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The Fitzpatrick Incident - Ambush: Ned Kelly and the Stringybark Creek murders - Culture Victoria

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"Their whole attitude to the police was one of intense hostility. It was only natural that they shou…

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1878 - Kelly shoots Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick in the wrist after he becomes too friendly with his sister Kate. Kelly and his brother Dan, along with friends Joe Byrne and Steve Hart - the members of "The Kelly gang" - go into hiding. Shortly later they ambush and killed three policemen. A month later the gang commit a string of armed robberies at banks in rural towns. During one, Kelly writes a famous letter telling his side of the story, including the ill treatment suffered by his family at the hands of the police.

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Australian scientists have indentified the remains of famed bush ranger Ned Kelly, 130 years after he was executed.

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The problem is that you've only presented two completely opposite options - "greatest rebel hero" or "murderous thug." Can't he be somewhere in-between?

He was a bushranger who stole horses and was locked up twice, once for assault and once for receiving a stolen horse. There's evidence that in the latter case he didn't know the horse was stolen but he was unable to convince a judge of that. The culture of the day was not particularly sympathetic to Irish Catholics like the Kellys.

After Ned's mother was locked up on a questionable charge of attempted murder, the Kelly gang robbed some banks. In the process they not only took the money but destroyed the mortgage documents, making them particularly popular with people who had mortgages. I doubt that makes him the "greatest rebel hero" though.

Incidentally the judge who sentenced Ned's mother to jail said at the time that if Ned were to appear before him, he would sentence him to 15 years jail - this is a judge deciding on the sentence in a hypothetical future trial where no evidence had been presented. When Ned heard about this he could quite reasonably have formed the opinion that he would not receive a fair trial.

At one stage police were tracking the gang through the bush. Finding only one officer at the police camp the gang captured him. When the other police returned there was a shootout and a police officer was shot and killed. At the time the police were authorised to shoot to kill which is no doubt what they were attempting to do. Whether this makes Ned Kelly a "murderous thug" is doubtful.

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Is Ned Kelly Australia's greatest rebel hero? Or nothing but a murderous thug?

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Answer: The problem is that you've only presented two completely opposite options - "greatest rebel hero" or "murderous thug." Can't he be somewhere in-between? He was a bushranger who stole horses and was locked up twice, once for assault and once for receiving a stolen horse. There's evidence ...

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Updated January 21, 2013 07:01:38

The remains of bushranger Ned Kelly have been buried at a small graveyard in north-east Victoria, more than 130 years after his execution.

Kelly's body was exhumed from a mass gravesite and identified in 2011, sparking a dispute over who had rights to his remains.

He was executed after the historic Glenrowan shoot-out with police in 1880.

The infamous outlaw's body was buried on Sunday in an unmarked grave at Greta Cemetery, near Wangarrata, by his relatives.

Relative Joanne Griffiths says the service brought closure for the family.

"I think it is final closure," she said.

"We've brought him home, back to his family and back to the area that he loved.

"We've given him his final wish, so that makes us quite happy."

Ms Griffiths says the cemetery is the resting place of many other Kelly family members.

"There's a lot of unmarked graves," she said.

"Some of them originally were marked - unfortunately because Edward was so famous, some of our graves were fiddled with over the years.

"We've made a real effort to ensure that he's going to be safe and he's surrounded by family and friends, which is the way he would've wanted it."

Topics: history, law-crime-and-justice, wangaratta-3677, glenrowan-3675, vic, australia

First posted January 20, 2013 17:03:08

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Ned Kelly's remains buried in unmarked grave

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Updated January 21, 2013 07:01:38 The remains of bushranger Ned Kelly have been buried at a small graveyard in north-east Victoria, more than 130 years after his execution. Kelly's body was exhumed from a mass gravesite and identified in 2011, sparking a dispute over who had rights to his remains.

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Alfonso Piazzi - soldier, winegrower and lover - has a secure place in Australian history. He is the only man (other than a police officer) ever to pull a gun on the bushranger Ned Kelly.

Piazzi was born in Italy in 1844. Little is known about Piazzi's early years. On his death an obituary reported that Piazzi had been a soldier for Garibaldi. But no details were given on where and when he served.

In July 1865 Piazzi arrived in Melbourne on board the passenger ship Ocean Empress.

He settled in the town of Benalla in north-eastern Victoria. Piazzi became a road contractor for the Benalla Council and was also a pioneering wine grower.

Piazzi's life was changed dramatically on Sunday 28 June 1880.

Piazzi and seven of his employees were working in the township of Glenrowan. Their task was to load a consignment of quarry metal on to railway trucks for transportation to Benalla. The team would stay overnight. They pitched their tents by the railway line and close to the Glenrowan Inn. This arrangement suited both the thirsty workers and the publican, Mrs Anne Jones.

Unbeknown to Piazzi and the residents of Glenrowan, the Kelly gang arrived in town around midnight on 28 June. Kelly had decided to derail a train carrying police re-enforcements and stage a final shoot-out with the police.

Piazzi bedded down for the night. Although never married, apparently he had an eye for the ladies. There was a woman with him in the tent.

Around 1.00 am, Piazzi awoke with a start. Kelly entered the tent and ordered him to get up. Piazzi - not realizing the intruder was Kelly - reached for his gun. Kelly was furious and readied to fire his rifle at the Italian. Fortunately Piazzi was able to push the rifle butt to one side. The shot went astray. Piazzi's lady friend let out a piercing scream.

Piazzi, realizing that further resistance was pointless, surrendered to Kelly. He spent the next ten hours as a one of the 61 hostages held by the Kelly Gang inside Mrs Jones's hotel. It was a terrifying experience, as the police fired indiscriminately into the Glenrowan Inn. As one hostage said ' We were not afraid of the bushrangers but we were afraid of the police.'

Around 3.00 pm the siege was over. Ned Kelly had been captured. The three other members of his gang were killed, along with two members of the public.

Piazzi's encounter with Ned Kelly is the only known occasion where a civilian drew a gun on Ned Kelly.

But the trauma of the siege had a damaging impact on Piazzi's health. He died the following year and now rests among the gum trees at the Benalla cemetery.

Who was Piazzi's lady friend? We will never know. It is a secret that Piazzi took to the grave.

Acknowledgements: - Judy Douthie, - Ian W Shaw,
I was at the Kelly Gang Round Up, Network Creative Services 2007.
Glenrowan - The Siege that Shaped a Nation, Macmillan, 2012.

Bill Townsend

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Alfonso Piazzi - soldier, winegrower and lover - has a secure place in Australian history. He is the only man (other than a police officer) ever to pull a gun on the bushranger Ned Kelly. Piazzi was born in Italy in 1844. Little is known about Piazzi's early years.

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Ned Kelly was born in June 1855 to a proud Irish Catholic family whose resentment of the British set the precedent for his life. Washed deep with the convict stain, Ned's destiny was cast in a defiant mould. The story of his short life was one that saw Ned and his gang take on corrupt police, greedy land barons and an ignorant government in a quest to change their world for the better. Wrongly accused, they survived a deadly shoot out with police in 1878 that resulted in Ned, his brother Dan, and their mates Joe Byrne and Steve Hart, being declared outlaws with the largest reward ever offered in the British Empire for their capture - dead or alive. Over the next eighteen months the Kelly Gang held up two country towns and robbed their banks, without firing a single shot; wrote numerous essays, including the famed Jerilderie Letter, explaining their actions; and became folk heroes to an emerging nation. Their grand plan to derail a special police train and declare a republic of North East Victoria came to a fiery end in Glenrowan when they donned their famous but cumbersome armour against an overwhelming police presence. By 11 November, 1880 the era of the Kelly Gang drew to a close when Ned, after a brief trial, was hanged. Yet the legacy of his life and the chord he struck within a young country, unwilling to bend to injustice, saw Ned Kelly become Australia's most enduring legend.

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Ned Kelly was born in June 1855 to a proud Irish Catholic family whose resentment of the British set the precedent for his life. Washed deep with the convict stain, Ned's destiny was cast in a defiant mould.

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Biography - Edward (Ned) Kelly - Australian Dictionary of Biography

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Soon afterwards Sergeant Kennedy and Constables Lonigan, Scanlon and McIntyre set out to capture Ned and Dan, and on 25 October camped at Stringybark Creek where they were seen by Ned. Next day Kennedy and Scanlon went out on patrol, leaving Lonigan and McIntyre at the camp.

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Bushranger Ned Kelly will be laid to rest in an unmarked grave alongside his mother more than 130 years after his death, but debate has been reignited over his funeral.

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Ned Kelly - The Armored Criminal (Strange Stories)

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The Fitzpatrick Mystery

When Ned's sixteen year-old brother, Dan, became a suspect, a disreputable young police constable named Alexander Fitzpatrick tried to arrest the boy at the Kelly homestead. A mysterious brawl erupted. A drunken Fitzpatrick swore that Mrs Kelly had assaulted him and that Ned Kelly had shot him in the wrist. Ned and Dan became fugitives. Mrs Kelly, with a baby at her breast, was sentenced to three years hard labour. Her son-in-law, Bill Skilling (Skillion) and a neighbour, Bill 'Bricky' Williamson, each received six years hard labour. Ned and Dan offered to surrender if their mother was released. The offer was refused.

Brother Dan Kelly had fallen foul of the law while still in his teens. He was given three months for damaging property, but later the chief police witness against him was charged with perjury. On his release from prison Dan went home unaware that the police, unable to find the horse-thief, King, had sworn warrants against both Ned and Dan. It was reported that Ned had slipped over the border into New South Wales, however, evidence suggests he was very close by on the night of the 'Fitzpatrick Incident'. An incident that should never have occurred if proper police guidelines had been observed, in particular the command that police must not act alone when executing an arrest warrant.
Kate Kelly was a quiet 14-year-old when she became caught up in the Fitzpatrick incident. A popular heroine of the Kelly story, she actually played a less important role than her older sister, Maggie. Image: Max Brown
The trooper who came with the warrant was a weak willed man named Alexander Fitzpatrick, who had called at a tavern on his way to Mrs Kelly's place to fortify his intent. It is quite possible Fitzpatrick was looking to make himself some sort of hero by travelling solo. The trooper found Dan at home with Mrs Kelly and the girls, as well as Will Skillion, Maggie Kelly's husband, and a neighbouring selector named Williamson. Not long after the lone trooper entered the homestead, violence erupted. Fitzpatrick made a drunken pass at Kate Kelly. Dan knocked him down and, in the ensuing scuffle, the trooper's gun went off and he cut his wrist, most likely on the door-latch. Mrs Kelly was full of concern. She bandaged his wrist and he was invited to have supper with the family and 'let bygones be bygones'. On his way back to police barracks, Fitzpatrick had some more brandy. He then reported to his superiors that Dan Kelly had resisted arrest, and that Ned had burst into the room and shot him in the wrist. Ned then offered to cut out the bullet with a rusty razor blade but Fitzpatrick declined, opting to use his penknife to dig it out.
I hear previous to this Fitzpatrick had some conversation with Williamson on the hill. He asked Dan to come to Greta with him as he had a warrant for him for stealing Whitty's horses. Dan said all right. They both went inside. Dan was having something to eat. His mother asked Fitzpatrick what he wanted Dan for. The trooper said he had a warrant for him. Dan then asked him to produce it. He said it was only a telegram sent from Chiltern, but Sergeant Whelan ordered him to relieve Steel at Greta and call and arrest Dan and take him into Wangaratta next morning and get him remanded. Dan's mother said Dan need not go without a warrant unless he liked and that the trooper had no business on her premises without some Authority besides his own word. The trooper pulled out his revolver and said he would blow her brains out if she interfered in the arrest. She told him it was a good job for him Ned was not there or he would ram the revolver down his throat. Dan looked out and said Ned is coming now. The trooper, being off his guard, looked out and when Dan got his attention drawn, he dropped the knife and fork which showed he had no murderous intent and slapped Heenan's hug on him, took his revolver, and kept him there until Skillion and Ryan came with horses which Dan sold that night. The trooper left and invented some scheme to say that he got shot, which any man can see is false. He told Dan to clear out, that Sergeant Steel and Detective Brown and Strachan would be there before morning.
Ned Kelly's Jerilderie Letter

A doctor giving Crown evidence readily accepted the contribution of Fitzpatrick's penknife to the injury, while apparently reluctant to state definitely that a bullet had been involved. Ned Kelly may have had a revolver at the time of the incident, but it seems highly unlikely that it produced the constable's wound, certainly not as alleged by Fitzpatrick. Even the acting commissioner of police later admitted Fitzpatrick was 'a liar'. In all likelihood both Ned and Joe were present at the Kelly homestead on the night Fitzpatrick came calling. By the time a troop of police had surrounded the Kelly homestead, the boys had gone bush.

In spite of Mrs Kelly's protests that Ned was four hundred miles away and, anyway, nobody had shot Fitzpatrick, arrests were made. For assisting in the attempted murder of a police officer, Judge Redmond Barry sentenced Skillion and Williamson to six years each, and Mrs Kelly herself was sentenced to three years in gaol. Barry at the time also remarked that, 'had Ned been present I would have sentenced him to twenty one years'. Later, Fitzpatrick was to be discharged ignominiously from the police force for misconduct in another case. But by then the damage had been done.
The police have treated my children very badly. I have three very young ones, and had one only a fortnight old when I got into trouble (referring to her recent imprisonment in connexion with the assault on Constable Fitzpatrick at Greta). That child I took to Melbourne with me; but I left Kate and Grace and the younger children behind. The police used to treat them very ill. They used to take them out of bed at night, and make them walk before them. The police made the children go first when examining a house, so as to prevent the outlaws, if in the house, from suddenly shooting them. Kate is now only about 16 years old, and is still a mere child. She is older than Grace. Mrs. Skillion is married, and, of course, knew more than the others, who are mere children. She is not in the house now. Mr. Brook Smith was the worst behaved of the force, and had less sense than any of them. He used to throw things out of the house, and he came in once to the lock-up staggering drunk. I did not like his conduct. That was at Benalla. I wonder why they allowed a man to behave as he did to an unfortunate woman. He wanted me to say things that were not true. My holding comprises 88 acres, but it is not all fenced in. The Crown will not give me a title. If they did I could sell at once and leave this locality. I was entitled to a lease a long time ago, but they are keeping it back. Perhaps, if I had a lease, I might stay for a while, if they would let me alone. I want to live quietly. The police keep coming backwards and forwards, and saying there are 'reports, reports.' As to the papers, there was nothing but lies in them from the beginning. I would sooner be closer to a school, on account of my children. If I had anything forward I would soon go away from here.
Mrs Ellen Kelly from the May 14, 1881 visit by the 1881 Royal Commission On The Police Force In Victoria.

Ned Kelly swore vengeance. Restrained by his friends, he instead wrote an impassioned letter to Magistrate Wyatt, offering to surrender his own person 'to any charge' in exchange for his mother, but Wyatt was powerless to act. By then the police were increasing their efforts to get Ned Kelly, so he and Dan vanished overnight from the district. The government offered a reward of one hundred pounds each for their apprehension. Ned and Dan went into hiding in the Wombat Ranges, some twenty miles from Mansfield in rough country. They cleared the ground and built a slab hut near the banks of a creek, and spent their time panning for alluvial gold.

Here they were joined by two old friends Steve Hart, a part time jockey from Wangaratta, and Joe Byrne, son of a gold prospector at Beechworth. Both had previously served short prison sentences. Joe was a Woolshed lad, born around 1857 of Irish-Catholic extraction. His father died when Joe was around twelve years old, after a working life as a digger then a dairyman. Byrne went to school with Aaron Sherritt and they later served six months together for the unlawful possession of meat. Later Joe was fined for the illegal use of a horse. Like the rest of the Kelly Gang, Byrne was a good shot and fine horseman. He practiced riding down steep gullies for fun. He was also an experienced alluvial miner and could speak fluent Cantonese having grown up amongst the Chinese diggers, which came in handy during his numerous visits to their opium dens. Joe Byrne was part of the Kelly Gang because he happened to be around on the day of the Stringybark killings. On another day the gang could have been made up from an entirely different cast including Tom Lloyd, Ned's cousin, or Wild Wright, Ned's mischievous Mansfield mate, or even Aaron Sherritt.

Joe Byrne, however, was no ring-in. He became mates with Ned Kelly in 1876 and trusted him completely. He is remembered as Ned Kelly's lieutenant. The man Ned consulted on strategy. Ned saw Joe as a wise, patient sort of fellow unlike Dan or Steve which is why he tolerated Byrne's relationship with Sherritt, even when others were branding Aaron as a police informer. At Stringybark Creek the evidence suggests that Joe shot dead Constable Scanlon after Ned had blown him off his horse. Scanlon's ring was worn by Joe Byrne at Glenrowan. Aaron Sherritt inadvertently implicated Joe as a Kelly Gang member when, on being asked to become an police informer said he would consider the deal if Byrne's life was spared. Joe's high-heeled boots were his trademark, being referred to as larrikin heels in late nineteenth century Victoria. Byrne was seen as one of the most glamorous gang members with his handsome colonial boy charm and his strong opposition to police law and order. Joe enjoyed reading a fine book and was a highly proficient writer. It was Joe who penned Ned's words in the famous Jerilderie letter as well as the red inked Euroa letter, sent to Victorian MP Donald Cameron and Superintendent Sadleir. It is also understood Joe composed a number of ballads extolling the virtues of the Gang's escapades. A verse from one of Joe's songs goes:

Ned Kelly was a natural leader, but it was later revealed that he had no plan to carry out organised crimes from his hideout. With the help of various friends, the Kelly boys operated a gold mine and a whiskey still on Bullock Creek in an attempt to raise enough money to mount a retrial for their mother.

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When Ned's sixteen year-old brother, Dan, became a suspect, a disreputable young police constable named Alexander Fitzpatrick tried to arrest the boy at the Kelly homestead. A mysterious brawl erupted. A drunken Fitzpatrick swore that Mrs Kelly had assaulted him and that Ned Kelly had shot him in the wrist.

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Ned Kelly: Hero or hooligan? Tell us why you think so.

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Answer (1 of 7): For me, the myth/reality of Ned Kelly has moved way beyond the man, the life, the history ... he has evolved into a revered Aussie icon which stands aloof and untainted by academic review, historical fact or by either evaluation - be it hero or hooligan.