Ned Kelly

 

Here we are at another Monday so it is the day for another post about a famous Aussie in history and this week it is good old Ned Kelly.

Edward Kelly 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.

He was born sometime in December 1854 in the state of Victoria and died on the 11 November 1880 when he was hung at Old Melbourne Gaol, in Victoria. He was one of 9 children and had many cousins and extended family.

As stated Ned Kelly was a 'bushranger' a person who robbed others and spent his life escaping from the police. He also killed three policemen. There have been many films, songs and books about Ned Kelly. There is even an Australian saying: 'to be as game [brave] as Ned Kelly'.

Some believe his last words were “such is life”, but what Ned actually said as his last words is uncertain. Some newspapers at the time certainly reported the words 'Such is life', while a reporter standing on the gaol floor wrote that Ned's last words were, 'Ah well! It's come to this at last.

Contrary to popular belief and legend, Ned Kelly was not the Australian equivalent to Robin Hood, for he did not rob from the rich and give to the poor. In fact, he actually stole from poor Australians—as well as the rich—even getting violent with them if they did not concede to his demands.

Even though his criminal career was pretty short his crimes were seen as acts of resistance against Australia's British colonial rulers. He was a man of the people, speaking out loudly against a colonial government that discriminated against the poor.

During his final shoot-out with police, Kelly wore a crudely made set of steel armour. The police didn't know if they were shooting a man or a monster. A shot in his exposed leg brought Kelly down. He was captured, tried by law and sentenced to death for murder.

For some people he was a hero, this is believed to be because the people of Victoria were longing for a hero during those hard times. Widespread support for Kelly can be assumed from the 32000 signatures on a petition calling for his sentence to be changed from death to life in prison in 1880.

He is also known for his famous Jerilderie leeter,prior to arriving in Jerilderie, Kelly composed a lengthy letter with the aim of tracing his path to outlawry, justifying his actions, and outlining the alleged injustices he and his family suffered at the hands of the police. He also decried the treatment of poor selector families by Victoria's Squattocracy and, in "an escalating promise of revenge and retribution", invoked "a mythical tradition of Irish rebellion" against what he called "the tyrannism of the English yoke". Dictated to Byrne, the Jerilderie Letter, a handwritten document of fifty-six pages and 7,391 words, was described by Kelly as "a bit of my life". He tasked Edwin Living, a local bank accountant, with delivering it to the editor of the Jerilderie and Urana Gazette or publication.Due to political suppression, only excerpts were published in the press, based on a copy transcribed by John Hanlon, owner of the Eight Mile Hotel in Deniliquin. The entire letter was rediscovered and published in 1930.

Well I will leave it here, i could tell you more but don't feel like it, this is just an introduction to the man Ned Kelly.....