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| Sunday, 5 June 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Famous trials that shook the world : The trial of Ned Kelly by Lionel Wijesiri The story of Ned Kelly is one of the great Australian legends. He has been cast as both a hero and a villain, a gentleman and a murderous thug. His distinctive life story helped Ned become an icon in Australian culture.
Ned's father died when he was only 12, and he was forced to leave school to become head of the family. It was at this time that the Kelly family moved to the Glenrowan area of Victoria, which to this day is known as Kelly Country. Ned grew up in abject poverty in some of the harshest conditions in Australia. As a consequence many, including members of the Kelly family, were forced to resort to stock stealing and other unlawful activities just to survive. The unscrupulous action of some wealthy and powerful graziers who leased large areas of government land usually 1000s of hectares) in attempting to force the small tenants off their land, made matters worse. At the age of 15, Ned was first brought before the Police Court on a charge of assault on a pig dealer, and secondly with aiding a bushranger in robberies. However, he was found not guilty in both cases. But before the end of that year, he was sentenced to six months hard labour for assault and indecent behaviour, the result of a prank of a family friend. Within three weeks of his release, Ned was arrested again, this time for receiving a stolen horse. He had no idea the horse was stolen but was given three years hard labour. Before he was sent to jail, on the charges of attempting to flee, 16-year-old Ned was held down and pistol-whipped by a Senior Constable. On his release from prison, Ned returned home a hardened but much more mature man than the average nineteen year old. In his absence he discovered that the local constabulary had stolen all but one of his thirty-two horses. It didn't take long before Ned's feelings changed and in partnership with many associates, he carried out large-scale reprisals against those persons whom he believed were persecuting them. In april 1878, a Constable named Fitzpatrick paid a visit to the Kelly home supposedly to arrest Dan - Ned's brother, but as it turned out his motive for the visit lay in his interest in young Kate Kelly. Following an incident in which he assaulted her and required the family's intervention in coming to her aid, an indignant Fitzpatrick swore an attempted murder charge against them all. Although Dan and Ned went into hiding, others remained and were taken into custody. At the trial, the Judge sentenced all to six years each, and Mrs Kelly to three years "for assisting in the attempted murder of a police officer". A 100 pound reward was also offered for the capture of Ned. Ned, while in hiding, formed a gang consisting of himself, his brother Dan and friends, Joe Byrne and Steve Hart. On the 26th October 1878, they came across police camped at Stringy Bark Creek. Ned believed the police intended to kill him and Dan so he called on them to surrender. But three of the officers resisted, and in the subsequent fight, Kelly shot them dead. During the next four months, the Kelly gang robbed two banks. The robberies were important in the making of the Kelly legend. In defying authority and robbing the rich the gang fitted the popular image of bold bushrangers. The bank robberies were also needed for them to make suits of armour, which they believed, would protect them from the police. After the bank robberies, the Kelly gang dropped out of sight for a while. Life on the run was far from easy but they survived on sheer skill and endurance. After one and half years, on 26th June 1880 the Kelly gang struck again - executing a police informer, Aaron Skerritt, who had previously worked with them. On the day after the shooting, the Kelly Gang arrived in Glenrowan and held about 70 hostages at the Glenrowan Inn. They cut the telegraph wires and forced the railway workers to rip up the line and waited patiently for the train carrying the police officers to be derailed. Following a tip-off from the local schoolteacher the train stopped at the station and a bitter gun battle took place with the police laying siege to the hotel. In the nine and a half hours, which followed, the building was burnt to the ground, three of the gang members were killed, and Ned, badly wounded was arrested. Ned Kelly survived to stand trial, and was sentenced to death by the same Judge who had tried him on previous occasions for lesser crimes. Standing before the crowd, he didn't ask for sympathy, he merely asked for his story to be heard: "If my lips teach the public that men are made mad by bad treatment, and if the police are taught that they may exasperate to madness men they persecute and ill treat, my life will be entirely thrown away." He was hanged on November 11, 1880 at the Melbourne Gaol, his last words being"... Such is life". Despite the justice system finding him guilty, over 60,000 Victorians signed a petition demanding his life be spared. Tensions remained at fever pitch and to defuse the powder keg, an inquest was held into the actions of the police. Nearly every officer involved in the Kelly case was subsequently dismissed or reduced in rank. Ned Kelly lost the battle but won the war. His actions led to police corruption coming under scrutiny, which ultimately freed his fellow citizens from oppression. Over the years Ned Kelly has been the subject of numerous books and articles, radio and television programs, movies and theatre productions, and he was even depicted at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. |
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Ned Kelly was born in Beveridge, Australia, probably in December 1854. He
was a son of an Irish Convict. Possibly, that breeding itself had him
offside with the authorities from the moment he was born. 
