Ned

Revered by some and reviled by others: No matter a person's feelings about Ned Kelly there's no doubt he is Australia's most well known and notorious bushranger.

The son of an Irish convict and an Australian mother Ned Kelly was one of eight children and was born in 1854. At age 12 he was left as the household's eldest male when his father died after a 6 month jail term. The family were poor and times were hard for them. The Kelly's were often accused of crimes relating to cattle or horse stealing but were never convicted. In 1869 Ned Kelly was charged with highway robbery of a Chinese trader but was subsequently acquitted due to a suitable translator not being found.

In 1870 Ned Kelly took up with bushranger Harry Power and his life of crime began in earnest. He was charged with horse stealing and served a 3 year sentence. On release he fell back into his life of crime ramping up to include bank robbery and murder including the murder of 3 policemen. He and the Kelly Gang which also included his brother Dan fled to the bush in 1878 after attempting to murder a police officer at the Kelly property and were declared outlaws with the sum of 8000 pounds as a reward for the Kelly Gang.

Their crime spree continued and they managed to elude the police hunting them. In June 1880 the Kelly Gang descended on the town of Glenrowan and took 62 hostages at Mrs Jones' Hotel. With the police on the way and additional reinforcements sent by train the gang knew they had a fight their hands. The gang tried to derail the reinforcement train but failed and were caught at the hotel where a gun fight ensued.

The gang had outfitted themselves with bullet-repelling armour and helmets weighing some 44 kilograms (96lbs) and despite their legs being un-armoured were difficult to bring down. In the ensuing battle the Kelly Gang were killed except for Ned who was grievously wounded.

The actual armour worn by the Kelly Gang

On the 28th of October 1880 Ned Kelly was sentenced to die by hanging set for 11 November at the Melbourne Gaol (Jail). It is said his last words were, "such is life" however conflicting news reports say "Ah, well, I suppose it has come to this" was what Kelly uttered as the rope was placed around his neck.

Ned Kelly the day prior to his execution

In Kelly's time some saw him as a saviour, a Robin Hood of sorts, championing for the poor and downtrodden, and of course others saw him as a criminal. In modern-day Australia the country is split still; Some call him folk-hero others criminal. His image and the words "such is life" is often tattoo'ed upon those that celebrate his legend and school children learn about the Aussie battler called Ned Kelly. Either way one thing is certain, he is definitely Australia's most infamous criminals and is equally known as hero and criminal.