Depending on who you talk to, Ned Kelly was either a criminal or a hero (and as likely to be both). However you look at him, the simple fact is that he is probably Australia’s most famous bushranger (outlaw for those not familiar with the term) best known for the armor he and his gang wore during their exploits.
Born in 1854 in Beveridge, Ned would become an athletic youth known for his bravery (at the age of 11 having saved Richard Shelton from drowning at Hughes Creek, Avenel). However, by fifteen years of age, Ned would face charges of assault against Ah Fook (a fowl and pig dealer) as well as aiding the bushranger Harry Power. Though the charges failed to hold up, later that year, he would face 6 months hard labour due to charges of assault and indecent behavior (brought about by a prank by a family friend)
As if that wasn’t bad enough, within three weeks of his release, Ned would be arrested for possession of a stolen horse. Though innocent of the theft and unaware of the true ownership of the horse, the law would see Ned Kelly facing five years hard labour as a result (he would be released earlier from Pentridge Goal)
At the age of nineteen, Ned was a far more serious individual upon his release, hardened from the experience of prison life. Discovering 31 of his 32 horses had been stolen by the local constabulary was not something that he was prepared to overlook after initially trying to keep his nose clean (for three years). With one thing leading to another, the Kelly family would begin large scale reprisals against those they believed were involved in their persecution.
It was in April (1878) that Ned Kelly would be accused of attempted murder by Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick after the Constable went to the Kelly home to arrest Dan Kelly. Fitzpatrick’s true motives revolved around an interest in Kate Kelly, apparently leading to an assault on her which was fended off by way of a fry pan causing injury to his hand (which he claimed was injured when Ned “shot” him … never mind Ned was elsewhere at the time)
The following period would see the formation of “The Kelly Gang” when Ned Kelly, Dan Kelly, Joe Byrne & Steve Hart would be involved in the murder of three police officers (Sgt Kennedy, Constables Lonigan and Scanlon) and follow through on two bank robberies (Euroa Bank in Victoria and Jerilderie Bank in NSW). Aaron Sherritt would be killed by his best friend Joe Byrne after the gang was convinced Aaron had been working with the police.
The final stand of the Kelly gang would be at Glenrowan where they prepared to take on the police special train by tearing up the tracks. A plan that would fall apart when they released Thomas Curnow who would warn the train of the impending ambush. constable Bracken who had managed to escape, would then lead the police from the train to Glenrowan Inn where a gunfight would see the deaths of three of the Kelly Gang (reposted by possible suicide when police set fire to the inn). Nedmanaged to escape the Inn, though he was badly wounded, he would attempt to return to the Inn to rescue his brother Dan and Steve Hart, resulting in a final gunfight with police that would see his capture.
There would be a petition of over 30,000 signatures calling for leniency from the governor after a rushed trial that took 2 days to sentence Ned Kelly to die by the noose.
Ned Kelly would be Hung 11th November 1880 with his final words commonly viewed as being…
“Such is life”
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The first panoramic I would draw to replace my work on “The Dragon” would be Ned Kelly and his gang’s last stand at Glenrowan. A fairly easy idea faced with the simple issue that I had never really done anything like it. This would be my first attempt at a range of things.
The first thing to consider would be size and in this case I came to the conclusion that sixteen A3 pages wide would be a good workable number to go with.
The panoramic depicts one of the Kelly gang on the toilet to represent the fact that they were caught with their pants down at the time. Three of them are without their helmets as they died during the conflict.
During the battle at Glenrowan, the police would only suffer one minor wound, that caused to Superintendent Francis Hare who would flee the battle, later resulting in his dismissal. To represent that, not only is there an officer crouched behind a tree, there are two rabbits hiding behind the water trough.
Finally, as the history of the Kelly gang was in fact a result of larger issues of the day, there are the outlines of a pig, bird and fish in the rocks to represent that issues revolving around land ownership played an integral part to the overall history.
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