Quick facts
- born in June 1855, in Beveridge, Victoria
- died at the gallows in Melbourne Gaol, on 11 November 1880
- eldest son of eight children to John ‘Red’ Kelly and Ellen Quinn
- as a child, saved another boy from drowning - the boy’s family awarded him a green silk sash in recognition of his bravery
- was in love with his cousin, Kate Lloyd, whom he visited just days before the siege in Glenrowan
- last words were ‘Ah well, I suppose it has come to this’ or ‘Such is life’, depending on which version of the story you hear.
How it all began
Ned’s criminal life started early. In 1869, when he was 14, he was arrested for allegedly assaulting a Chinese man. The year after, he was arrested again, this time for being a suspected accomplice of bushranger Harry Power. Both these charges were dismissed, but it was too late: Ned had caught the attention of the police.
Some years later, in April 1878, a police officer named Fitzpatrick went to the Kelly home, hoping to arrest Ned’s brother Dan for stealing horses. Fitzpatrick claimed that while he was there, Ned shot him in the wrist, although it’s unclear whether Ned was even present at the time. Regardless, Ned’s mother Ellen was arrested for aiding and abetting an attempted murder.
She was sentenced to three years imprisonment by Judge Redmond Barry (who, two years later, also sentenced Ned 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
After Ellen's arrest, in October 1878, Ned, Dan, Joe and Steve headed for Bullock Creek, where they hoped to earn enough money to appeal Ellen’s sentence by running a whiskey distillery.
However, 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 - around a fire. The gang drew their guns and Ned shot Lonigan. McIntyre surrendered.
When the other two policemen (Sergeant Kennedy and Constable Scanlon) returned, they refused to surrender to the gang. In the exchange of shots that followed, Ned killed Scanlon and, later, Kennedy. From this moment on these four men were officially outlaws: the notorious Kelly gang.
Learn how the gang was finally captured [external link] > |
