Ned Kelly

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The world Ned Kelly returned to after his release from Pentridge Prison was far different from the one he left. His mother, Ellen had remarried, this time to an American of questionable ethics named George King. His brother Jim Kelly had been sentenced to five years for horse stealing. His sister Maggie had grown up and married a family friend Will Skillion who later played a pivotal role in the Kelly saga. Tragically, his older sister Anne had died, apparently while giving birth to an illegitimate child, a daughter who was widely rumored to have been sired by a local constable.

By all accounts, Ned Kelly made a serious attempt to steer clear of trouble with the law in the early days after his release. He moved to the region around Moyhu and took a job working in a sawmill. But, it seems his reputation followed him.

As the Web site Ned Online puts it, Ned made the mistake of setting up housekeeping not far from the home of a prominent and suspicious landowner named James Whitty lived.

"When one of his bulls went missing, Whitty blamed Ned, who in return was deeply affronted by the accusation. Ned was to resent Whitty and all he represented in the years to come," the Web site reports.

There are those who believe Kelly made only a half-hearted attempt to walk the straight and narrow, and there is evidence to suggest that by 1877, Kelly had become a full partner in a cattle and horse rustling operation headed by his American born stepfather, an operation that also included Kelly's younger brother Dan, his old friend Isaac Wright, as well as some of his oldest and dearest friends, among them Aaron Sheritt and Joe Byrne, a young man who would later become an integral part of the Kelly gang, and who would, according to all but the most devoted Kelly admirers, die during the final shootout with authorities at the Glenrowan hotel.

Dan Kelly

As early as early as April 1878, police had already gotten wind of the operation and warrants were issued for various members of the operation, including Dan Kelly and Ned Kelly himself, records show.

Within days, historians agree, the simmering resentment between the authorities and the Kelly clan reached the boiling point.