Ned Kelly: The Record Behind the Legend

Public Record Office Victoria states that it holds more original records about the bushranger Edward (Ned) Kelly than any other archival institution in the world. They are gathered as the Kelly Historical Collection, in six parts, and much of it has been digitised.

The records cover the killing of members of Victoria Police at Stringybark Creek in October 1878, the pursuit of the Kelly Gang across north-eastern Victoria, the gang's last stand at Glenrowan in June 1880, and Kelly's capture, prosecution and execution.

The capital case file

The most important single document is the Capital Case File, created by the Crown Law Department to record the process that followed Kelly's trial. In Victoria a conviction for murder carried a mandatory death sentence; the file exists because the Executive Council had to decide whether that sentence would stand or be commuted.

It contains the notes made by Judge Redmond Barry during the trial. PROV records that the Executive Council met on 3, 8 and 10 November 1880 and confirmed the sentence.

The last letters

Among the file's contents are letters Kelly dictated from gaol while awaiting execution. One is dated 10 November 1880 — the day before he was hanged. The gunshot wounds he had taken at Glenrowan prevented him from writing, so he dictated the letters and signed them with his mark.

The body

PROV's journal, Provenance, published an account of what happened to Kelly's remains. He was buried in the yard of the Old Melbourne Gaol. His bones were later moved to Pentridge, where their exact location was lost for a time. When they were examined, the skeleton bore gunshot injuries from the Glenrowan siege, including a wound to the right tibia with pellets still lodged in it.

Why the archive matters

Kelly has been claimed by every side of Australian argument for 140 years — folk hero, police killer, political rebel, common thief. The records at PROV do not settle that argument. What they do is fix the facts the argument has to work with: who was killed, where, what the court decided, and what the colony did about it.

Dates and record references in this article are taken from Public Record Office Victoria's published collection guides and blog, linked below. Interpretations of Kelly's motives are left to the reader.