Remains of Australian outlaw to be given to kin
Source: Agencies |
August 3, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
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THE skeleton of Australia's most notorious criminal will finally be returned to his descendants 132 years after he was executed, government officials said yesterday. The decision ends the family's long quest to find and properly bury the remains of a man many Australians now consider a folk hero.
Ned Kelly, who led a gang of bank robbers in Australia's southern Victoria state in the 19th century, was hanged in 1880, but for decades the whereabouts of his corpse was unknown. Last year, forensic scientists identified Kelly's nearly headless skeleton after it was found in a mass grave outside a now-closed prison. Most of Kelly's skull, which was stolen long ago, is still missing.
A battle over what to do with his bones ensued. The property developer of the former Pentridge Prison site where Kelly's skeleton was buried had hoped to keep the remains there. Kelly's descendants wanted the skeleton returned to them, so they could bid farewell to the outlaw with a private burial.
Victoria Attorney General Robert Clark said yesterday that the remains would be turned over to Kelly's family.
Ellen Hollow, great-granddaughter of Ned Kelly's sister Kate Kelly, welcomed the decision. "The Kelly family will now make arrangements for Ned's final burial," Hollow said in a statement. "We also appeal to the person who has the skull in their possession to return it to (forensic officials), so that when the time comes for Ned to be laid to rest his remains can be complete."
Kelly, whose father was an Irish convict, led a gang that robbed banks and killed policemen from 1878-80. Now, many Australians view him as a Robin Hood-like character who fought the British colonial authorities and championed the rural Irish underclass. Others dismiss him as a cold-blooded cop killer.
After Kelly was executed, his body was buried in an unmarked grave not far away from a former prison called the Old Melbourne Gaol.
Ned Kelly, who led a gang of bank robbers in Australia's southern Victoria state in the 19th century, was hanged in 1880, but for decades the whereabouts of his corpse was unknown. Last year, forensic scientists identified Kelly's nearly headless skeleton after it was found in a mass grave outside a now-closed prison. Most of Kelly's skull, which was stolen long ago, is still missing.
A battle over what to do with his bones ensued. The property developer of the former Pentridge Prison site where Kelly's skeleton was buried had hoped to keep the remains there. Kelly's descendants wanted the skeleton returned to them, so they could bid farewell to the outlaw with a private burial.
Victoria Attorney General Robert Clark said yesterday that the remains would be turned over to Kelly's family.
Ellen Hollow, great-granddaughter of Ned Kelly's sister Kate Kelly, welcomed the decision. "The Kelly family will now make arrangements for Ned's final burial," Hollow said in a statement. "We also appeal to the person who has the skull in their possession to return it to (forensic officials), so that when the time comes for Ned to be laid to rest his remains can be complete."
Kelly, whose father was an Irish convict, led a gang that robbed banks and killed policemen from 1878-80. Now, many Australians view him as a Robin Hood-like character who fought the British colonial authorities and championed the rural Irish underclass. Others dismiss him as a cold-blooded cop killer.
After Kelly was executed, his body was buried in an unmarked grave not far away from a former prison called the Old Melbourne Gaol.
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