A near-legendary figure in Australia, Ned Kelly (1855–1880) was a bushranger and bandit who came to be regarded as a national folk hero. He is known for his last stand against colonial authorities, when he wore a homemade suit of armor into a shootout. Captured and convicted of murdering three policemen, he was hanged in Melbourne at age twenty-four.
Kelly, a Roman Catholic, claimed that his actions were motivated by the abuse suffered by Catholics in Australia. To some, he is a symbol of struggle against oppression, and a “social bandit” whose crimes reflected broader opposition to British colonial practices.
In the early nineteenth century, Australia was a penal colony for British criminals. Kelly’s father, John Kelly, was a convict from Ireland who had been deported to Tasmania in the 1840s and married an Australian woman, Ellen, after his release. Ned was their first son. John Kelly was later rearrested, and he died when Ned was eleven.
The younger Kelly began his own criminal career shortly thereafter. In the early 1870s, he was arrested for or suspected of various cases of assault, robbery, and cattle rustling and was sent to prison twice as a teenager.
After his release, Kelly was accused of a far more serious crime, assaulting a police officer. Along with his brother, Dan (1861–1880), he went into hiding in 1878. When police arrived to capture them, the Kelly brothers murdered three of the officers, an action that turned them into the territory’s most-wanted outlaws. With a huge bounty placed on their heads, the brothers then embarked upon a spree of bank robberies.
While in hiding, Kelly wrote a letter to the public explaining his motives. The letter attacked police harassment of Catholics and also criticized land policies that seemed to favor Protestants.
Kelly was finally cornered at an inn in Glenrowan, the site of perhaps his most famous exploit. Surrounded by police, he emerged from the inn clad in a homemade suit of armor and survived a hail of bullets. He was eventually shot in the legs; only then were police able to capture the celebrated bandit.
ADDITIONAL FACTS
- Ned Kelly has been portrayed in several movies; actors who have played the outlaw include Mick Jagger (1943–) in 1970 and Heath Ledger (1979–2008) in 2003.
- The song “Ned Kelly” was written by Johnny Cash (1932–2003) in 1971.
- A novel based on Kelly’s life, True History of the Kelly Gang, by Australian Peter Carey (1943–), won the Man Booker Prize in 2001.
