Ned Kelly

The Temperature Rises

Wanted Poster

Whatever their previous crimes, the Kelly boys were now wanted men. It was also clear that whatever lingering doubts there may have been among his neighbors about Ned Kelly's role in the apprehension of his mentor had long since been dispelled. In fact, he was on his way to becoming a local folk hero. The government acknowledged as much when it decided to offer a 100-pound reward for Ned Kelly's capture, a move the government took in the hopes of shaking the public's support for Ned Kelly. As one policeman wrote in a memorandum in support of the decision to offer the reward, "from the number of hiding places Kelly has in the ranges and the assistance he receives from the people in the neighbourhood...I think the chances are...police may hunt for him a long time before...arresting him and I do not see much chance of obtaining much information about him unless I can pay for it."

In fact, even with the offer of 100 pounds — a sizable amount to the impoverished selectors in northeaster Victoria, information about Kelly's whereabouts was scant and largely questionable. Perhaps part of the reason the community was so silent was that in some ways, they agreed with Kelly's choice of targets. The gang supported itself through robbery, but not the kind of random holdups that marked lesser bushrangers.

No, even then the Kelly gang seemed to focus its rage along class lines, robbing only bankers, wealthy landowners, and the hotels that thrived on their business. And those were people who had few friends among the lower class, where Kelly was quickly becoming a hero.

But the police believed they had other ways of bringing Kelly to heel. They used his mother. In October 1978, Ellen Kelly, along with Skillion and Williamson were hauled into the dock at Beechworth, where they were charged with and convicted of aiding and abetting Ned Kelly in the attempted murder of Constable Fitzpatrick. The convictions were based in large part on Fitzpatrick's testimony, statements that were later called into question. It is worth noting as well that a year after the trial, Fitzpatrick was removed form the constabulary for what documents at the time cited as behavior that was "generally bad and discreditable to the Force."

But by that time, Ellen Kelly and her co-defendants were already in prison.

The sentences were harsh, harshest of all for Ellen Kelly who was ordered to serve three years at hard labor.

By all accounts, Ned Kelly saw the arrest and prosecution of his mother, his brother in law and his friend as an act of aggression by a tyrannical police force out to crush him and his clan, and it apparently hardened his resolve to remain at large and active in the bush.

Steve Hart

But the police had other ideas. Authorities from the newly established North Eastern Police District, launched a thorough manhunt — at one point they would even hire Aboriginal trackers to trail Ned and his gang — which now consisted of Kelly, his brother Dan, they friend Joe Byrne and Steve Hart — across the hostile and unforgiving landscape.

But Kelly, by all accounts, was as adept or more at disappearing into the countryside than his pursuers were at finding him. In fact, on one fateful occasion, the hunted bandit turned the tables on his pursuers.