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= Edward "Ned" Kelly =

Edward "Ned" Kelly was born on July 1855 in Beveridge, Victoria. He was the oldest of eight children that John Kelly and Ellen Quinn had. He displayed bravery from a young age, he saved the life of a little child who was about to drown. Even though he was a tough man he had a soft side too; he was deeply in love with his cousin Kate Lloyd.

His criminal life kicked off in 1869, arrested for assaulting a man. After this incident he was noticed and targeted by the police. Fitzpatrick was a police officer who tried to arrest his brother, Dan Kelly, in 1878. Ned did not like this so he shot the officer. The whole Kelly family was then targeted by the police. Ellen Kelly (Ned’s mother) was arrested for supposedly helping to commit murder. At court she was sentenced for three years in jail by Sir Redmond Barry. Ned and Dan knew that they were being followed, they joined with their friends Joe Byrne and Steve Hart to hide from the police. Without realising the significance of the event, they became the Kelly Gang.
 * Criminal Life **

The gang ran a whiskey distillery in Stringybark Creek to make money to save Ellen. Later on, they heard that there were police officers tracking them down again. The gang found two of the four men tracking them and later killed them. Later on, the other two police officers heard that the gang had killed their friend. Thinking that this was a joke they returned to Stringybark only to be slaughtered by the gang. People made up different versions of what happened. Some have even made songs and ballads. At the bottom of this page, you will find a link to a ballad about what happened at Stringybark Creek. Ned Kelly wrote an 8000 word letter about what happened in Stringybark Creek and about him being forced into committing crimes. Since his handwriting was not that neat, he then asked his friend Joe Byrne to write it out neatly.
 * Stringybark Creek **

Everybody recognised the Kelly Gang by their distinctive Armour. It consisted of a letterbox headpiece and metal body Armour. Their Armour was made from metal pieces from ploughs and just other scraps of metal. Some of the metal was bought, some pieces were given to them and some were stolen. The Armour was intended to protect them from bullets and to make them look bigger and more intimidating.
 * The famous Kelly Armour **

In 1880, the famous gang was captured by the police and brought in front of the court. The judge hearing the trial was Sir Redmond Barry. Before Barry decided his verdict he was shown Ned’s letter, but it did not change anything. Barry sentenced Ned and his gang to death. On the 11th of November Ned was hung, apparently his last words were ‘such is life’. About 12 day after he was hung Barry died. After Kelly`s death, they made a death mask of his head to study his personality. Back then they thought by looking at the death mask this may help you to understand the criminals personality. Many thought Ned Kelly was a hero, although others thought he was just a cold-blooded killer. I leave the show here for your verdict to decide hero or a cold-blooded killer?
 * Captured **

By Sherin

Ned Kelly Ballad State Library Home