Ned Kelly

Showdown at String Bark Creek

If there is one moment in the Ned Kelly saga in which his fate was sealed, it came on Oct. 26, 1878, at a place called String Bark Creek. According to most accounts, four members of the constabulary, acting on information that was better than they knew, had tracked the Kelly gang to a remote area deep in the bush. The four officers — Sergeant Michael Kennedy, Thomas Lonigan, Michael Scanlon and Thomas McIntyre — set up camp. Historians generally agree that Scanlon and Kennedy set off from the camp to search for the Kelly boys while Lonigan and McIntyre remained behind.

It never dawned on any of the officers that Ned Kelly might be tracking them. In fact, it is generally regarded as historical fact that the two officers felt so at ease that Lonigan took the time to fire off a round or two from his pistol at a squawking parrot. That was, as it turned out, a terrible miscalculation, because the shot led the Kelly gang directly to the campsite. It was, by most accounts, about five in the evening when Kelly and his boys rushed the unsuspecting officers, ordering them to "Bail up." There is some confusion about what happened next. This much is clear; McIntyre complied. And he survived. Lonigan, according to some accounts, reached for his gun, but was no match for Ned Kelly, who had, in his youth developed a deadly aim with a rifle and a handgun. Lonigan was shot dead. Though McIntyre would later testify that he had his back to Lonigan when the fatal shot was fired, and could not, therefore know conclusively whether Lonigan had threatened Kelly with a gun, the police and prosecutors still favored an alternative interpretation of the events. In their view, Kelly murdered Lonigan in cold blood.

According to most accounts, the gang members then fanned out, and waited for the other two officers to return. When they did, Kelly and his cohorts opened fire. In the confusion, McIntyre escaped, according to documents compiled by the Ned Online website. Scanlon fell dead at the scene. Kennedy, the ranking officer on the ill-fated expedition tried to flee. He apparently didn't make it far. His body was found a half-mile from the others.

It is one of the most curious aspects of the adventure that the Kelly boys, who had to that point and would again afterwards take such pains to avoid being perceived as common criminals, took the opportunity to rifle through the dead constables' pockets before leaving, taking with them a plain gold ring with an opaque oval stone and a silver plated pocket watch from the bodies.