Ned Kelly

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Ned Kelly the day before his execution

Edward "Ned" Kelly (born June 1855 in Beveridge ; † November 11, 1880 in Melbourne ) was Australia's most famous bus ranger .

Life

Ned Kelly was born in Beveridge , Victoria , north of Melbourne , in 1855 . He was a descendant of Irish Catholics who had been shipped to Australia as prisoners decades earlier. As a school child, he saved a boy from drowning at the risk of his life and received a sash as a reward, which he wore under his armor during his last shooting with the police.

When Kelly was eleven years old, his father died, after which he left school as a half-orphan in order to support the family financially. Around this time his family moved to the Glenrowan area , Victoria, now known as Kellyland . Kelly grew up in poor conditions, according to tradition, he spent the winter nights in the open air.

In 1869, at the age of 14, Kelly was imprisoned for an attack on the Chinese pig farmer Ah Fook and his complicity with the mugger Harry Power. He was found not guilty, but arrested again in 1870 at the age of 15 for a robbery and sentenced to six months of forced labor. He was arrested for horse theft three weeks after his release and this time sentenced to three years of forced labor.

After his release, he was involved in his brother Dan's suspicious cattle deals, which the local police noticed. Ned Kelly's mother was visited by local police officer Alexander Fitzpatrick. This accused Kelly after a small scuffle of attempted murder, whereupon Kelly went into hiding. When the police finally found him in October, four police officers were assigned to arrest him. Ned and his accomplices surprised two of the four police officers in their camp and Kelly shot and killed the defending police officer Lonigan. Police officer McIntyre escaped. When the other two officers returned, a shooting broke out and both officers were killed. Kelly escaped again. In February 1879 he attacked two banks in Euroa and Jerilderie , taking hostages in the process, but these were invariably spared. From the money he had stolen, he had armor made, which later became his trademark. After assaulting a police officer, he and his gang were tracked down by soldiers; only one soldier survived the subsequent shooting.

Ned Kelly's death mask

Kelly penned a detailed letter to the public detailing his actions, the treatment of his family and the treatment of Irish Catholics by the British and Irish Protestant police. The Jerilderie letter , in which Ned Kelly claims that English law knows no justice, contemplates the possibility of insurrection, not only in Australia but also in the United States and Ireland, against what he viewed as gross injustice. He also told the hostages the same thing. Some authors claim that Kelly actually planned an armed uprising, but his actions give little evidence of it.

In June 1880 the authorities were able to take up his trail again. On June 27, Kelly was posted in Glenrowan, making preparations to stop a train of police officers. He took the residents of Glenrowan hostage at the hotel. The police train was warned of the derailment and the police force reached Glenrowan in full strength. Kelly and his gang were surrounded at the hotel. When the gang tried to break out, protected by their armor, Kelly was hit in the unprotected arms and legs. While the others retreated back to the hotel, Kelly continued to move towards the police. His injuries prevented him from effectively firing any shots. After several more hits, he disappeared into the darkness. The other members of the gang died in the hotel from gunshot wounds and the fire that broke out, and all hostages were released when the fire broke out. Kelly was found alive shortly afterwards, despite dozens of injuries to her arms and legs. As soon as he was certain of survival, preparations for the trial began.

The trial took place in Melbourne Main Court, presided over by Judge Barry. Initially charged with the murder of police officer Lonigan, this was viewed as a mere formality by many. Ned Kelly's position was made more difficult because no money was for a defender available and no public defender were asked. McIntyre was the only relevant witness to the murder case as he witnessed it. At 5:35 p.m. on October 29, Ned Kelly was found guilty after just 25 minutes of deliberation by the jury. Kelly had been silent the entire process up to this point. A short speech followed in which he presented his point of view and denounced the abuse of power by the police in the countryside. When Judge Barry was about to read the verdict, Kelly interrupted him again, and a war of words broke out between the two. In the end, the judge pronounced the verdict: death by hanging . Kelly showed emotions for the only time in the whole process and let his anger run free. When the judge said that he hoped he would be well received in heaven, Kelly replied that he would see him there soon.

Edward Kelly was hanged in the Old Melbourne Gaol on November 11, 1880. His last words are often quoted as "Ah well, I suppose it has come to this ... Such is Life" and they achieved national recognition. Judge Barry died of natural causes 12 days later.

After the execution, his body was thrown in a mass grave. After all the bones had been reburied in 1929, an Australian forensic team succeeded in 2011 in finding and identifying the remains of Kelly, except for the skull. In 2012, Kelly's body was finally handed over to his family, and following his alleged last wish, it was buried in an unnamed grave next to his mother. On January 20, 2013, Kelly was buried in a family grave in Greta, Victoria, 133 years after his execution.

In one of his prisons, the Ned Kelly Museum was established, in which many of his weapons and utensils are exhibited.

Kelly left behind two sons and a daughter.

reception

The armor that Kelly wore in his last firefight with the police
Statue in Glenrowan World icon

Since his death, Kelly has become a part of Australian folklore and the subject of numerous books and films. For some he is a folk hero, for others a brutal criminal who pursued solely personal gain. Some refer to Ned Kelly as the Billy the Kid or Robin Hood of Australia. A series of crime fiction prizes named after him, the Ned Kelly Awards , have been presented since 1996.

The Australian science fiction author A. Bertram Chandler wrote the alternative world novel Kelly Country (English title The Australian Revolution ) in 1984 , which describes how Kelly actually leads an uprising by the Australians against the British and is successful in the process.

On March 10, 2008, AP reported that the remains of Ned Kelly had been excavated on the site of the former Melbourne Pentridge Prison. CNN spread this news around the world.

The homemade armor that Kelly wore in his last firefight with the police consists essentially of roughly riveted mouldboards from plows. It was the subject of a famous series of pictures by Sidney Nolan . At the opening ceremony of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, performers wore costumes reminiscent of this armor.

Film adaptations

His life has been filmed several times.

radio play

music

  • The band The Original Iron Maiden sang him in 1970 on their album "Maiden Voyage" in the song "Ned Kelly".
  • The Australian band The Seekers name Ned Kelly in their song "I am an Australian" as an Australian celebrity.
  • The American band Blackbird Raum sing about Ned Kelly in their song "The Helm of Ned Kelly".
  • The Australian band Midnight Oil dedicated the song "If Ned Kelly was king" to Ned Kelly in 1983.
  • Johnny Cash celebrates the legend of Ned Kelly in the song of the same name on the LP "Man In Black" from 1971. The song was written by Johnny Cash himself.

literature

  • Peter Carey: True History of the Kelly Gang . Brisbane (The University of Queensland Press) 2000.
  • A. Bertram Chandler: Kelly Country . Melbourne (Penguin Books Australia) 1984.
  • Ian Jones: Ned Kelly. A short life . New ed. South Melbourne (Lothian Books) 2003.
  • Graham Seal: Ned Kelly in Popular Tradition . Melbourne (Hyland House) 1980.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John V. Barry: Ned Kelly . In: Douglas Pike (Ed.): Australian Dictionary of Biography . Volume 5. Melbourne University Press, Carlton (Victoria) 1974, ISBN 0-522-84061-2 (English).
  2. ↑ The John Hanlone transcription of Ned Kelly's Jerilderie Letter nma.gov.au
  3. ↑ Welt online: Ned Kelly, the crazy cowboy with the knight armor , from September 1, 2011.
  4. ↑ Ned Kelly: In Memory of a Hanged Man. In: Spiegel Online . January 18, 2013, accessed June 9, 2018 .
  5. ↑ z. B. IMDb: Ned Kelly (2003)
  6. ↑ edition.cnn.com

Web links

Commons : Ned Kelly  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Kelly, Ned
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kelly, Edward (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian mugger and resister against the colonial authorities
DATE OF BIRTH June 1855
PLACE OF BIRTH Beveridge
DATE OF DEATH November 11, 1880
Place of death Melbourne