The Jerilderie Letter Read Online Free
is the apocalyptic chant of Edward Kelly, a man who has been foolishly disobeyed; these are the words proclaimed by a widow’s son outlawed.
*
This edition of The Jerilderie Letter is transcribed from the original held by the State Library of Victoria. While some annotation is necessary to make the document intelligible to modern readers, I have kept it to a minimum, and have tried not to interrupt Kelly’s account of his story.
The Jerilderie Letter
Benjamin Gould was born in Nottingham, England. He came to Australia during the 1853 goldrush and became well known as a hawker in the Greta district.
Senior Constable Edward Hall is pictured in his latter-day incarnation as Sub-Inspector. The man with the unenviable task of maintaining order in Greta, he allegedly tried to shoot Ned while attempting to arrest him on the town’s main street.
Dan Kelly, the youngest of the Kelly boys, was reputed to admire Ned to the point of hero-worship. Samuel Gill described him as having ‘a sallow complexion, a fine pair of dark eyes, and rather a pleasing look when smiling’. He died at Glenrowan in June 1880.
The wealthy landowner James Whitty was an Irish Catholic who originally arrived in Victoria without money or education. The theft of eleven horses from his property in Moyhu, in August 1877, resulted in the warrants for the arrest of Dan and Ned Kelly.
George King, an American only five years Ned’s senior, married Ned’s mother Ellen in 1874. He was involved in the stock theft but made a convenient scapegoat for Ned, having disappeared—leaving Ellen three months pregnant—over a year before the raid.
The 1881 Royal Commission described Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick as appearing ‘to have borne a very indifferent character in the force, from which he was ultimately discharged’. It concluded further that his ‘efforts to fulfil what he may have considered his duty proved disastrous’.
Sergeant Arthur Steele led the second police search party that scoured the Wombat Ranges between Greta and Mansfield in October 1878. He had been the policeman in charge at Wangaratta from 1877 and was involved in Ned Kelly’s capture at Glenrowan.
Joseph Ryan, one of the ‘Greta boys’, was with Dan Kelly on the night of Fitzpatrick’s attempt to arrest him.
Kate Kelly, sister of Dan and Ned, was the unwilling recipient of the drunken Constable Fitzpatrick’s attentions and, according to her mother Ellen, the real cause of the brawl that injured him and brought about the charges of attempted murder.
Constable Thomas McIntyre was the only policeman to survive the Stringybark shootings. His testimony at Ned’s trial in October 1880 led to Ned’s conviction and subsequent hanging for the shooting of Constable Lonigan.
Constable Thomas Lonigan was the first man to die at Stringybark Creek. Ned Kelly was convicted of his murder and executed on 11 November 1880, two years after the event.
Sergeant Michael Kennedy was the officer in charge of the police search party. He was reputed to be a good bushman and had a thorough knowledge of the country surrounding Mansfield. He was the last man Ned killed at Stringybark Creek.
Constable Michael Scanlon was an Irish immigrant. He was the second policeman to be shot by Ned Kelly at Stringybark Creek.
Police at the the site of the shootings at Stringybark Creek where Sergeant Michael Kennedy and Constable Thomas Lonigan and Constable Michael Scanlon were killed.
Steve Hart, the fourth member of the Kelly gang, was very familiar with the district surrounding the New South Wales town of Jerilderie, from his days shearing sheep and selling stolen horses in the area. He died alongside his close friend Dan at Glenrowan.
Looking more like bounty hunters than officers of justice, these two policemen engaged in the Kelly hunt give some idea of the frontier aspect that still typified the region in the 1870s. Police search parties were often mistaken for the outlaws by
*
This edition of The Jerilderie Letter is transcribed from the original held by the State Library of Victoria. While some annotation is necessary to make the document intelligible to modern readers, I have kept it to a minimum, and have tried not to interrupt Kelly’s account of his story.
The Jerilderie Letter
Benjamin Gould was born in Nottingham, England. He came to Australia during the 1853 goldrush and became well known as a hawker in the Greta district.
Senior Constable Edward Hall is pictured in his latter-day incarnation as Sub-Inspector. The man with the unenviable task of maintaining order in Greta, he allegedly tried to shoot Ned while attempting to arrest him on the town’s main street.
Dan Kelly, the youngest of the Kelly boys, was reputed to admire Ned to the point of hero-worship. Samuel Gill described him as having ‘a sallow complexion, a fine pair of dark eyes, and rather a pleasing look when smiling’. He died at Glenrowan in June 1880.
The wealthy landowner James Whitty was an Irish Catholic who originally arrived in Victoria without money or education. The theft of eleven horses from his property in Moyhu, in August 1877, resulted in the warrants for the arrest of Dan and Ned Kelly.
George King, an American only five years Ned’s senior, married Ned’s mother Ellen in 1874. He was involved in the stock theft but made a convenient scapegoat for Ned, having disappeared—leaving Ellen three months pregnant—over a year before the raid.
The 1881 Royal Commission described Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick as appearing ‘to have borne a very indifferent character in the force, from which he was ultimately discharged’. It concluded further that his ‘efforts to fulfil what he may have considered his duty proved disastrous’.
Sergeant Arthur Steele led the second police search party that scoured the Wombat Ranges between Greta and Mansfield in October 1878. He had been the policeman in charge at Wangaratta from 1877 and was involved in Ned Kelly’s capture at Glenrowan.
Joseph Ryan, one of the ‘Greta boys’, was with Dan Kelly on the night of Fitzpatrick’s attempt to arrest him.
Kate Kelly, sister of Dan and Ned, was the unwilling recipient of the drunken Constable Fitzpatrick’s attentions and, according to her mother Ellen, the real cause of the brawl that injured him and brought about the charges of attempted murder.
Constable Thomas McIntyre was the only policeman to survive the Stringybark shootings. His testimony at Ned’s trial in October 1880 led to Ned’s conviction and subsequent hanging for the shooting of Constable Lonigan.
Constable Thomas Lonigan was the first man to die at Stringybark Creek. Ned Kelly was convicted of his murder and executed on 11 November 1880, two years after the event.
Sergeant Michael Kennedy was the officer in charge of the police search party. He was reputed to be a good bushman and had a thorough knowledge of the country surrounding Mansfield. He was the last man Ned killed at Stringybark Creek.
Constable Michael Scanlon was an Irish immigrant. He was the second policeman to be shot by Ned Kelly at Stringybark Creek.
Police at the the site of the shootings at Stringybark Creek where Sergeant Michael Kennedy and Constable Thomas Lonigan and Constable Michael Scanlon were killed.
Steve Hart, the fourth member of the Kelly gang, was very familiar with the district surrounding the New South Wales town of Jerilderie, from his days shearing sheep and selling stolen horses in the area. He died alongside his close friend Dan at Glenrowan.
Looking more like bounty hunters than officers of justice, these two policemen engaged in the Kelly hunt give some idea of the frontier aspect that still typified the region in the 1870s. Police search parties were often mistaken for the outlaws by
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