Ned Kelly, Australia’s most famous outlaw and bushranger, is primarily remembered for his final showdown with the police where he and other members of his “Kelly Gang” — Joe Byrne, Steve Hart and brother Dan Kelly — wore homemade suits of armour.
A year earlier, in 1879, Kelly had devised a plan to create the bulletproof armour and wear it during shootouts with the police. The suits and helmets were crafted from plough mouldboards, either donated by sympathisers or stolen from farms. The boards were heated and then beaten into shape over the course of several months, most likely in a crude bush forge with or without the assistance of blacksmiths. While the suits successfully repelled bullets, their heavy weight (Ned’s suit weighed 44kg) made them cumbersome to wear, and the gang debated their utility.
The gang included the armour as part of a plan to derail and ambush a police train in June 1880 at Glenrowan in Victoria. After the plan failed, the gang, having taken hostages in a local hotel, wore the armour during a final shootout with the police. Byrne died from a stray bullet that hit his groin through a small gap in the armour [Ed: That’s gotta hurt.]; and, in an attempt to rescue Dan and Hart, Ned tested his suit during a fifteen-minute exchange of gunfire with the police. Although the armour protected his head and torso, he received several bullet wounds to the hands and legs, causing significant blood loss and resulting in his capture.
News reports of the armour caused a sensation throughout Australia and much of the world. It has become a widely recognisable image and icon, inspiring many cultural depictions and cementing Ned Kelly as one of Australia's most well-known historical figures. The painter Sidney Nolan reinforced the iconic image of Ned's armour by featuring it in a series of paintings in 1946, and a gang of mounted Ned Kellys even made an appearance during the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
The armour was made of 6mm thick iron, each suit consisting of a long breast-plate, shoulder-plates, back-guard, apron and helmet. The helmet included a long slit for the eyes, and it is this feature that has been burned into the cultural memories of many Australians.
After the shootout there were five bullet marks on Ned’s helmet, three on the breast-plate, nine on the back-plate, and one on the shoulder-plate. Although no bullets actually penetrated the armour, each bullet to Ned's helmet caused massive bruising, lacerations and disorienting concussion.
Ned Kelly's is currently held by the State Library of Victoria. Watch a short video of their curators discussing the armour HERE.
After making sufficient recovery from his wounds, Ned was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by hanging. His last three words at the gallows were reportedly: “Such is Life”.
To some people, Ned Kelly is a folk hero; a working-class revolutionary who took a stand against British colonial authority. To others, he is simply a cold-blooded villain who has been undeservedly mythologised and morphed into the “Robin Hood” of Australia.
What do you think?
Story Idea: Dave Lim
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References
wikipedia.org/wiki/Armour_of_the_Kelly_gang
slv.vic.gov.au/search-discover/explore-collections-theme/australian-history/ned-kelly
Images
1. Ned Kelly's armour
2. An 1880 illustration showing Ned Kelly's helmet and armour suit complete with an apron and shoulder plates
3. Night attack on the Glenrowan Inn. Credit: National Museum of Australia.
4. Ned Kelly shootout at the the Glenrowan Inn
5. Sidney Nolan's Ned Kelly, 1946
6. Sidney Nolan's Death of Constable Scanlon, 1946
7. Ned Kellys on the prowl at the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics. Photo: Dallas Kilponen.
8. Ned Kelly's armour on display in the State Library of Victoria
9. Video: Building a bushranger: Relocating Ned Kelly's armour, State Library Victoria
10. Ned Kelly Hanged: Such is Life
11. Big Ned Kelly, Glenrowan, Victoria
