1851 Victorian gold rush ,
Ned Kelly - Misplaced Pages Continue
3168-451: The 1860s, including the 1862 Escort Rock robbery , Australia's largest ever gold heist. The gang also engaged in many shootouts with the police, resulting in deaths on both sides. Other bushrangers active in New South Wales during this period, such as Dan Morgan , and the Clarke brothers and their associates, murdered multiple policemen. As bushranging continued to escalate in the 1860s,
3267-658: The 2021 census it had a population 15,004. The fastest growing town and now the largest town in the Mitchell Shire, Wallan is a link between the city and rural towns such as Kilmore , Broadford and Seymour . 15 kilometres to the north is a turnoff to Strath Creek which leads through the Valley of a Thousand Hills. A Wallan Wallan Post Office opened on 1 April 1858. A Wallan Railway Station Post Office opened on 1 October 1873, later renamed as Wallan Wallan East and closing in 1992. The first and only surviving store
3366-695: The Bushranger (1830), William Thomas Moncrieff 's Van Diemen's Land: An Operatic Drama (1831), The Bushrangers; or, Norwood Vale (1834) by Henry Melville , and The Bushrangers; or, The Tregedy of Donohoe (1835) by Charles Harpur . In the late 19th century, E. W. Hornung and Hume Nisbet created popular bushranger novels within the conventions of the European "noble bandit" tradition. First serialised in The Sydney Mail in 1882–83, Rolf Boldrewood 's bushranging novel Robbery Under Arms
3465-427: The Governor brothers to engage in a crime spree across northern New South Wales, triggering one of the largest manhunts in Australian history, with 2,000 armed civilians and police covering 3,000 km of northern New South Wales in a search for the brothers. The Governor brothers were pursued by authorities for a total of three months, consequently being brought down on 27 October with the arrest of Jimmy Governor by
3564-844: The IB diploma (Permanently closed in January 2023 ). Childcare and Kindergarten programs in Wallan are offered by multiple private childcare centres and the Mitchell Shire Kindergarten (operating within Wallan Primary School grounds). Wallan station is well connected with the V/Line train network on the Seymour line . Mitchell Shire also operates a town to station connecting bus service for peak hour commuters. There
3663-410: The Kellys' home to arrest Dan for horse theft. Finding Dan absent, Fitzpatrick stayed and conversed with Ellen Kelly. When Dan and his brother-in-law Bill Skillion arrived later that evening, Fitzpatrick informed Dan that he was under arrest. Dan asked to be allowed to have dinner first. The constable consented and stood guard over his prisoner. Minutes later, Ned rushed in and shot at Fitzpatrick with
3762-560: The Lloyds. In 1868, Kelly's uncle Jim Kelly was convicted of arson after setting fire to the rented premises where the Kellys and some of the Lloyds were staying. Jim was sentenced to death, but this was later commuted to fifteen years of hard labour. The family soon leased a small farm of 88 acres (360,000 m) at Eleven Mile Creek near Greta. The Kelly selection proved ill-suited for farming, and Ellen supplemented her income by offering accommodation to travellers and selling sly-grog . I'm
3861-451: The New South Wales border. On 10 November, Baumgarten was arrested for selling the stolen horses. Warrants for the arrest of Ned and Dan in relation to the theft were sworn in March and April 1878. King disappeared around this time. On 11 April 1878, Constable Strachan of Greta heard that Ned was at a shearing shed in New South Wales and left to apprehend him. Four days later, Constable Fitzpatrick arrived at Greta for relief duty and called at
3960-577: The already existing Coles Supermarket across the road. In 2009, Wallan was used as a relief centre for those from surrounding towns affected by the Black Saturday fires. Wallan offers both primary and secondary education. Wallan Primary School (est.1857) and Wallan Secondary College (est.2006). Catholic education can be sourced in the nearby town of Kilmore through Saint Patricks Primary and Assumption College Kilmore, and private education through The Kilmore International School (y3-y12) teaching
4059-408: The authorities, admired for their bravery, rough chivalry and colourful personalities. However, in stark contrast to romantic portrayals in the arts and popular culture, bushrangers tended to lead lives that were "nasty, brutish and short", with some earning notoriety for their cruelty and bloodthirst. Australian attitudes toward bushrangers remain complex and ambivalent. The earliest documented use of
Ned Kelly - Misplaced Pages Continue
4158-456: The bullet from his own arm with a knife; Ellen dressed the wound. Ned devised a cover story and promised to reward Fitzpatrick if he adhered to it. Fitzpatrick was allowed to leave. About 1.5 km away he noticed two horsemen in pursuit, so he spurred his horse into a gallop to escape. He reached a hotel where his wound was re-bandaged, then rode to Benalla to report the incident. In an interview three months before his execution , Kelly said that at
4257-711: The bushranger genre, including The Bushranger (1928), Stingaree (1934) and Captain Fury (1939). Ned Kelly (1970) starred Mick Jagger in the title role. Dennis Hopper portrayed Dan Morgan in Mad Dog Morgan (1976). More recent bushranger films include Ned Kelly (2003), starring Heath Ledger , The Proposition (2005), written by Nick Cave , The Outlaw Michael Howe (2013), and The Legend of Ben Hall (2016). Wallan, Victoria Wallan / ˈ w ɒ l ən / , traditionally known as Wallan Wallan (large circular place of water),
4356-481: The cache of weapons and ammunition that the police carried, and their failure to surrender as evidence of their intention to kill him. McIntyre stated that the police party's intention was to arrest him, that they were not excessively armed, and that it was the gang who were the aggressors. Jones, Morrissey and others have questioned aspects of both versions of events. On 28 October, the Victorian government announced
4455-574: The colonial authorities, the Government tried to bring an end to any such collaboration by rewarding Aborigines for returning convicts to custody. Aboriginal trackers would play a significant role in the hunt for bushrangers. Colonel Godfrey Mundy described convict bushrangers as "desperate, hopeless, fearless; rendered so, perhaps, by the tyranny of a gaoler, of an overseer, or of a master to whom he has been assigned." Edward Smith Hall , editor of early Sydney newspaper The Monitor , agreed that
4554-403: The constable "was certainly not drunk" and that his wounds were consistent with his statement. The defence declined to call Ned's sisters, Kate and 12-year-old Grace, to give evidence even though they were eyewitnesses. The defence did call two witnesses to give evidence that Skillion was not present, which would cast doubt on Fitzpatrick's account. One of these witnesses was a friend of the Kellys,
4653-486: The convict system was a breeding-ground for bushrangers due to its savagery, with starvation and acts of torture being rampant. "Liberty or Death!" was the cry of convict bushrangers, and in large numbers they roamed beyond Sydney, some hoping to reach China , which was commonly believed to be connected by an overland route. Some bolters seized boats and set sail for foreign lands, but most were hunted down and brought back to Australia. Others attempted to inspire an overhaul of
4752-401: The convict system, or simply sought revenge on their captors. This latter desire found expression in the convict ballad " Jim Jones at Botany Bay ", in which Jones, the narrator, plans to join bushranger Jack Donahue and "gun the floggers down". Donahue was the most notorious of the early New South Wales bushrangers, terrorising settlements outside Sydney from 1827 until he was fatally shot by
4851-831: The couple turned to mining and earned enough money to buy a small freehold in Beveridge , north of Melbourne. Edward ("Ned") Kelly was their third child. His exact birth date is unknown, but was probably in December 1854. Kelly was possibly baptised by Augustinian priest Charles O'Hea , who also administered his last rites before his execution. His parents had seven other children: Mary Jane (born 1851, died 6 months later), Annie (1853–1872), Margaret (1857–1896), James ("Jim", 1859–1946), Daniel ("Dan", 1861–1880), Catherine ("Kate", 1863–1898) and Grace (1865–1940). The Kellys struggled on inferior farmland at Beveridge and Red began drinking heavily. In 1864
4950-441: The decline in penal transportations to Australia in the 1840s. It had ceased by the 1850s to all colonies except Western Australia , which accepted convicts between 1850 and 1868. The best-known convict bushranger of the colony was the prolific escapee Moondyne Joe . The Australian gold rushes of the 1850s and 1860s marked the next distinct phase of bushranging, as the discovery of gold gave bushrangers access to great wealth that
5049-465: The early 20th century. The original use of the term dates back to the early years of the British colonisation of Australia, and applied to transported convicts who had escaped into the bush to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up " robbery under arms " as a way of life, using the bush as their base. Bushranging thrived during the gold rush era of
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#17327876669705148-403: The eastern colonies. Its origins in a convict system bred a unique kind of desperado, most frequently with an Irish political background. Native-born bushrangers also expressed nascent Australian nationalist views and are recognised as "the first distinctively Australian characters to gain general recognition." As such, a number of bushrangers became folk heroes and symbols of rebellion against
5247-468: The eldest male of the household. The Kellys were a poor selector family who saw themselves as downtrodden by the squattocracy and as victims of persecution by the Victoria Police . While a teenager, Kelly was arrested for associating with bushranger Harry Power and served two prison terms for a variety of offences, the longest stretch being from 1871 to 1874. He later joined the " Greta Mob",
5346-541: The end of the decade, epitomised by the Kelly gang in Victoria, led by Ned Kelly , Australia's best-known bushranger and outlaw. Although bushrangers appeared sporadically into the early 20th century, most historians regard Kelly's capture and execution in 1880 as effectively representing the end of the bushranging era. Bushranging exerted a powerful influence in Australia, lasting for over a century and predominating in
5445-411: The exploits of their bushranging "heroes". The majority were captured alive without any fatalities. In Australia, bushrangers often attract public sympathy (cf. the concept of social bandits ). In Australian history and iconography bushrangers are held in some esteem in some quarters due to the harshness and anti-Catholicism of the colonial authorities whom they embarrassed, and the romanticism of
5544-431: The family moved to Avenel , near Seymour , where they soon attracted the attention of local police. As a boy Kelly obtained basic schooling and became familiar with the bush . According to oral tradition, he risked his life at Avenel by saving another boy from drowning in a creek, for which the boy's family gifted him a green sash. It is said this was the same sash worn by Kelly during his last stand in 1880. In 1865, Red
5643-619: The first "golden age" of Australian cinema (1910–12), director John Gavin released two fictionalised accounts of real-life bushrangers: Moonlite (1910) and Thunderbolt (1910). The genre's popularity with audiences led to a spike of production unprecedented in world cinema. Dan Morgan (1911) is notable for portraying its title character as an insane villain rather than a figure of romance. Ben Hall, Frank Gardiner, Captain Starlight, and numerous other bushrangers also received cinematic treatments at this time. Alarmed by what they saw as
5742-411: The floor. In the ensuing struggle, Fitzpatrick drew his revolver, Ned appeared, and with his brother seized the constable, disarming him, but not before he struck his wrist against the projecting part of the door lock, an injury he claimed to be a gunshot wound. Three police officers later gave sworn evidence that Kelly, after his capture, admitted he had shot Fitzpatrick. In 1881, Brickey Williamson, who
5841-600: The gang bailed up McIntyre and Lonigan at the camp. McIntyre was then unarmed and surrendered. Lonigan made a motion to draw his revolver and ran for the cover of a log. Ned immediately shot Lonigan, killing him. Ned said he did not begrudge his death, calling him the "meanest man that I had any account against". The gang questioned McIntyre and took his and Lonigan's firearms. Hoping to convince Ned to spare Kennedy and Scanlan, McIntyre informed him that they too were Irish Catholics. Ned replied, "I will let them see what one native [Australian-born colonial] can do." At about 5.30 p.m.,
5940-433: The gang continued firing at Kennedy as he dismounted and tried to surrender. Ned later stated that Kennedy hid behind a tree and fired back, then fled into the bush. Ned and Dan pursued and exchanged gunfire with the sergeant for over 1 km before Ned shot him in the right side. According to Ned, Kennedy then turned to face him and Ned shot him in the chest with his shotgun, not realising that Kennedy had dropped his revolver and
6039-412: The gang heard them approaching and hid. Ned advised McIntyre to tell them to surrender. As the constable did so, the gang ordered them to bail up. Kennedy reached for his revolver, whereupon the gang fired. Scanlan dismounted and, according to McIntyre, was shot while trying to unsling his rifle. Ned maintained that Scanlan fired and was trying to fire again when he fatally shot him. According to McIntyre,
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#17327876669706138-505: The gang's whereabouts and, on 25 October 1878, two mounted police parties were sent to capture them. One party, consisting of Sergeant Michael Kennedy and constables Michael Scanlan, Thomas Lonigan and Thomas McIntyre camped overnight at an abandoned mining site at Stringybark Creek , Toombullup, 36 km north of Mansfield . Unbeknownst to them, the gang's hideout was only 2.5 km away and Ned had observed their tracks. The following day at about 5 p.m., while Kennedy and Scanlan were out scouting,
6237-486: The glorification of outlawry, state governments imposed a ban on bushranger films in 1912, effectively removing "the entire folklore relating to bushrangers ... from the most popular form of cultural expression." It is seen as a major reason for the collapse of a booming Australian film industry. One of the few Australian films to escape the ban before it was lifted in the 1940s is the 1920 adaptation of Robbery Under Arms . Also during this lull appeared American takes on
6336-582: The group stole 280 horses. Its membership overlapped with that of the Greta Mob, a bush larrikin gang known for their distinctive "flash" attire. Apart from Ned, the gang included his brother Dan , cousins Jack and Tom Lloyd , and Joe Byrne , Steve Hart and Aaron Sherritt . On 18 September 1877, Kelly was arrested in Benalla for riding over a footpath while drunk. The following day he brawled with four policemen who were escorting him to court, including
6435-480: The help of a network of sympathisers, evaded the police for two years. The gang's crime spree included raids on Euroa and Jerilderie , and the killing of Aaron Sherritt , a sympathiser turned police informer. In a manifesto letter , Kelly—denouncing the police, the Victorian government and the British Empire—set down his own account of the events leading up to his outlawry. Demanding justice for his family and
6534-582: The horse, fought and beat him in a bare-knuckle boxing match. A photograph of Kelly in a boxing pose is commonly linked to the match. Regardless of the story's veracity, Wright became a known Kelly sympathiser. Over the next few years, Kelly worked at sawmills and spent periods in New South Wales , leading what he called the life of a "rambling gambler". During this time, his mother married an American, George King. In early 1877, Ned joined King in an organised horse theft operation. Ned later claimed that
6633-516: The hostages while Ned, Byrne and Hart rode out to cut Euroa's telegraph wires. They encountered and held up a hunting party and some railway workers, whom they took back to the station. Ned, Dan and Hart then went into Euroa, leaving Byrne to guard the prisoners. Around 4 p.m., the three outlaws held up the Euroa branch of the National Bank of Australasia , netting cash and gold worth £2,260 and
6732-434: The inefficiency of the police. Several hostages stated that the gang had behaved courteously and without violence during the raid. However, hostages also stated that on several occasions the bushrangers threatened to shoot them and burn buildings containing hostages if there was any resistance. At Younghusband Station, Byrne wrote two copies of a letter that Kelly had dictated. They were posted on 14 December to Donald Cameron,
6831-405: The lawlessness they represented. Some bushrangers, most notably Ned Kelly in his Jerilderie letter , and in his final raid on Glenrowan , explicitly represented themselves as political rebels. Attitudes to Kelly, by far the most well-known bushranger, exemplify the ambivalent views of Australians regarding bushranging. The impact of bushrangers upon the areas in which they roamed is evidenced in
6930-535: The mid-19th century, with many bushrangers roaming the goldfields and country districts of New South Wales and Victoria , and to a lesser extent Queensland . As the outbreak worsened in the mid-1860s, the concept of outlawry was introduced to curtail the careers of the Gardiner–Hall gang , Dan Morgan , and the Clarke gang , among others. These " Wild Colonial Boys ", mostly Australian-born sons of convicts, were roughly analogous to British highwaymen and outlaws of
7029-407: The names of many geographical features in Australia, including Brady's Lookout , Moondyne Cave , the township of Codrington , Mount Tennent , Thunderbolts Way and Ward's Mistake . The districts of North East Victoria are unofficially known as Kelly Country. Some bushrangers made a mark on Australian literature . While running from soldiers in 1818, Michael Howe dropped a knapsack containing
7128-498: The other, Joe Ryan, was a relative. Ryan revealed that Ned was in Greta that afternoon, which was damaging to the defence. Ellen Kelly, Skillion and Williamson were convicted as accessories to the attempted murder of Fitzpatrick. Skillion and Williamson both received sentences of six years and Ellen three years of hard labour. Ellen's sentence was considered harsh, even by people who had no cause to be Kelly sympathisers, especially as she
7227-443: The outlaws or withheld information, or gave false information, to the authorities. Punishment was imprisonment with or without hard labour for up to 15 years. The Victorian act was based on the 1865 Felons Apprehension Act , passed by the Parliament of New South Wales to reign in bushrangers such as the Gardiner–Hall gang and Dan Morgan . In response to the Kelly gang, the New South Wales parliament re-enacted their legislation as
7326-554: The penal colony of Van Diemen's Land (now the state of Tasmania ), established in 1803. The island's most powerful bushranger, the self-styled "Lieutenant Governor of the Woods", Michael Howe , led a gang of up to one hundred members "in what amounted to a civil war" with the colonial government. His control over large swathes of the island prompted elite squatters from Hobart and Launceston to collude with him, and for six months in 1815, Lieutenant-Governor Thomas Davey , fearing
7425-541: The preaching circuit in 1864 and the following year the modest chapel was built. In the past, Wallan was a small village with only a few houses and a shop. Until 1997 this was a private farm, however it has now been developed as a residential estate with a golf course running through the middle. The Wellington Square Shopping Centre, opened in 2004, includes many corporate franchise businesses (mainly Victoria's biggest supermarket chain Safeway ), creating competition for
7524-533: The properties of landowners to whom they had been assigned as servants. These bushrangers, also known as "bolters", preferred the hazards of wild, unexplored bushland surrounding Sydney to the deprivation and brutality of convict life. The first notable bushranger, African convict John Caesar , robbed settlers for food, and had a brief, tempestuous alliance with Aboriginal resistance fighters during Pemulwuy's War . While other bushrangers would go on to fight alongside Indigenous Australians in frontier conflicts with
7623-485: The rise of the colonial-born sons of poor ex-convicts who were drawn to a more glamorous life than mining or farming. Much of the activity in the colony was in the Lachlan Valley , around Forbes , Yass and Cowra . The Gardiner–Hall gang , led by Frank Gardiner and Ben Hall and counting John Dunn , John Gilbert and Fred Lowry among its members, was responsible for some of the most daring robberies of
7722-517: The rumour, and in the only surviving letter known to bear his handwriting, he pleads with Sergeant James Babington of Kyneton for help, saying that "everyone looks on me like a black snake". The informant turned out to be Kelly's uncle, Jack Lloyd, who received £500 for his assistance. However, Kelly had also given information which led to Power's capture, possibly in exchange for having the charges against him dropped. Power always maintained that Kelly betrayed him. Reporting on Power's criminal career,
7821-495: The rural poor, he threatened dire consequences against those who defied him. In 1880, the gang tried to derail and ambush a police train as a prelude to attacking Benalla , but the police, tipped off, confronted them at Glenrowan . In the ensuing 12-hour siege and gunfight, the outlaws wore armour fashioned from plough mouldboards . Kelly, the only survivor, was severely wounded by police fire and captured. Despite thousands of supporters rallying and petitioning for his reprieve, Kelly
7920-496: The same—it's that everyone sees him. Like a bushfire on the horizon casting its red glow into the night." Kelly's father, John Kelly (nicknamed "Red"), was born in 1820 at Clonbrogan near Moyglas, County Tipperary , Ireland. Aged 21, he was found guilty of stealing two pigs and was transported on the convict ship Prince Regent to Hobart Town , Van Diemen's Land (modern-day Tasmania ), arriving on 2 January 1842. Granted his certificate of freedom in January 1848, Red moved to
8019-399: The small town on 8 December 1878. Around midday the next day, the gang held up Younghusband Station, outside Euroa. Fourteen male employees and passers-by were taken hostage and held overnight in an outbuilding on the station; female hostages were held in the homestead. A number of hostages were likely sympathisers of the gang and had prior knowledge of the raid. The following day, Dan guarded
8118-403: The term appears in a February 1805 issue of The Sydney Gazette , which reports that a cart had been stopped between Sydney and Hawkesbury by three men "whose appearance sanctioned the suspicion of their being bush-rangers". John Bigge described bushranging in 1821 as "absconding in the woods and living upon plunder and the robbery of orchards." Charles Darwin likewise recorded in 1835 that
8217-462: The time of the incident, he was 200 miles from home. According to him, his mother had asked Fitzpatrick if he had a warrant and Fitzpatrick replied that he had only a telegram, to which his mother said that Dan need not go. Fitzpatrick then said, pulling out a revolver, "I will blow your brains out if you interfere". His mother replied, "You would not be so handy with that popgun of yours if Ned were here". Dan then said, trying to trick Fitzpatrick, "There
8316-415: The victims in each case failing to identify him. On the third charge, Superintendents Nicolas and Hare insisted Kelly be tried, citing his resemblance to the suspect. After a month in custody, Kelly was released due to insufficient evidence. The Kellys allegedly intimidated witnesses into withholding testimony. Another factor in the lack of identification may have been that Power's accomplice was described as
8415-473: The work of "a clever illiterate". Premier Graham Berry , a vociferous critic of the gang, also found it "very clever", and alerted railway authorities to an allusion Kelly makes to tearing up tracks. Kelly expanded on much of its content in the Jerilderie Letter of 1879. Bushranger Bushrangers were armed robbers and outlaws who resided in the Australian bush between the 1780s and
8514-493: Was arrested for both the note and the assault, receiving three months’ hard labor for each charge. Kelly was released from Beechworth Gaol on 27 March 1871, five weeks early, and returned to Greta. Shortly after, horse-breaker Isaiah "Wild" Wright rode into town on a horse he supposedly borrowed. Later that night, the horse went missing. While Wright was away in search of the horse, Kelly found it and took it to Wangaratta , where he stayed for four days. On 20 April 1871, while Kelly
8613-615: Was begun by Hugh and Margaret Sinclair about 1860 with their 2-storey residence. In 1867 Thomas O'Dwyer began a store where the Wallan Hotel now stands. He converted the store to the Woodmans Arms Hotel in 1883. George Wallder and John Kyle supplied meat to the township. The first church erected in Wallan was a wooden building that cost 71 pounds and was opened by the Methodist residents in 1865. Wallan became part of
8712-405: Was captured, he called it "a foolish story". In 1929 journalist J. J. Kenneally gave yet another version of the incident based on interviews with the remaining Kelly brother, Jim, and Kelly cousin and gang providore Tom Lloyd. In this version, Fitzpatrick was drunk when he arrived at the Kelly house, and while sitting in front of the fire he pulled Kate onto his knee, provoking Dan to throw him to
8811-480: Was convicted of receiving a stolen hide and, unable to pay the £25 fine, sentenced to six months' hard labour. In December 1866, Red was fined for being drunk and disorderly. Badly affected by alcoholism, he died later that month at Avenel, two days after Christmas. Ned signed his death certificate. The following year, the Kellys moved to Greta in north-eastern Victoria, near the Quinns and their relatives by marriage,
8910-527: Was fatally shot by a policeman, and with his death, the New South Wales bushranging epidemic that began in the early 1860s came to an end. The scholarly, but eccentric Captain Moonlite (alias of Andrew George Scott) worked as an Anglican lay reader before turning to bushranging. Imprisoned in Ballarat for an armed bank robbery on the Victorian goldfields, he escaped, but was soon recaptured and received
9009-640: Was nursing a newborn baby. Alfred Wyatt, a police magistrate in Benalla, told the later Royal Commission , "I thought the sentence upon that old woman, Mrs Kelly, a very severe one." After the Fitzpatrick incident, Ned and Dan escaped into the bush and were joined by Greta Mob members Joe Byrne and Steve Hart. Hiding out at Bullock Creek in the Wombat Ranges, they earned money sluicing gold and distilling whisky, and were supplied with provisions and information by sympathisers. The police were tipped off about
9108-496: Was portable and easily converted to cash. Their task was assisted by the isolated location of the goldfields and the decimation of the police force with many troopers abandoning their duties to join the gold rush. In Victoria, several major gold robberies occurred in 1852–53. Three bushrangers, including George Melville, were hanged in front of a large crowd for their role in the 1853 McIvor Escort Robbery near Castlemaine . Bushranging numbers also flourished in New South Wales with
9207-434: Was riding back into Greta, Constable Edward Hall tried to arrest him on the suspicion that the horse was stolen. Kelly resisted and overpowered Hall, despite the constable's attempts to shoot him. Kelly was eventually subdued with the help of bystanders, and Hall pistol-whipped him until his head became "a mass of raw and bleeding flesh". Initially charged with horse stealing, the charge was downgraded to "feloniously receiving
9306-553: Was seeking remission for his sentence in relation to the incident, stated that Kelly shot Fitzpatrick after the constable had drawn his revolver. Jones and Dawson have argued that Kelly shot Fitzpatrick but it was his friend Joe Byrne who was with him, not Bill Skillion. Williamson, Skillion and Ellen Kelly were arrested and charged with aiding and abetting attempted murder; Ned and Dan were nowhere to be found. The three appeared on 9 October 1878 before Judge Redmond Barry . Fitzpatrick's doctor, who had treated his wound, gave evidence that
9405-476: Was sent from New South Wales to Van Diemen's Land in 1842 after attempting to escape Cockatoo Island . In 1843, he escaped Port Arthur , and took up bushranging in Tasmania's mountains, but was recaptured and sent to Norfolk Island , where, as leader of the 1846 Cooking Pot Uprising , he murdered three constables, and was hanged along with sixteen of his men. The era of convict bushrangers gradually faded with
9504-439: Was the Kelly gang in Victoria, led by Ned Kelly , Australia's most famous bushranger. After murdering three policemen in a shootout in 1878, the gang was outlawed, and after raiding towns and robbing banks into 1879, earned the distinction of having the largest reward ever placed on the heads of bushrangers. In 1880, after failing to derail and ambush a police train, the gang, clad in bulletproof armour they had devised, engaged in
9603-579: Was the first bushranger to have inspired bush ballads , including "Bold Jack Donahue" and " The Wild Colonial Boy ". Ben Hall and his gang were the subject of several bush ballads, including " Streets of Forbes ". Michael Howe inspired the earliest play set in Tasmania, Michael Howe, The Terror of Van Diemen's Land , which premiered at The Old Vic in London in 1821. Other early plays about bushrangers include David Burn 's The Bushrangers (1829), William Leman Rede 's Faith and Falsehood; or, The Fate of
9702-413: Was tried, convicted of murder and sentenced to death by hanging, which was carried out at the Melbourne Gaol . Historian Geoffrey Serle called Kelly and his gang "the last expression of the lawless frontier in what was becoming a highly organised and educated society, the last protest of the mighty bush now tethered with iron rails to Melbourne and the world". In the century after his death, Kelly became
9801-427: Was trying to surrender. Amidst the shootout, McIntyre, still unarmed, escaped on Kennedy's horse. He reached Mansfield the following day and a search party was quickly dispatched and found the bodies of Lonigan and Scanlan. Kennedy's body was found two days later. In his accounts of the shootout, Ned justified the killings as acts of self-defence, citing reports of policemen boasting that they would shoot him on sight,
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