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Ned Kelly

EnolaGaia

I knew the job was dangerous when I took it ...
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I thought there was a Ned Kelly thread already, but I can't find it ... So ...

Bones of Australia’s Jesse James Are Identified, but His Skull Remains a Fugitive
By CHRISTINE KENNEALLY
Published: August 31, 2011

MELBOURNE, Australia — Even with the best scientific techniques, you can’t always get what you want. But if you try, as the Rolling Stones put it, sometimes you get what you need.

Consider the case of Ned Kelly’s skull.

In Australia, Kelly needs no introduction; for Americans, it may help to think of him as Jesse James, Thomas Paine and John F. Kennedy rolled into one.

Born about 1854 to an Irish convict exiled to Australia, Kelly became a folk hero as a very young man. He took up arms against a corrupt British constabulary, robbed banks, wrote an explosive manifesto — and in a final shootout in which he wore homemade metal armor, he was shot, arrested and hanged in 1880 by the Anglo-Irish establishment he despised.

As with any semimythical hero, Kelly’s public has always hungered to get closer to the legend. His armor, cartridge bag, boots and a bloody sash became state treasures.

But perhaps the most priceless among them is his missing skull — the subject of a tangled forensic drama that was finally resolved on Wednesday, at least in part, after decades of investigation, debate, tantalizing leads, stalemates, false starts and what can only be called skulduggery.

After his execution, Ned Kelly was buried in a mass grave at a prison, the Melbourne Gaol. There his remains might have quietly and invisibly decomposed but for a mistake by 19th-century gravediggers: they used a type of lime that slowed decomposition instead of hastening it.

So when the grounds were dug up for development in 1929, startled workers found the site full of skeletons. Officials began to move the remains to another prison. But in a scene of chaos that became a local scandal, a watching crowd of schoolboys and onlookers ran amok between the coffins, seizing bones — including, it was thought, the skulls of Ned Kelly and Frederick Bailey Deeming, the notorious British serial killer who may have been Jack the Ripper.

While the gaol remains were reburied at Pentridge prison, the skulls were recovered soon after they had been stolen. They then embarked on a separate, winding journey through the back doors of a number of institutions.

In the 1970s, one skull was put on display in a gaol museum alongside Kelly’s death mask, a plaster cast impression made shortly after his execution. (It is unknown whether that mask was the original or a copy.)

But in 1978 the skull was stolen again, and a man named Tom Baxter told journalists that he had it.

Mr. Baxter held onto the skull for over three decades, promising to return it if the government gave Kelly a Christian burial. The government did not respond, and the stalemate continued until 2008, when yet another excavation uncovered more prisoners’ remains. At least 3,000 bone fragments were exhumed and sent to the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine. It was thought that Ned Kelly’s bones might be among them.

Shortly after that, Mr. Baxter handed over a fragile, sun-bleached skull to the authorities.

The forensic institute conducted a 21-month investigation of the skull, mixing historical detective work with an array of innovative scientific analyses.
Scientists used historical photographs, cranial plaster casts and a copy of the Kelly death mask to make sure that the skull from Mr. Baxter had indeed been unearthed in the 1929 exhumation. When it came to the skull’s genetic material, however, the scientists faced some serious obstacles. DNA is well preserved in bone but highly vulnerable to contamination. Furthermore, they could not simply cut a square out of the skull, grind it to a powder and extract DNA from that; Joy Beyer, a molecular biologist at the institute, says she was told that the skull could not be damaged.
Finally, the institute sent samples from the skull and other remains to a forensic laboratory in Argentina that specializes in degraded and aged remains. That lab successfully extracted DNA from almost all of the samples.

Even so, the DNA meant little in isolation. The investigators needed something, or someone, to match it against.

Hoping to find DNA in Kelly’s dried blood, they located the boots, bag and sash he wore the night he was shot. “Dried specimens on cloth can preserve DNA for hundreds, even thousands, of years,” said David Ranson, a pathologist at the institute.

But the boot and the bag had no usable DNA. The sash, which they found in a country museum, had been thoroughly washed before it was put on display. And a search for the original of the Kelly death mask — which might hold a stray eyelash or some skin — came up empty.

Next, the investigators looked for relatives. They found Leigh Olver, an art teacher who was descended from Ned Kelly’s mother, down a direct line of women. He donated blood for analysis, and they compared his mitochondrial DNA to that of the skull.

On Wednesday, the forensic institute announced the disappointing results of that analysis. It appears that after all this time, after being abducted more than once, placed on display for the world to see, hidden for decades, cherished, handled, sought after and tested, the skull is not Ned Kelly’s. “Mr. Olver’s DNA and the DNA from the skull do not match,” said Fiona Leahy, a legal adviser at the institute who conducted research for the project.

There was one rather powerful note of consolation. The investigators found a match between the Olver DNA and one set of bones dug up at Pentridge, including a palm-size fragment of skull. So while most of Kelly’s skull is still missing, the rest of him appears to have been found.

As for the stolen skull, it could belong to the serial killer, Frederick Deeming, who died in 1892. The forensic institute is seeking a maternal relative to test DNA.
What of Kelly’s skeleton? Should it be returned to the extended family? Or should there be a public grave? Many Australians regard Kelly as a national hero. Countless books and movies tell the story of his life. But others see him as a villain.
“You can’t just bury the man,” Mr. Olver said. “Someone is going to dig him up again in half an hour.”

SOURCE: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/science/06kelly.html
 
There was a documentary on here last night about that - turns out that the head they found was likely that of Frederick Bailey Deeming - a "Jack the Ripper" suspect.

But they still haven't figured out what to do with Ned's body, or where the rest of his head is.
 
Zilch5 said:
There was a documentary on here last night about that - turns out that the head they found was likely that of Frederick Bailey Deeming - a "Jack the Ripper" suspect.

But they still haven't figured out what to do with Ned's body, or where the rest of his head is.
I saw that one. Brilliant doco.
Flicked over to 'The Wild Boys' - a bushranger series new on Ch7 - what a load of hollywood shite. Maybe it was Ch9... all the same bag of crap with commercial TV.

Here's an old website, but with a raft of interesting tidbits on the man himself and his haunts in Victoria.

http://www.denheldid.com/twohuts/twohuts.html#intro
 
Are you related to Ned?

Kelly clan gathering to hear of genetic links to Australian outlaw Ned Kelly
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ire ... 95543.html
Mon, Mar 26, 2012

The genetic links of one of Australia’s most notorious and controversial outlaws – Ned Kelly – will be the focus of the next Kelly clan gathering in Dundrum, Co Tipperary, in May.

Kelly was born in Australia about 1854 and earned a reputation as both a cold-blooded murderer as well as a freedom- fighting folk hero. He was captured and hanged in Melbourne in 1880 for his crimes.

Key speaker at the May 17th- 19th gathering will be Australian Aidan Kelly, the clan’s chief recorder on genetic genealogy, who will be presenting the latest analysis of the Kelly Y-DNA study (the genetic links of the male line).

Mary Kelly, one of the event organisers and a spokeswoman for the Kelly Clan Association said: “The purpose of our event is not to condone his reputation but to share the importance of genetics in tracing family connections.”
 
Peace at last: burial planned for Ned Kelly

The family of Ned Kelly will start planning a dignified burial for the bushranger after a meeting with the state government about taking possession of his remains.

A public memorial or burial are among the options being considered by the family.

Anthony Griffiths, whose great-grandmother was Kelly's sister, said the meeting had been productive but there was much to do before the remains could be buried.

Kelly was hanged in 1880 for killing three police officers, but the location of his remains had been a mystery until late last year.

After two dozen skeletons were exhumed from Melbourne's Pentridge Prison site, where criminals were buried in mass graves, scientists later identified Kelly's bones through extensive DNA testing.

In August, the Victorian government signed an exhumation licence to grant his remains to his descendants.

But Kelly's skull is still missing after being stolen from an Old Melbourne Gaol display case in 1978.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/peace ... z2AjVBQ66d
 
I wonder if Anthony Griffiths used to be called Rufus? In my college days I stayed with a girlfriend at her relative's house in Wangaratta and was driven home from a dance by a Rufus Griffiths who said he was Ned Kelly's grandnephew . Very tall quiet lovely chap.
 
Bushranger Ned Kelly will be farewelled by his relatives in Victoria's north-east today, more than 130 years after his execution.

Kelly was hanged after the historic Glenrowan shoot-out with police in 1880.

His body was officially identified in 2011 and then a dispute began over who had rights over his remains.

Kelly's relatives won and the bushranger's last wish to be buried in consecrated ground will finally be granted today, with a requiem mass to be held in Wangaratta.

His direct descendants want the service to be a private affair.

"This is something that has been needed to be done for a long time, so here for us it's nice to see a close to the chapter so to speak and right an old wrong," Anthony Griffiths, the great grandson of Kelly's youngest sister Grace, said.

"He (Kelly) especially requested it the day before he was hanged that he... be given to his friends and family so he could be buried properly.

"Ned was denied that in the first place and now we are happy to give it to him.

"There was a lot of bureaucratic process to be gone through but everybody wanted to make sure that it was done correctly.

"The due process did take a while but we got there in the end. That's the main thing."
'Realistic view'

He says it is important Kelly receives a proper farewell, no matter what people think of him.

"I think you've got to take the realistic view that there are some facts that are indisputable and it is like anything," he said.

"At the end of the day it is important that he was a man and a man with a family, and that's the important aspect for us."

Mr Griffiths says he can only imagine how many relatives will turn up to the service.

"That will be a bit of an interesting question just how many of us do end up getting there, but there's literally hundreds of descendants of his siblings so there'll be quite a few," he said.

Kelly's remains will be buried near his mother at the Greta Cemetery on Sunday.

Cemetery trust secretary Christine Magee says all the Kelly plots are unmarked.

"There are close to 700 burials at the cemetery and I'd say three quarters of them would be marked and the others unmarked," she said.

Mr Griffiths would not speculate on whether Ned Kelly will be given a headstone.

"I think the focus has been on getting the funeral, getting that done first before we worry about that too much," he said.

"I think the first thing, first and foremost thing to remember is that this is someone's grave and we ask that people treat it with the dignity and respect that you'd treat any grave.

"It is not some attraction or what have you, it's a grave and that's how it should be treated."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-18/n ... st/4470448
 
Interesting story, but - farewelled? FAREWELLED?! Since when has farewell been a verb? ?That's even more annoying than "snacking"!
 
monops said:
Interesting story, but - farewelled? FAREWELLED?! Since when has farewell been a verb? ?That's even more annoying than "snacking"!

Indeed.

Fare thee well Ned Kelly.
 
monops said:
Interesting story, but - farewelled? FAREWELLED?! Since when has farewell been a verb? ?

Well, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary since 1580:
3fare·well
transitive verb
Definition of FAREWELL
chiefly Australian & New Zealand
: to bid farewell to
Examples of FAREWELL

The retiring teacher was farewelled by the whole school at a special assembly.

First Known Use of FAREWELL
1580

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/farewelled
 
True History Of The Kelly Gang: It's based on the novel by Peter Carey so Director Justin Kurzel has taken a few liberties with history but in doing so he's created an enthralling narrative whilst working from a screenplay by Shaun Grant. Like Kurst's Macbeth this is a dark film, no blasted heath but plenty of leafless trees in an arid landscape. Ellen (Essie Davis) is the Matriarch of the Kelly Clan, young Ned (Orlando Schwerdt) looks up to her rather than his ineffectual father. Ellen has some Lady Macbeth traits but everything she does is for her family *at least in her mind). She sleeps with the Trooper Sergeant O'Neill (Charlie Hunham) to keep her shebeen open, she denies Ned an education as "it's the English taking him away from her", she sells Ned to the Bushranger Harry Power (Russell Crowe). Ned is introduced to banditry by Power, has a run in with O'Neill and ends up in prison. The adult Ned (George MacKay) is a bare-knuckle fighter, a drifter, becomes friendlywith the well off Constable Fitzpatrick (Nicholas Hoult) but this brings disaster to his family and his new love Mary (Thomasin MacKenzie). After the ensuing fracas, Ned and his associates flee, Ellen is imprisoned. The die is cast and Ned becomes an outlaw.

Fitzpatrick is a tad too stage-villainish but it's worth noting that all of the protagonists surnames are Irish. Fitzpatrick maybe Anglo-Irish but the other Troopers could well be descendants of convicts. This is a story of those who continue to reject English Rule and those who facilitate it. Even if Ned wanted another life circumstances compel him to live outside of the law. At stages it looks as if things might go beyond bro-romance between Kelly and his sidekick Joe (Sean Keenan). Cross-dressing is introduced and Kelly is seen more in a frock than in armour but this is artistic license by Kurzel rather than anachronism; Irish Rebels did wear women's clothes when attacking Landlords and their property. This was to spread confusion and terror and Ned bases his broader gang on such Rapparees.

Brilliantly filmed even though much is in shadow and candle light. A scene where Ned sees Troopers through his helmet slit is caught in negatives, snow appears as a brilliant contrast to the parched plains. A savage Australian Western containing scenes of violence and even horror as the tale moves towards it's predestined conclusion. 8/10.
 
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Mrs Kelly: The Epic Untold Story of an Australian Matriarch

I'm currently reading this biography of Ned's mother (which really takes in the whole family). I'm enjoying it much more than I thought I would to be honest. Very readable and well referenced throughout. Only very occasionally dips into "what must she have thought" speculation. Certainly doesn't paint Ned as a folk hero, but nor does it shy away from the fact that much of what occurred was a result of the oppression of the Irish Catholics being transplanted to colonial Australia. Of particular concern to me is the way what was said about the Irish Catholics in the late 1800's is pretty much exactly what is being said now about African and/or Muslim migrants and their descendants.
 
Looking down on the gallows at Melbourne Goal (now called Old Melbourne Goal) where Ned met his fate (pic taken by me on a ghost tour there around 18 months ago).
ned.jpg
 
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