When you think of the legendary tales of 19th-century bushranger Ned Kelly, you probably think of places he frequented such as Glenrowan or Jerilderie in NSW. Maybe Benalla. You probably don’t think of Greater Shepparton.
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And why would you? Google ‘Ned Kelly Shepparton’ and the only article of any note that you’re likely to find was published by this newspaper and it was an April Fool’s joke about a ‘Shepparton Letter’ (in the vein of the famous Jerilderie Letter dictated by Ned in 1879 in which he tries to justify his actions) being found below the floorboards of the burnt-out Shepparton Hotel.
What’s for real, though, are a number of intriguing local connections that were recently aired by local historian John Gribben, a regular on the One FM breakfast program.
John started out with what we do know: Ned was born down the road in Beveridge in 1854. His father John ‘Red’ Kelly was a convict from Ireland, and by all accounts a bit of a drunkard. He lived at Avenel and died there when Ned was only 12. His grave remains in Avenel cemetery. Ned attended school in Avenel.
After Red died, the family moved to Greta, near Benalla. In 1878 Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick from Benalla went out to Greta due to a warrant for the arrest of Dan Kelly (Ned’s brother) for horse stealing. There are many disputed accounts of about what happened next.
“What transpired, no-one really knows,” John said.
“What is known is that Ellen Kelly got three years’ hard labour for her involvement in the incident that apparently involved her hitting the policeman over the head with a fireplace shovel. Even so, that sentence was very harsh. Even a royal commission said that was hard, particularly knowing that she had a young infant.” (That would have been Ned’s little half-sister, Alice.)
In any event, Dan got away and caught up with Ned and fellow bushrangers Steve Hart and Joseph Byrne at Stringybark Creek, halfway between Tatong and Tolmie.
Police went out to capture them and there was a gun fight, with three police famously killed: Constable Thomas Lonigan, Constable Michael Scanlan and Sergeant Michael Kennedy.
“From then on there were rewards, wanted dead or alive, for the Kelly gang,” John said.
“And the Kellys went on a bit of a rampage through the country because they’d had enough of being persecuted by the police, particularly with what happened to their mother.”
They ended up robbing banks at Euroa and Jerilderie.
“After the Jerilderie robbery, they thought they were going to rob the banks here in Shepparton, so the police had stayed here — it’s where the current law courts are now. They were across the road in sniper positions. But the Kellys never went there,” John said.
Eventually though, the police heard the Kellys were back out at Greta and Glenrowan.
“They sent out a whole lot of police,” John said.
“The bottom line is there was a big gun battle in which the Kellys were wearing armour that was designed to protect them from the bullets of the police, and they became so famous for this particular armour.”
All members of the gang, bar Ned, were killed in a hotel fire. Ned was captured and imprisoned.
“But here’s a couple things that I didn’t know and I’ve only just learnt in the last couple of years,” John said.
“Of the three policemen that died, we had Lonigan from Violet Town, Kennedy from Mansfield, but apparently Scanlan was originally from Mooroopna, which I hadn’t realised.”
Constable Fitzpatrick was dismissed from the police force in disgrace only a few years later. But why did he pursue the Kellys in the first place?
“The reason he went out to arrest Dan Kelly is because he had seen him before at the Cashel races,” John said.
Cashel was once a thriving settlement near Dookie and many locals will know that all that remains today is the Cashel bank.
“They had races out there,” John said.
“Dan loved fast horses and was a great horseman. The policeman had encountered him there, so he actually knew what he looked like.”
The headquarters for the Kelly gang, after the robbery at Jerilderie and getting ready for the robbery at Shepparton, was in Murchison.
“I wondered, why Murchison of all places?” John said.
“Then I realised the railway line hadn’t been built to Shepparton at that stage and had only gone as far as Murchison. So the phone lines were only as far as Murchison and basically Murchison was the communication centre.”
Ned was ultimately hanged in Melbourne in 1880.
“When he was in court, Justice Sir Redmond Barry actually said, as he passed sentence, ‘and may god have mercy on your soul’. Ned turned to Barry and said, ‘And I will go a little further than that, and say I will see you there when I go’,” John said.
Twelve days after Ned was hanged, the judge died of natural causes. He was the same judge who had harshly sentenced Ellen Kelly years before.
Barry’s youngest son, Frederick, lived in Murchison and is buried in the Murchison cemetery.
“So, we’ve got connections all over the place with Ned Kelly,” John said.
“There are many relatives still around Dookie and Cashel for the Kellys.”
The members of the Kelly gang are remembered by many as folk heroes — Irish Catholics who fought against the corrupt British colonists. To others he is a murderous thug. To others, perhaps a bit of both. Whatever your opinion, we now know that he was actually right here.
Terri Cowley is the breakfast presenter on One FM 98.5