Some insist that the Gang deliberately chose to stay and confront the police, rather than simply escape into the bush. In the Jerilderie Letter, Ned states that the police had many more weapons than were needed to purely arrest someone.
The Kelly Gang believed the police had come with the intention of killing them. They believed their only chance of escape was to take the horses and weapons of the police.
Many would believe their actions were ones of self-defence. I think Ned Kelly was a hero because he always had a belief that the social inequalities of his days should be righted. He became caught up in a series of events over which he had little control.
Towards the end he was no longer just fighting for his beliefs, he was fighting for his life, and the lives of his friends. Up until his final moments he still firmly believed he had fought for a just cause. He died a man of honour, loyal to his friends, family and class.
At last the Kelly gang and the police have come within shooting distance, and the adventure has been the most tragic of any in the bushranging annals of the colony. Most people will say that it is high time, too, for the murders of the police near Mansfield occurred as long ago as the 26th of October, , the Euroa outrage on the 9th December of the same year, and the Jerilderie affair on the 8th and 9th February, Ned Kelly on the Australasian Sketcher cover, 10 July National Museum of Australia.
The gold rushes raised the population of Victoria from 80, in to , in This huge influx of migrants was a problem for the colony as there were not enough police to maintain law and order. The small force was held in low esteem by the public, and was widely thought to be corrupt. To quickly increase its numbers, the Victorian force recruited police from the United Kingdom, most of whom were Protestant.
The Catholic Irish were often poor and resented the wealthy squatters, who had seized most of the productive Victorian farmland. These squatters used their money and influence over the police and government to maintain their large estates at the expense of poorer migrants despite legislation meant to improve access to land.
Born to Irish parents, Ned Kelly grew up experiencing firsthand the prejudice of the Victorian police. Transported to Australia for stealing pigs, Red Kelly had married Ellen, a migrant, at the completion of his sentence. The Kelly family moved to Avenel where they were implicated in stock and horse theft often targeted against squatters.
Red Kelly died after serving a six-month prison sentence for unlawful possession of a bullock hide. At age 16 Ned served three years prison with hard labour for his involvement in a horse theft. On his release, along with friends from other poor families in the area, Ned formed the Kelly Gang.
While membership of the gang fluctuated, Ned, his brother Dan and their friends Joseph Byrne and Steve Hart were reputedly the main members. All four had criminal records. While there he also reportedly made offensive remarks to year-old Kate Kelly. This alleged behaviour towards Kate outraged the Kellys and in the ensuing brawl Ned allegedly shot Fitzpatrick through the wrist. However, the identity of the shooter was never properly established. Unable to arrest them, the police instead arrested Ellen Kelly for helping her sons.
Ellen was convicted and given a three-year jail sentence. The gang came upon the police camp and intent on thwarting plans to track and arrest them held up Scanlon and McIntyre who were waiting for Lonigan and Kennedy to return from hunting. Scanlon went to shoot Ned who returned fire, killing the officer.
The gang then planned to use McIntyre as a hostage when the other policemen reached camp. However, a firefight broke out on their return, during which both Lonigan and Kennedy were killed. McIntyre managed to escape, reaching Mansfield and alerting the local forces. After the deaths at Stringybark Creek, Victorian police ordered the Kelly Gang to turn themselves in. On 15 November , when they failed to comply, the gang were declared outlaws under the recently introduced Felons Apprehension Act.
Under the Act, outlaws were stripped of all basic rights. When captured, outlaws could be put to death without a trial. Despite their status as murderers and outlaws, the Kelly Gang enjoyed the support of much of the public, especially poor settlers who were often treated unfairly by police and squatters. Fitzpatrick was shot in the wrist by Ned Kelly, and Ned's mother Ellen was arrested for aiding and abetting an attempted murder.
Ellen was sentenced to three years' imprisonment by Judge Redmond Barry who, two years later, also sentenced Ned to death by hanging. In October , Ned, Dan, Joe and Steve headed for Bullock Creek, where they hoped to earn enough money to appeal Ellen's sentence by running a whisky distillery.
Shortly after their arrival, they received a warning that four policemen were planning to track them down. Ned rode around the surrounding areas and found sets of horse tracks leading to Stringybark Creek, close to where the gang was camped. The gang ambushed the police camp at Stringybark Creek and found two of the four policemen — Constables Lonigan and McIntyre — standing around a fire.
The gang drew their guns and Ned shot Lonigan. McIntyre surrendered. When the other two policemen Sergeant Kennedy and Constable Scanlan returned, they refused to surrender to the gang. In the exchange of shots that followed, Ned killed Scanlan and, later, Kennedy. From this moment on, these four men were officially outlaws: the notorious Kelly gang. The 'letterbox'-style headpiece and matching body armour worn by Ned Kelly and his gang are recognisable icons that feature prominently in the work of artists such as Sidney Nolan and Albert Tucker.
In — the year before the Glenrowan siege and Ned's ultimate capture — the Kelly gang began constructing the suits of armour from mouldboards, the thick metal parts of a farmer's plough. They acquired these materials in various ways — some were bought; others were offered to them by sympathetic farmers; a few were stolen. The suits allowed the gang to walk away unharmed from close-range shooting, but they also served a less practical function: they made the gang members — Ned in particular — seem larger, more intimidating; even ghostly.
The shock factor of the metal-clad Kelly would have been much to Ned's advantage during the Glenrowan siege. After the gang was killed and Ned captured, the police officers involved in the capture wanted to keep parts of the suits as souvenirs. Various pieces of the suits were separated, some making their way into private ownership.
Both shoulder pieces were reunited with the set at later dates — one owned by State Library Victoria, the other by Museums Victoria. There's no denying that Ned Kelly was a notorious criminal, feared around Victoria and beyond as a robber and murderer. Despite this, he had many sympathisers who believed that he was a symbol of the Australian spirit — an enduring underdog with the courage to challenge the authorities.
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