Historical Australian Towns: Glenrowan, VIC: Kelly Country

Located in the Wangaratta local government area of Victoria, Glenrowan is 236 kilometres north-east of Melbourne, Australia.

Glenrowan is most well known for the Kelly Gang's Last Stand, which brought an end to the bushranging of Ned Kelly and his band of outlaws.

The Pangerang Aboriginal People

Traditionally occupying large parts of north-eastern Victoria stretching along the Murray River to Echuca and into the areas of the southern Riverina in New South Wales, the Pangerang are thought to belong to the Yorta Yorta people.

Edward M. Curr, a pastoralist, and Aboriginal administrator and ethnologist, published various books and wrote about the culture and language of the Pangerang people. He noticed that Pangerang language differed markedly from those of surrounding tribes.

Weapons, such as spears, were used in Australia by Aboriginal people for hunting and fighting purposes.

Below are some of Curr's observations about the Pangerang people.

Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), Saturday 9 June 1883,

1820s

In 1824, explorers Hamilton Hume and William Hovell, arrived in the region.

1840s-50s

Brothers James and George Rowan were among the first European settlers in the Glenrowan area between 1846 and 1858.

Bushrangers were active in north-east Victoria during the gold rush, which began in 1851. This was a period of incredible growth for Victoria, with the arrival of people from other parts of Australia and the world.

1860s

The ruthless bushranger, Dan "Mad Dog" Morgan ( born Jack Fuller), held up traffic on the Sydney Road between Benalla and Glenrown the 1860s. There were other bushrangers in the region, too.

Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), Monday 22 August 1864

Mount Alexander Mail (Vic. : 1854 - 1917), Tuesday 11 April 1865

Tumut and Adelong Times (NSW : 1864 - 1867; 1899 - 1950), Monday 17 April 1865,

Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Vic. : 1855 - 1955), Tuesday 11 May 1869

Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Vic. : 1855 - 1955), Thursday 18 November 1869

1870s

Wine production dates back to 1870 in the Glenrowan area.

Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Vic. : 1855 - 1955), Wednesday 30 April 1873

A railway station opened on 2 November 1874, with a platform located on the western side of the line.

Some Facts About Ned (Edward) Kelly and the Siege

Ned Kelly was born in the small town of Beveridge, north of Melbourne, about 1854.

Ned Kelly's parents were Ellen Quinn and John "Red" Kelly. Red was an Irish convict transported to Australia for stealing pigs, and he was identified as a Police informer.

According to the book Selectors, Squatters and Stock Thieves by Doug Morrissey (2018), the myth surrounding Ned Kelly is of squatter tyranny, police oppression and selector poverty and despair.

In 1869, 14-year-old Ned Kelly spent almost two weeks in police custody and is charged with assaulting a Chinese trader named Ah Fook.

In 1870, Kelly was arrested as an accomplice of the bushranger Harry Power, known as the "Gentleman Bushranger".

Mugshot of Ned Kelly, aged 15

Later, in 1870, Kelly was arrested again for assaulting Jeremiah McCormack and for being involved in sending McCormack's childless wife a pair of calf’s testicles. Ned was sent to Beechworth Gaol and received a six-month sentence of hard labour.

1871, Kelly rode a stolen horse past the police station in Greta and was arrested for horse theft.

Kelly resisted arrest and was sentenced to three years’ jail. The Kelly family was part of a family clan with a history of horse theft. (later n the Jerilderie letter, Ned-confessed to being a stock thief)

The Kelly family saw themselves as victims of police persecution, even though they were involved in large scale cattle and horse stealing.

In 1877, Kelly is arrested for drunkenness and resisted arrest. During the scuffle, one policeman, Lonigan, "blackballed" him, and Kelly said to him "Well Lonigan, I never shot a man yet, but if I do so help me God you will be the first".

Ned's brother, Dan, is sentenced to three months’ imprisonment in 1877 for damaging property. Not long after his release, in 1878, a warrant was issued for his arrest for stealing horses.

A Police trooper named Fitzpatrick goes to Mrs Kelly’s home to arrest Dan in April 1878, and in a scuffle Ned Kelly shoots Fitzpatrick in the wrist. Fitzpatrick is also struck on his helmet with a fire shovel by Mrs Kelly.

The Kelly family's versions of the events, according to historian Grantlee Kieza,“…will change every time they open their mouths, but Fitzpatricks will hardly deviate in the 35 years between 15th April 1878 and when he is interviewed for newspapers in 1911”.

Carte de Visite showing Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick holding a riding crop with left elbow resting on a pillar. No date

A reward of £100 each was offered for the arrest of Ned and Dan Kelly .

Ned and Dan go into hiding in the Wombat Ranges along with Steve Hart and Joe Byrne.

Bushranger Dan Kelly, member of the Kelly gang, taken about 1870.

In October 1878, four police were sent out to arrest the Kelly brothers. The Kelly Gang kill three police at Stringy Bark Creek. Their bodies are looted of watches, rings, and other items. Only Sergeant McIntyre escapes.

Clockwise from top left: Constable Lonigan, Sergeant Kennedy, Constable McIntyre and Constable Scanlan

The Kelly Gang were declared outlaws.

On 10 December, 1878, Ned, Dan and Steve hold up a bank in Euroa, stealing £2260 of cash and gold.

8th February, 1879, the Kelly Gang capture two local police and lock them up at Jerilderie. The outlaws dress as police, and rob a bank. They commit crimes to fund life on the run.

More than 200 police were hunting the Kelly gang, and 50 soldiers were sent to guard seven banks.

Six Aboriginal men from the Queensland Native Police were brought down to Victoria to track the Kelly Gang. Kelly called the trackers "those six little demons" and was "astounded and terrified of them".

Aboriginal men were expert trackers as hunter-gatherers learned to follow animal footprints and to read the landscape in order to survive and obtain food. This tracking ability was used to track the Kelly Gang.

Queensland Native Police contingent, Kelly Gang. Queensland Native Mounted Police contingent sent to Victoria to help hunt the Kelly Gang, 1879. Standing at the Benall Police Paddock. At QLD Police Museum

1880s

At the start of June 1880, Ann Jones was running a popular inn at Glenrowan. Her business would soon be ruined. Theinn comprised five rooms: a parlour, bar and dining room at the front and two bedrooms at the back. (1.)

June 26, 1880, former friend Aaron Sherritt is shot dead by Joe Byrne, lieutenant of the Kelly Gang. Many police suspected Sherritt was a double agent working for the Kelly gang and the police.

On 26 June, 1880, the gang rode to Glenrowan and destroyed part of the railway line to derail the train, knowing that police would send reinforcements from Melbourne by rail.

Many Glenrowan residents were held by the kelly Gang at the Jones' hotel.

MRS. JONES'S GLENROWAN INN, AS IT APPEARED BEFORE IT WAS FIRED, Glenrowan, VIC

Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954)

IN SMOULDERING HOTEL a clergyman found the bodies of Kelly’s brother Dan, gang members Hart and Byrne. Glenrowan, VIC, Pix.Vol. 26 No. 17 (28 April 1951)

Ned Kelly let Thomas Curnow, the school master, go home, but Curnow did not go home. He took his wife's red scarf and a candle and managed to stop the train with the red glow from the scarf held around the candle, saving the train and the police and trackers.

Thomas Curnow (1855 - early December 1922) was primarily involved in assisting the capture of Ned Kelly

The Kelly gang were dressed in armour fashioned from plough mouldboards weighing 44 kilograms and engaged in a gun battle with police.

Daily Mirror (Sydney, NSW : 1941 - 1955)

From the trees there emerged the strange figure of an iron-clad man.

STEVE HART'S ARMOR (made from plough mouldboards), Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954)

POLICE take cover from Kelly Gang bullets behind trees while smoke begins to rise from Glenrowan Inn, VIC. Pix.Vol. 26 No. 17 (28 April 1951)

WANGARATTA police contingent saw weakness in Kelly’s armor, shot low, wounded and captured him. Pix.Vol. 26 No. 17 (28 April 1951)

Ned Kelly, the only survivor of the siege, was tried, convicted and sentenced to death at the Old Melbourne jail. He went to the gallows at 10.00am on 11 November 1880.

STEVE HART'S ARMOR, Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954)

Photograph were taken on the day, Monday June 28th 1880. The view from Glenrowan Railway Station, VIC, looking back to the remains of Ann Jones’ Hotel, the Glenrowan Inn, (left rear). Jones’ Hotel was where the final confrontation between Ned Kelly and the Victorian Police began

Ned Kelly the day before his execution

1890s

Mawson & Sons Quarry at Glenrowan began operating since 1890, to supply ballast for the Melbourne to Sydney railway.

1900s

Mrs Adelaide H. Hennessy, who is a retired State school teacher and a much respected resident of Glenrowan, VIC, has just reason to be proud, as she certainly is, of her two sons They are both members of the 1st Contingent which left Victoria for South Africa, both have distinguished themselves at the war, and both have been promoted on the field. SERGEANT VICTOR HENNESSY, CORPORAL HENRY STEPHEN HENNESSY. Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 19 May 1900

Township and railway station, Glenrowan, VIC, 1901, SLVIC

H. A. DUNCAN (S.A.) MENDS THE TYRE OF HIS OLDSMOBILE BETWEEN W1NTON AND GLENROWAN.Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 22 November 1905

The Story of the Kelly Gang, was an Australian silent film released in 1906. Ned's mother Ellen and younger brother Jim were still alive at the time.

Glenrowan, VIC, (The hotel on the right is built on the ground where the Kelly gang was captured).Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 4 May 1907

THE OLD GLENROWAN INN, WHERE THE GANG MET WITH DESTRUCTION. THIS BUILDING ALSO WAS DESTROYED BY FIRE, AND WAS REPLACED BY A BRICK ONE.Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), Thursday 31 August 1911,

North Eastern Despatch (Wangaratta, Vic. : 1907 - 1913), Wednesday 21 August 1912

LAWRENCE HUBERT DWYER and THOMAS DWYER (of Glenrowan),who have not missed a day from school for 7 years and 4 years, respectively.Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 18 October 1913

WWI

PRIVATE GEORGE TIPPETT, Glenrowan, Killed in Action, Wangaratta Chronicle (Vic. : 1914 - 1918), Saturday 5 June 1915

1920s

In 1923, George Earp moved to Glenrowan, established a stud at his property, "Athlea".

GLENROWAN STATE SCHOOL, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 24 April 1926

1930s

Aeroplane view of Glenrowan, VIC. Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 6 February 1932

North Eastern Ensign (Benalla, Vic. : 1872 - 1938), Friday 20 August 1937

1940s and WWII

Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), Saturday 7 June 1941

Glenrowan, VIC, 1941, SLVIC

Morgan's Lookout, Glenrowan, VIC, 1941, SLVIC

1950s

"At least 15 houses and three churches have been destroyed and thousands of
sheep and cattle are believed to have perished in fires--the worst in the district's
history - which swept through Kilfeera, Lurg, Molyullah, Winton, Glenrowan,
Docker and Greta districts on Tuesday."

Benalla Ensign (Vic. : 1938 - 1954). Thu 7 Feb 1952

1970s