The Big Ned Kelly at Glenrowan

Glenrowan
Small town made famous by its association with Ned Kelly
Glenrowan is a small town of some 210 people located 220 km north-west of Melbourne. It is situated just off the Hume Freeway, between Benalla and Wangaratta, and at an elevation of 220 metres. Despite its diminutive size this settlement's name would be familiar to many Australians, even if they couldn't quite recollect why. To jog the memory, just utter the words 'Ned Kelly' as it was here that the 'career' of the man who is arguably Australia's most famous bushranger came to an end. Not surprisingly Ned looms large over the town: literally so, in the form of a six-metre statue in the main street. This inextricable connection of town and legend has been exploited as the centrepiece of local tourism.

It is thought that the Pallanganmiddang Aborigines occupied the area prior to white settlement which commenced with the Rowan brothers in 1846 (hence the town's name). The townsite developed as a service centre to the pastoral and agricultural enterprises of the area. It was proclaimed in 1861 and received a boost with the arrival of the railway in 1873.

However, Glenrowan would be of little historical importance if it were not for its associations with Ned Kelly, arguably Australia's most famous son. In 1867 the Kelly family moved to a wooden hut at Eleven Mile Creek, not far to the south-west of Glenrowan. The move was prompted by the death of Ned's father which left the family in penury and Ned, at 12, the family's main breadwinner. His maternal grandfather, James Quinn, had taken up a 25 000-acre run of poor country here in 1862. The Quinns and the Lloyds (who had married into the family) were suspected of being involved with cattle and horse theft.

In 1869 Ned was arrested for an alleged robbery and assault but the charge was dismissed. The following year he spent seven weeks in custody as a suspected accomplice of bushranger Harry Power but that charge was also dismissed for want of evidence. However, later in 1870, he got into a long-running feud with a hawker and was convicted of assault and of sending the hawker's wife a pair of calf's testicles and an indecent note. The fifteen-year-old Kelly was sentenced to six months hard labour.

A few weeks after his release he was convicted of knowingly receiving a stolen mare and spent another three years in prison (the legitimacy of the conviction has been disputed). After two years as a timbergetter near Mansfield he went prospecting with his stepfather but they soon turned to horse stealing.

In 1877 Ned was arrested at Benalla for drunkenness and riding across a footpath. While being escorted to court he broke free and was only subdued after a major struggle with constables Fitzpatrick and Lonigan, both of whom would loom large in his destiny.

In April 1878 a warrant was issued for the arrest of youngest brother Dan Kelly on a charge of horse theft. Constable Fitzpatrick, a man of the most dubious character, went to the Kelly home, probably drunk and without a warrant. It is unclear just what happened. Fitzpatrick claimed Ned burst in and shot him and that Dan, Mrs Kelly, her son-in-law and a neighbour all assisted in disabling him. He also claimed that Ned had refused him a doctor and had dug the bullets out himself. The next day a doctor observed that the constable smelt of brandy and that 'there were two slight surface wounds, one of which might have been caused by a bullet'. Ned claimed to have been hundreds of kilometres away at the time.

Nonetheless, rewards were offered for the arrest of Ned and Dan who went into hiding. Their mother, her son-in-law and the neighbour received strong prison sentences for aiding and abetting an 'attempted murder', thereby intensifying the family's belief that they were being unjustly persecuted.

Ned and Dan were joined in the mountains by Steve Hart and Joe Byrne. Shortly thereafter Ned killed three policemen during a confrontation (see entry on Mansfield), one of whom was constable Lonigan. As a result the gang were declared outlaws and a reward offered for their capture, alive or dead. The state parliament rushed through legislation permitting civilians to shoot outlaws on sight, increasing police powers and providing stiff penalties for harbourers. The gang then went on to rob banks at Euroa and Jerilderie , allegedly to finance a campaign to free their mother.

They then laid low for 16 months with help from friends and sympathisers from among the selectors. Things changed in June 1880. Ned Kelly later explained that the plan was to create a diversion which would cause the police to board a train and leave their base at Benalla. With the help of armed sympathisers at Glenrowan, where their support was strongest, they would derail the train, take the police into the hills as captives, rob Benalla's banks, return newly laden with cash then exchange the police for Mrs Kelly.

Thus, on Saturday June 26, they travelled to the home of Joe Byrne's old friend turned police informer, Aaron Sherritt, who was supposedly under the protection of the four troopers in the house which was located north of Beechworth. The gang shot and killed Sherritt on his doorstep presuming the troopers would immediately raise the alarm, bringing the police rushing by train from Benalla. However, out of fear, the troopers hid in the Sherritt house until Sunday afternoon, by which time the telegraph offices were closed. Thus the train in question (with five reporters on board) did not get under way until Sunday evening.

Meanwhile the gang had proceeded to Glenrowan where they forced two railway workers to tear up a section of track just to the east of town. They cut the telegraph wires and took over the Glenrowan Inn, detaining about 60 people while they waited for the train which they expected on Sunday morning. However, a schoolmaster that Ned had, out of compassion, released from detention warned the train which was approaching from the west. It thus stopped at Glenrowan station at about 3.00 a.m. on Monday morning.

By this stage the gang were affected by alcohol and loss of sleep. They may also have been overconfident owing to the armour they had fashioned for themselves from the mould boards of ploughs. Ned's 40-kg suit included a cylindrical headpiece to cover his face which has become famously associated with his image. However, it left limbs uncovered. The gang left the hotel and tried to rush the train. Ned was wounded in the arm, hand and foot.

They returned to the hotel which was soon surrounded by the police who fired indiscriminately, killing two detainees (and wounding another two) in the process. Reinforcements arrived bringing the number of police to 34. Joe Byrne bled to death from a bullet wound to the groin. Ned escaped into the bush, returning at 5.00 a.m. to attempt a rescue of his compadres, at which time he was brought down by bullets in the leg, receiving 28 shot wounds in all. The police set fire to the hotel to smoke out Dan Kelly (aged 19) and Steve Hart (aged 20) but they appear to have taken poison, although local historian, Gary Dean (the owner of Glenrowan Cobb & Co), believes the pair escaped altogether . One policeman and an Aboriginal tracker were wounded in the fracas.

After a preliminary trial at Beechworth (during which the police feared a public rescue attempt) Ned Kelly was tried in Melbourne for murder and sentenced to death. A petition with 60 000 signatures called for a reprieve, a personal appeal was made to the governor and a public meeting the night before the proposed execution was attended by 4000 supporters. However, Ned Kelly was hanged on November 11. Famously, his last words were either 'Such Is Life' or 'Ah well, I suppose it has come to this'. His head was removed for phrenological study. Kelly's last request that his mother be released was ignored. Her sentence ended three months later and she returned to her selection near Glenrowan, dying in 1923. Ned's younger brother Jim did likewise after serving a second sentence for horse theft (he died in 1946).

The Kelly gang were among the last of the bushrangers as the term is traditionally understood, for settlement of the interior was proceeding apace and the country was moving into the era of rapid communication via telegraph and railway. Despite these developments, the gang's national notoriety, and the strenuous and expensive efforts of the authorities to capture them, they were on the run for two years. A Royal Commission was established to consider police actions during the Kelly manhunt and the conclusions were devastating: virtually everyone involved in the hunt was demoted or dismissed.

Opinion has always been divided on Ned Kelly's merits. To some he was a cold-blooded and self-centred killer and thief. Others, however, place the Kelly family's situation in a social context of animosity and competition between the squatters (Australia's established landowning 'gentry') and the selectors (the less well-to-do who were allowed to own smaller plots of land from 1860). The squatters used their wealth, eminence, connections and other advantages to enlist the law and the police to their benefit, causing a sense of injustice among the selectors. Thus, despite the undeniable murders, many sympathised with Ned Kelly's public grievances, his situation and his self-justifications. Kelly himself remarked of the killings: 'I could not help shooting them, or else let them shoot me, which they would have done if their bullets had been directed as they intended'.

There is no doubt that Ned Kelly attracted much sympathy with less privileged Australians in his time (aided by the incompetence of the police and their overweening and unjust harassment of selectors during the manhunt). He has since become inextricably associated with aspects of Australia's national mythology and is a potent symbol of a widely felt disrespect for authority and scepticism about the function of the law. Clive Turnbull has observed: 'Ned Kelly is the best known Australian, our only folk hero...Popular instinct has found in Kelly a type of manliness much to be esteemed - to reiterate: courage, resolution, independence, sympathy with the under-dog '; hence the saying 'As game as Ned Kelly'.

His story has been converted into numerous tales and folk songs and was committed to film as early as 1906. Noted Australian painter Sidney Nolan also executed a distinguished series of works focusing on Kelly in the 1940s and 1950s.

Things to see:  

Historic Sites
Glenrowan retains none of the buildings which Ned Kelly would have known in his lifetime. However, the community have recently constructed a replica of the original railway station around the old railway platform. There is also a replica of the Kelly homestead behind Kate's Cottage and a range of artifacts in the town's various museums cum gift shops. Plaques around town denote where some of the events surrounding the siege transpired, including the site where the Glenrowan Inn stood before it was burned down and the gully where the troopers took cover.

Kellyland
Kellyland is the main attraction in Glenrowan. This is apt as it would be an appropriate title if the town were to ever contemplate a change of name. In fact the main shopping strip in Gladstone St is largely given over to enterprises which seek to turn the mythology surrounding Kelly into cash.

Kellyland is a multi-million dollar cinematic and theatrical depiction of the Kelly gang's last stand, enacted by computerised robots in the manner of Disneyland. There are four different sets which relate different moments of the story - the waiting room of Glenrowan railway station, the shoot-out, the burning hotel and the execution at Melbourne Gaol. Visitors sit within these settings like first-hand participants. Original props include the bar of McDonell's Tavern, an authentic hand-gun owned by Ned, Sgt Kennedy's hitching post and a rare surviving copy of the findings of the Royal Commission into the Kelly manhunt.

The show lasts about 40 minutes and it commences every half-hour from 9.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. every day (opening hours can be extended by prior arrangement). There are also two evening shows at 7.30 p.m. and 8.00 p.m. which are combined with a meal. Family tickets and coach groups bring individual prices down considerably, tel: (03) 5766 2367.

Kelly Statue
Just along the road, at the corner of Gladstone St and Kate St, is the town's dominant motif writ large in the form of a 6-metre statue which depicts Kelly as he appeared at the time of his capture at Glenrowan - clad in armour, rifle in hand.

Kate's Cottage and Kelly Museum
On the opposite corner at 35 Gladstone Street is Kate's Cottage, named after Ned's mother. It is a gift and souvenir shop focusing on Kelly memorabilia and Australiana.

At the back of the shop is the Ned Kelly Memorial Museum with illustrative displays. Outside are a stringybark replica of the Kelly homestead fashioned in the traditional manner with broadaxe and adze and decorated with the type of furnishings which one may have expected to see in the original which was allegedly erected by Ned (the ruins of the 1877 homestead can still be seen to the south-west of town, near Greta West). There is also a coach, a blacksmith's shed, barbecue facilities and talking cockatoos. It is open daily from 9.00 a.m. to 5.30 p.m., tel: (03) 5766 2448.

Glenrowan Cobb & Co Souvenir Gift Shop and Museum
The Cobb & Co is another museum of sorts. It features photographs, memorabilia and write-ups relating to the Kelly siege and shoot-out. The display is well laid out and housed in an authentic reconstruction of the town's original Cobb & Co changing station, tel: (03) 5766 2409. It is open from 9.00 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. daily.

The Kelly Walk
The three establishments mentioned above can furnish you with a pamphlet outlining a walk which takes in the townsites associated with the Glenrowan siege. The railway station has changed little since Ned lay wounded in the stationmaster's office. Crowds used the station as a grandstand to watch the siege.

Wineries
There are five wineries in the Glenrowan area and all are signposted from town.

Baileys of Glenrowan, established in 1870, is located on Taminick Gap Rd (head north for 5 km then turn right for another 2 km and it is on the right). They produce dessert wines such as muscat, full-bodied dry reds and white table wines. Other attractions include the original granite stables, a blacksmith's shop, a small museum, free electric barbecues and a picnic area. They are open weekdays from 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. and weekends from 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m., tel: (03) 5766 2392.

Auldstone Cellars is located in Booths Rd at Taminick (head north for 8 km then turn right onto Booths Rd). Originally established in 1891 it retains the original, albeit renovated, stone winery. The vineyard was reopened in 1987 and today it produces a large range including shiraz, sparkling shiraz, muscat, chardonnay, riesling and cabernet. The cellar door is open from Thursday to Sunday and every day in the school holidays. Gourmet lunches are available on weekends and there is a picnic area with barbecue facilities and playground, tel: (03) 5766 2237.

Booth's Taminick Cellars is a family-owned enterprise which was established in 1892. They are also located on Booth's Rd, just past Auldstone's and on the opposite side. Trebbiano, semillon, shiraz and cabernet sauvignon are grown to produce dry reds, dry whites and vintage port. They are open daily, tel: (03) 5766 2282.

HJT Vineyards is a small family enterprise located about 10 km west of Glenrowan on Keenan Rd, near Lake Mokoan. They produce table wines and are open Friday to Sunday and public holidays, tel: (03) 5766 2252.

Sundry Local Businesses
The White Cottage Herb Garden is at 20 Hill St and it is open from Thursday to Monday from 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m., tel: (03) 5766 2285. Country Garden Ornaments is on Warby Range Rd and it is open daily, tel: (03) 5766 2208. Couttie's Strawberry Farm is on the Glenrowan/Moyhu Rd at Greta West and it is open from 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. daily, tel: (03) 5727 6213.

Lake Mokoan
Lake Mokoan is a large expanse of water to the west and north-west of town which is ideal for boating, fishing and waterskiing.

Warby Range State Park
Warby Range State Park (7600 ha) is a granite range which is divided in three sections stretching northwards from Glenrowan for 20 km. It is noted for its lookouts offering spectacular views over the surrounding plains, its picnic areas, springtime wildflower displays and fauna. There is a campground and the Pine Gully Nature Walk (2 km) holds out the possibility of spotting kangaroos, koalas and some beautiful parrots. Good sealed access roads head east off the Glenrowan-Boweya Rd. Ring (03) 5721 5022 or 131 963 for more information.

Couttie's Strawberry Farm
Couttie's Strawberry Farm offers the opportunity of picking your own strawberries from mid-October to December and raspberries from March-May. If you prefer you can buy them pre-packaged. There are also jams and condiments. They are 7 km south of Glenrowan on the Glenrowan-Moyhu Rd at Greta West, tel: (03) 5727 6213.

	Motels
	Glenrowan Kelly Country Motel Gladstone St Glenrowan VIC 3675 Telephone: (03) 5766 2202 Rating: **
	Hotels
	Glenrowan Hotel Gladstone St Glenrowan VIC 3675 Telephone: (03) 5766 2255
	Bed & Breakfast/Guesthouses
	Jindalee Farm Bed & Breakfast Croxfords Rd Greta West Glenrowan VIC 3675 Telephone: (03) 5727 6215
	Caravan Parks
	Glenrowan Bushland Caravan Park Old Hume Hwy Glenrowan VIC 3675 Telephone: (03) 5766 2288 Rating: **
	Restaurants
	Dad & Dave's Billy Tea Rooms Old Hume Hwy Glenrowan VIC 3675 Telephone: (03) 5766 2496
	Kate Kelly's Teahouse Gladstone St Glenrowan VIC 3675 Telephone: (03) 5766 2448
	Kelly's Cookhouse 40 Gladstone St Glenrowan VIC 3675 Telephone: (03) 5766 2111
	Ned Kelly's Bistro Beaconsfield Pde Glenrowan VIC 3675 Telephone: (03) 5766 2597