Featured Wood Gallery and Museum

​NED KELLY – AN AUSTRALIAN BUSHRANGER

Ned Kelly was born in Victoria in 1854 (his birth was not registered until 1855) just after the Eureka Stockade.  Maybe this set the tone for his short turbulent life.  Ned, along with his brother Dan, Steve Hart and Joe Byrne made up the Kelly Gang. 
In February 1879 a reward of ₤8,000 was posted for the Kelly Gang, dead or alive.  This was the biggest reward offered for a criminal at that time in all countries of the Commonwealth.  Over 90 people were incarcerated by the Australian Government for association and the belief of withholding information about Ned Kelly and his gang.  Ned Kelly used money he stole to pay mortgages and debts of those imprisoned.
The Kelly Gang ended up in a stand off with the Police at the Glenrowan Inn.  All four in the gang wore steel armour which weighed a huge 50 kilograms!!!  (No wonder they couldn’t run away.)  Dan, Steve and Joe were all killed at the Inn but Ned was captured and taken to Melbourne to stand trial and eventually sent to the gallows at the Old Melbourne Gaol in November 1880.  His now famous last words were believed to be “Such is Life”.