Ned Kelly Last updated 5 days ago

Bank robberies

8000 pound reward notice for the capture of the Ned Kelly gang, 15 February 1879

Following the killings at Stringybark, the gang committed two major robberies, at Euroa, Victoria and Jerilderie, New South Wales. Their strategy involved the taking of hostages and robbing the bank safes.

Euroa

Towards evening a hawker named Gloster camped, as usual, on the station. When he went to the kitchen, a station hand said, "the Kelly's are here." Gloster replied, "I wish they were, it would be £2,000 in my pocket." Ned Kelly looked up and said, "What is that you say." Gloster, without waiting to give an explanation, rushed towards the wagon, and Ned and Joe Byrne followed. Mr. McCauley was for the safety of Gloster, and he followed them. Gloster on reaching his wagon, was making a search for his revolver, but he was "covered" by the bushrangers, and Mr. McCauley cried out, "Look out Gloster, you will be shot," at the same time appealing to Kelly not to shoot him. Gloster turned and said, "Who are you." Ned replied, "I am Ned Kelly, son of Red Kelly, as good a blood as any in the land, and for two pins I would put a match to your wagon and burn it." The stationhands and Gloster were all placed in the storeroom, under guard. The time passed quietly until two o'clock in the morning, and at that hour the outlaws gave a peculiar whistle, and Steve Hart and Joe Byrne rushed from the building. Mr. McCauley was surrounded by the bushrangers, and Ned Kelly said, "You are armed, we have found a lot of ammunition in the house." After this episode the outlaws retired to sleep.

On the afternoon of the second day, 10 December 1878, leaving Byrne in charge of the prisoners, the other three started out to work what they called their new gold mine. First they cut the telegraph wires, chopping the posts down to make sure, and were careful to rip off more wire than an ordinary repairer would carry with him. Three or four railway men endeavored to interfere, but they too joined the other prisoners in Younghusband's storeroom. Carrying a cheque drawn by Mr. Macauley on the National Bank for a few pounds, the three bushrangers, all heavily armed, went to the bank. In the meantime Byrne had apprehended a telegraph-line repairer, who had begun to make trouble. The others reached the bank after closing time, traveling in the hawker's cart. Kelly knocked at the door and persuaded the clerk to open and cash the cheque he had. They balled up the unwise clerk and his manager, Mr. Scott. The robbers took £700 in notes, gold, and silver. Ned Kelly insisted to the manager that there was more money there, and eventually compelled him to open the safe, from which the outlaws got £1,500 in paper, £300 in gold, about £300 worth of gold dust and nearly £100 worth of silver. The outlaws were polite and considerate to Mrs. Scott. Mr. Scott, invited the outlaws to drink whisky with him, which they did. The whole party went to Younghusband's where the rest of the prisoners were. The evening seems to have passed quite pleasantly. McCauley remarked to Ned Kelly that the police might come along, which would mean a fight. Ned Kelly replied, "I wish they would, of there is plenty of cover here."^[34] In the evening tea was prepared, and at half-past 8 the outlaws warned the prisoners not to move for three hours, informing them that they were going. Just before they left Kelly noticed that a Mr. McDougall was wearing a watch, and asked for it. McDougall replied that it was a gift from his dead mother. Kelly declared that he wouldn't take it under any consideration, and very soon afterwards the four of the outlaws left. What is unusual is that these stirring events happened without the people in the town knowing of anything.^[35]

In January 1879 police arrested all known Kelly friends and sympathisers and held them without charge for three months. This action caused resentment of the government's abuse of power that led to condemnation in the media and a groundswell of support for the gang that was a factor in their evading capture for so long.^[36]

The Kelly gang, as they were known, came into existence by sheer misfortune. The young men (Joe Byrne & Steve Hart) who were with Ned & Dan at Stringybark Creek at the time of the police shootings would become 'the Kelly gang'. Up until this point they were merely four bush larrikins.

            Apart from the four above, there was a man named Tom Lloyd Jr who was at pretty much every gang activity and somehow despite the police knowing this was to live a free mans life. Another man, named Aaron Sherritt also spent a lot of time with the gang, before being killed by best friend and gang member Joe Byrne. 

            As a gang, they robbed two banks, whilst holding up entire towns in meticulously planned raids. The raid on Glenrowan was to be their downfall and would see the destruction of the gang.

          There were four 'official' gang members, brothers Ned & Dan Kelly, Joe Byrne & Steve Hart.

They were all young men and had been convicted of minor crimes prior to the police killings at Stringybark Creek.

The Kelly gang according to the Royal Commission.

Power, who is said to have given Ned Kelly his first lesson in bushranging. Edward Kelly, the leader of the outlaws, was born in 1854, at Wallan Wallan, and from an early age was regarded by the Police as an incorrigible thief. In company with Power the Bushranger he, on the 16th of March 1870, robbed Mr. McBean; and on the 25th of April stuck up Mr, John Murray of Lauriston. Kelly was arrested for the latter offence on the 4th of May following, but escaped conviction owing to want of identification. He was implicated in several outrages; and at Beechworth, in 1871, he received a sentence of three years for receiving a stolen horse. He led a wild and reckless life, and was always associated with the dangerous characters who infested the neighbourhood of Greta until the shooting of Constable Fitzpatrick, on the 15th of April 1878, when he took to the bush. Daniel Kelly was born in 1861, and from the age of 16 years was, with his elder brother Ned, a noted criminal. Joseph Byrne, the third outlaw, was born in 1857, and lived with his parents, who were Irish extraction and respectable antecedents, at the woolshed, about seven miles from Beechworth. When 16 years of age he was in trouble, and from the first appears to have developed vicious and cruel propensities. In 1876, along with Aaron Sherritt, who figures so prominently throughout the Kelly campaign, so to speak, and with whom he was on terms of the closest intimacy, he was arrested and sentenced to six months' imprisonment for having stolen meat in his possession; and he was also believed to have been connected with numerous cases of horse stealing in the North-Eastern district, which ultimately led to his joining the Kelly gang. Steve Hart, the fourth member of the gang, was born in 1860, and was the second son of Richard Hart, of Three-mile Creek, near Wangaratta. Stephen, at an early age, became the associate of disreputable persons, and carried on a system of stealing horses and planting them until such time as rewards were offered by the owners for there recovery. He received a sentence of imprisonment in July 1877, and subsequently was sent to gaol for ten months for horse stealing. On his release he returned to Wangaratta, and for a time appeared disposed to lead a more honest and reputable life. One day, however, while at work cutting timber, he suddenly threw down his axe, exclaiming to his mate, "A short life and a merry one." He then rode off, stating that he was going to New South Wales. Nothing further was heard of him until the murders of the police at Wombat, when it was reported that a man answering to his description was seen near Greta; but it was not until the Euroa bank robbery that his identity was established as one of the accomplices of the murderers, Ned and Dan Kelly.

 History of Australian Bushranging by Charles White:

HOW THE KELLY GANG WAS FORMED.

        Mention has been made of the fact that Ned Kelly was at one time associated with Power in his horse stealing and bushranging exploits; but in the latter he appears to have served only as a scout and occasional assistant, merely holding Power's horse during the time he was overhauling his victims on the road. As a horse "lifter," however, he had even a greater reputation than Power; horse-stealing was the calling to which he had devoted his life, and he followed that calling with untiring assiduity. He commenced his career by removing carriers' and travelers' horses during the night to a safe "plant," where he would keep them until a reward was offered for their recovery, and then he would hand them over in the most innocent manner and claim the reward. Naturally, the next step was to horse-stealing pure and simple, any stray animal worth picking up being appropriated and kept in a secure place until an opportunity presented itself of turning it into money. Before he had fully grown a beard he became acquainted with prison life, and served several short sentences for horse-stealing, being recognised as a confirmed criminal by the authorities while yet in his teens—a circumstance which is not to be considered wonderful when the nature of his surroundings is taken into account. Although he was known to be connected with the escaped convict and bushranger who was causing such trouble, he was not called to account for any offence committed in Power's company; and it was generally believed that the police had obtained from him the information which enabled them to track Power to his hiding place on the mountain—Power himself at one time entertaining that opinion—but the arresting Superintendents invariably denied any statement to that effect.

        Power had been in gaol for about eight years, however, before what is known as the Kelly Gang of bushrangers was formed and began to operate openly, and although the influence and example of the older bushranger may have had something to do with shaping the subsequent career of the leader of that gang, it cannot be said that the one was the direct outcome of the other.

           But before proceeding to narrate the extraordinary doings of the gang, it is necessary that I should give a brief sketch of the earlier life of the different members.

        I have already mentioned that Ned Kelly had two brothers and four sisters—Dan, Jim, Mrs. Gunn, Mrs. Skillian, Kate, and Grace. Dan Kelly was seven years younger than Ned, having been born in 1861, but from the time he was able to sit upon a horse he was more or less associated with his elder brother in criminal pursuits. The boy "lifters" were the terror of carriers and drovers who had to pass through the district in which they resided, and it is said that persons in charge of stock not infrequently went many miles out of the direct course in order to avoid Greta, fearing that some of their cattle would miss their proper destination if they attempted to pass through the "Kelly Country." Night and day young Dan would prowl about looking for "game," and knowing the bush intimately, he could at any time get away with that "game" when he found it, to some spot where it would be beyond reach of the proper owners. It will thus be seen that he was well qualified to act as his brother's lieutenant, and, indeed, it was through him that the outbreak occurred.

        The third member of the gang was a young fellow named Steve Hart, a native of Wangaratta, who had also made a name for himself as a horse thief, indulging in night prowling in search of stray animals. He was born in 1860, and was therefore a year older than Dan Kelly, who was his closest "chum" during the campaign, and his companion in

        The fourth member of the gang was Joe Byrne, who was born at the Woolshed, near Beechworth, in 1857. He was a splendid sample of a young Australian, and had received a fairly good education, but abandoning himself to criminal pursuits had joined the Kelly boys in several of their horse-stealing raids. He had served one sentence of six months in Beechworth Gaol before joining the gang. Byrne acted as scribe to the party, reducing to writing the plans for the attacks upon banks and other contemplated robberies, which were rigidly adhered to.

        These four formed the gang, but there were others associated with them as scouts and "telegraphs" and harbourers, whose names will appear as occasion arises for mentioning the service rendered by them. Aaron Sherritt was one of the most active of these assistants during one part of the campaign. He had attended the same school as Joe Byrne, and the intimacy that had grown up there was continued after school days were over, the two engaging in horse-stealing raids together, and forming close criminal business relationships with the Kellys. Sherritt was a native of Beechworth, his parents being most respectable people.

        In March, 1878, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Dan Kelly on a charge of cattle stealing; and as it became known that he was at his mother's house at Greta, a constable named Fitzpatrick, stationed at Benalla, proceeded thither to arrest him. Fitzpatrick's version of what took place was that when he got to the house he found Dan Kelly there, and arrested him in the presence of his mother and sisters. He was proceeding to take his prisoner to Benalla, when he was asked to permit him first to take a meal, with which request he complied. While the meal was in progress, Ned Kelly, with Skillian, his brother-in-law, and a man named Williamson, came in, and Ned at once demanded if Fitzpatrick had a warrant for the arrest of Dan. The constable replied in the negative, and then Ned drew a revolver and declared that his brother should not be taken without one. Fitzpatrick pulled out his revolver to protect himself, and ensure the safe custody of his prisoner, when Ned Kelly fired and wounded him in the wrist, the result being that the revolver fell out of his hand and was secured by the Kellys. Fitzpatrick was then, according to his account, secured, and it was proposed to shoot him; but upon his solemnly promising to say nothing of the affair, he was allowed to go. The wound in his wrist was very trivial, and the bullet had been picked out with a knife before he reached Benalla. His promise of silence was not kept, and warrants were immediately issued against Ned Kelly for shooting with intent to murder, and against Dan Kelly, Skillian, Williamson, and Mrs. Kelly for aiding and abetting. When it was attempted to enforce these warrants, it was found that the brothers Kelly had disappeared; but the others named were arrested, tried, and sentenced each to lengthy terms of imprisonment, Fitzpatrick's version of the occurrence at the house being accepted as correct.

        But the Kellys and their friends gave altogether different versions of the story; they emphatically denied the truth of Fitzpatrick's statements, and complained very bitterly that their relations were unjustly cast into prison on his unsupported evidence. One version was that no shooting at all took place, but that Fitzpatrick had concocted the whole affair in a spirit of revenge, because certain improper advances which he had made to one of the female members of the family had been rejected with considerable warmth; another was that Fitzpatrick never had Dan Kelly in charge, and that the arrest was resisted because of the absence of a warrant, and in a scuffle Fitzpatrick slightly wounded himself with his own revolver; and a third was that Mrs. Kelly took no part whatever in the affair, not being in the house at the time—that Skillian and Williamson were miles away at the time, and that Dan and Ned Kelly were alone concerned in what took place.

        After the disappearance of Ned and Dan from the home at Greta, nothing more was heard of them for some months, although the Government offered £100 reward for their apprehension, and every effort was made by the police to capture them. It was then known that they had "taken to the bush" and there was a general impression that they were concerned in several cases of road robbery that took place about that time in remote portions of the district; but, reckless and daring though they were known to be, it was never for a moment thought that they were capable of the fearful crimes by which they were shortly to make themselves notorious.