In his homeland, they still argue who Ned Kelly really was - a fighter against the injustice of the authorities or a cynical villain and killer? There is hardly a definite answer to this question, but there is no doubt about one thing - Kelly became the most famous robber of Australia in the 19th century.
The heredity of Australia's most famous Bushranger bandit was, admittedly, unimportant. The father of the future celebrity, Irishman John Kelly, who received five years of hard labor in Tasmania in his youth for stealing a couple of pigs, only miraculously managed to stay alive. And he forever hated imperial laws, legalists, the police, and in general everything that was associated with state and government institutions. Having rewound the term, John settled in the Australian province of Victoria. Here Kelly Sr. married Ellen Quinn, the daughter of a poor Irish farmer. In total, the Kelly couple had eight children.
Difficult teenager
Ned was born the third in a row, on June 3, 1855. He received his primary education, grew up as a brave and intelligent child. Australian lore and ballads say that he saved a drowning boy as a teenager. When Ned was 11, his father was arrested again. A calf disappeared on a nearby farm, and, of course, Kelly Sr. was blamed for this in the first place. More or less serious evidence of his guilt was not found, but John had a bad reputation - a convict. This turned out to be quite enough. He was sentenced to a £ 25 fine, but where did the Irish farmer get such a sum? And then John Kelly was again put in prison, where he died on December 27, 1866.
This made a huge impression on the teenager. It's one thing when a tipsy father scolded the police and judges for nothing, accusing them of mortal sins. Well dad drank what to take from him. But now Ned saw firsthand the injustice of the law and the cruelty of the colonial court. Nothing good could come of it. Offended by the whole world, the teenager walked along the path beaten by his father.
At the age of 14, he was first arrested for beating a Chinese pig breeder. Ned then got off with 10 days in prison. At the age of 15 - a new arrest. This time he was taken for a fight with a traveling merchant and for ties with the local bushranger Harry Power. At the age of 16, he sat down again, and this time for three years. He was accused of beating up a police officer who tried to arrest Ned for riding a stolen horse. True, later it turned out that he did not steal the filly, but borrowed from friends. But what's done is done. The law is not retroactive.
While Ned was in prison, his mother married George King, a native of California. And he quickly organized something like a gang, which included Ellen and her sons. They were engaged in the theft of cattle, in which the Californian was a master. Once released, Ned, of course, also joined the family's "business".
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Leading the gang
On April 15, 1878, Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick appeared at the local police station. Demonstrating a shot in the arm, he accused the entire Kelly family of armed assault. Ellen and her two children were arrested. In vain did they assure the judge that Fitzpatrick himself molested their youngest - Kate, for which he was beaten. And none of the Kellys shot him. The court still sentenced them to imprisonment. Ned was not at home at that time, he was in New South Wales. Realizing that he could be brought to trial, he did not return home. He summoned his younger brother Dan and offered to organize a gang, since the authorities leave them no other choice. Soon the police put him on the wanted list. But Ned did not sit idly by either. On October 25, 1878, he set up an ambush in the woods by the Stingibark stream. A small detachment of police got into it. Kelly wanted to capture some of the constables alive, but he failed. In the shootout, two law enforcement officers were killed. After that, the parliament of his home province declared Ned and his gang outlawed. Kelly soon switched to bank robbery. Two raids brought him special fame - in December 1878 and in February 1879. In films dedicated to him, and in folklore, Ned appears in the form of a kind robber. He does not kill hostages in robbing banks, but treats them to whiskey and entertains them with spectacular horse stunts. And not only takes money from the safe, but also burns all the private mortgages stored in the bank, thereby saving many poor people from bondage. Isn't it Robin Hood? However, popular rumor is always inclined to glorify criminals. After that, the parliament of his home province declared Ned and his gang outlawed. Kelly soon switched to robbing banks. Two raids brought him special fame - in December 1878 and in February 1879. In films dedicated to him, and in folklore, Ned appears in the form of a kind robber. He does not kill hostages in robbing banks, but treats them to whiskey and entertains them with spectacular horse stunts. And not only takes money from the safe, but also burns all the private mortgages stored in the bank, thereby saving many poor people from bondage. Isn't it Robin Hood? However, popular rumor is always inclined to glorify criminals. After that, the parliament of his home province declared Ned and his gang outlawed. Kelly soon switched to bank robbery. Two raids brought him special fame - in December 1878 and in February 1879. In films dedicated to him, and in folklore, Ned appears in the form of a kind robber. He does not kill hostages in robbing banks, but treats them to whiskey and entertains them with spectacular horse stunts. And not only takes money from the safe, but also burns all the private mortgages stored in the bank, thereby saving many poor people from bondage. Isn't it Robin Hood? However, popular rumor is always inclined to glorify criminals.dedicated to him, and in folklore, Ned appears in the form of a good robber. He does not kill hostages while robbing banks, but treats them to whiskey and entertains them with spectacular horse stunts. And not only takes money from the safe, but also burns all the private mortgages stored in the bank, thereby saving many poor people from bondage. Isn't it Robin Hood? However, popular rumor is always inclined to glorify criminals.dedicated to him, and in folklore, Ned appears in the form of a good robber. He does not kill hostages in robbing banks, but treats them to whiskey and entertains them with spectacular horse stunts. And not only takes money from the safe, but also burns all the private mortgages stored in the bank, thereby saving many poor people from bondage. Isn't it Robin Hood? However, popular rumor is always inclined to glorify criminals.
A series of bank robberies overwhelmed the authorities' patience. Advertisements were posted everywhere, where for each member of the gang caught a colossal reward was guaranteed - 16 thousand Australian dollars. In response to this, at the end of 1878, Kelly writes an open letter, in which he accuses and denounces the British authorities, who commit violence and arbitrariness. In the letter, he called for a fight against the partiality of the authorities and the injustice tolerated in relation to the Irish and the poor. The police tried to destroy this letter in every possible way, but hundreds of its copies, copied by hand, were still distributed among the population of the country.
The last battle
On June 28, 1880, Kelly and his henchmen were blocked in one of the houses by a police detachment. The leader replied to the offer to surrender with a categorical refusal. He knew perfectly well what awaited him for the murder of a dozen constables and one of the bandits who reported to the police on his comrades. The police opened fire, but the bullets did not take Kelly and his men. They had their own protection, they made for themselves bulletproof iron armor, forged from parts of plows and sheets of boiler iron. And Ned himself even wore an iron helmet.
The police began shelling the house with a 12-pounder cannon. Kelly invited three members of his gang to go for the break. But they did not support him. And then Ned in his armor, which weighed 44 kilograms, decided to break through the encirclement alone. Like a real cowboy, firing from two revolvers and not paying attention to the whistling bullets, he slowly moved towards the police. They fired from all the barrels, but the bullets, like peas, bounced off the leader of the gang. Then it turns out that he was hit 12 times without causing any harm. And only then did the police realize that they had to shoot in the legs. Kelly fell to the ground, bleeding and dropping his weapon. His accomplices never gave up. According to one version, they suffocated from the smoke in a burning house and burned down. According to the other, they committed suicide in order not to fall into the hands of justice.
Kelly himself was taken alive, on November 11, 1880 Ned Kelly was hanged. The petition filed with the judge demanding the abolition of the death penalty did not help either. More than 32,000 Australians have signed it.
They buried him in an unmarked grave in the prison cemetery. Only in 2011, thanks to the appearance of DNA tests, it was possible to identify his remains. Upon learning of this, Kelly's descendants demanded their extradition.
Interestingly, the name of the master who made the protective armor remained unknown. Kelly didn't give him away. All cuirasses forged by an anonymous craftsman were officially tested. It turned out that their thickness is about six and a half millimeters, and from a distance of 10 meters, a bullet from a gun does not penetrate them. And the revolving bullet did not even take them at close range. Upon learning of this, the future author of detective stories about Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle, seriously suggested that the entire British Royal Infantry should be "dressed" in such armor. But the military did not support this idea.
During his lifetime, Kelly's name was overgrown with legends, fables and even ballads. They began to call him the Australian Robin Hood. But both then and now, there is no consensus in Australia about this man. Some consider him a symbol of resistance to the British authorities and a noble robber, others - a ruthless killer, a villain.
Several films are dedicated to Kelly: "The True Story of the Kelly Gang" in 1906, "The Kelly Gang" in 2003, and the main hit of 1970 - the movie "Ned Kelly", starring Mick Jagger. And the writer Peter Carey was awarded the Booker Prize in 2001 for his work "The True Story of the Kelly Gang". It seems that writers and filmmakers will not let the name of Ned Kelly disappear into oblivion.
Victor ELISEEV