The Glenrowan Inn was built on the Sydney Road, about half-way between Winton and Wangaratta, shortly after the discovery of gold at the Ovens River, in 1853. The glen was then a camping-place for teams travelling between Melbourne and the diggings. A second hotel was constructed later, and a small village, or what the Australians call a township, grew up on the little flat at the gap in the hills, locally known as the Futter's Range, a spur jutting out from the larger Strathbogie Range. For some years Glenrowan was quite a flourishing little town, the traffic to the diggings being large. But when the Great Northern Railway was opened in 1873 the village began to dwindle away. The railway carried the trade past it to the more conveniently situated and larger towns on either side, and consequently the population left for these towns. The two hotels remained, and there was also a store, a blacksmith's shop, and a few other houses, and these depended for their support on the fruit growers, market gardeners, and farmers who cultivated the rich alluvial flats with which the lower spurs of the mountains are interspersed. The railway platform had been constructed by the Government to accommodate the trade in fruit, vegetables, and other produce which formed the staple industry of the district in 1880.
The Glenrowan Inn was a long, low, weather-board building, with a wide verandah along the front. It stood some distance back from the road, with a large trough hewn from the stem of a tree in front for horses and bullocks to drink from. Near this was a sign-board with the names of the hotel and the proprietor on it thus:—
The robbers, it appears, did not go very far when they left Sherritt's hut. They were aware that, when the news of the murder reached Melbourne and other centres, an attempt would be made to follow them, and they seem to have made up their minds to a final effort to conquer the police force of the colony. They went to the camp of the line repairers and roused them up. James Reardon, on coming out of his hut, was ordered to get his tools, as the robbers were determined to rip up the line and wreck the train which they expected to arrive. Reardon at first refused, but on being threatened with death he gave in. He said that the tools were locked up and that he could not get them till morning, but he was told that the chest would soon be broken. His mate, Sullivan, was also secured, and at length they agreed to do as they were told. They went to a bend in the road, a short distance north of the platform, being under the impression that the train would arrive from Wangaratta or Beechworth. They ripped up a number of the rails and piled them across the track. Then they marched Reardon and his wife and child and Sullivan to the Glenrowan Inn, and took possession. They collected sixty-two people in the township, including Mr. John Stanistreet, the station-master, and escorted them to the hotel. Among the prisoners also was Constable Bracken. Ned Kelly walked about telling the people that the train would "soon be here" from Rushworth with the black trackers and "a lot of other—— and we're going to kill the lot." There was some confusion owing to the fears of the women and children, and while the bushrangers were engaged in restoring order, Constable Bracken contrived to get hold of the key of the front door. He watched for an opportunity, opened the door and ran out. He reported that three of the troopers who had been hidden in Sherritt's hut had followed the bushrangers, and had watched all their proceedings, but they had not ventured to attack them, as their ammunition was short, and they were not strong enough. Presently a man came out on to the verandah, and the police, recognising him as Ned Kelly, fired a volley. Ned laughed, and shouted "Shoot away, you ----, you can't hurt us." At this juncture Mr. Stanistreet came out of the house, and walked from the hotel to where the police were, at the imminent risk of being shot, as he was between the two firing parties. He escaped, however, and reported that Miss Jones, aged fourteen, and several other of the prisoners in the hotel had been wounded by the police fire, but none of the bushrangers had been hurt. Superintendent Hare had also been severely wounded by the bushrangers, the bullet having shattered the bones of his wrist. He was taken to the railway station-master's house and attended to. At about five p.m. Mrs. Jones, the landlady of the hotel, appeared on the verandah, wringing her hands and weeping. She called the police murderers, and said that her son had been killed and her daughter wounded. The police ceased firing, and the boy was brought out. He was still alive, and was sent off at once to the Wangaratta Hospital, where he died next day. An old man named Martin Cherry was also said to have been killed. Mrs. Jones and her children and servants, and the men and women who had been made prisoners by the bushrangers, left the hotel after dark during a truce, and firing was then kept up during the night. About daybreak another party of troopers arrived from Benalla, Wangaratta, and Beechworth, making the attacking party about thirty strong. There was a lull in the firing for a time, while the newly-arrived men were being placed in positions, when suddenly a revolving rifle and a cap known to have belonged to Ned Kelly were found a hundred yards from the hotel at the rear of the attacking party. The rifle was stained with blood. The police were still discussing this find and speculating how the articles could have got there when they were fired at from behind a tree. The next moment an extraordinary figure marched across the space between two trees. The figure looked like a tall, stout man, with a nail can over his head. Sergeant Steel, Constable Kelly, and Railway-guard Dowsett fired at it simultaneously, but the bullets appeared to rebound from the body of the figure. Steel then fired at the legs, and at the second shot Ned Kelly, for he it was, fell, crying out "I'm done for." The police rushed forward, but Kelly raised himself on his elbow and fired, howling like a wild beast and declaring that they should never take him alive. He continued shooting, but the bullets "went wild," owing, perhaps, to his weakening through loss of blood, and he was soon grappled with and handcuffed. The armour worn by Ned is said to have been made from stolen plough-shares by a local blacksmith. It consisted of a helmet shaped like a nail can and coming down to the shoulders, with a slit in it to enable the wearer to see; and a breastplate, very long, with shoulder plates and back guard. The steel averaged nearly a quarter of an inch in thickness, and the weight of the suit worn by Ned Kelly was ninety-seven pounds. The breastplate showed several dints where it had been struck by bullets, but it had not been pierced. Ned had, however, received two wounds in the groin, and one each in the left foot, right leg, right hand, and right arm. He was immediately removed to a safe distance, and placed under medical care. Notwithstanding the loss of one of their small number, the bushrangers kept up a brisk fire from the hotel. At one time a report was circulated that Joe Byrnes had been shot dead while drinking a glass of brandy in the bar, but as there was no apparent slackening in the fire this was discredited. At three p.m. Constable Charles Johnson, under cover of a volley from the besiegers, rushed up to the side of the hotel with a huge bundle of straw, which he placed in position and set fire to. The straw blazed up famously, but soon died out, and the spectators, of whom there was a goodly number, pronounced the attempt to fire the building a failure. It was at this time that Mrs. Skillian, a sister of the Kellys, rode up, dressed in a well-made black cloth riding habit and a Gainsborough hat. She advanced boldly towards the hotel, but was stopped by the police, and warned of the danger she was courting. She replied that she was not afraid, but she desired to persuade her brother Dan to surrender. A consultation was held as to whether she should be permitted to try, but before a decision was arrived at the flames burst out of the roof of the building. It may be as well to explain here that the wood of the district is principally stringy bark, and that the timber of these trees will not burn. It seems probable, therefore, that when the straw was ignited against the wall of the building, the calico sheeting, with which the rooms were lined and ceiled, caught fire and burned, while the stringy bark weather boards resisted the flames and only charred through slowly. However this may be, the furniture and other fittings burned fiercely, and the whole building was in a blaze. At this time the Rev. Father M. Gibney, a Roman Catholic priest from Perth, Western Australia, who was on a visit to the Benalla district at the time, walked up to the front door holding his crucifix in his hand. He was followed by a number of the police. When they entered the front door they saw the body of Joe Byrnes lying in the bar, in such a position as to make it probable that the report which had been spread as to his death had been true. The body was dragged out slightly scorched. Dan Kelly and Steve Hart were found dead in a small parlour off the bar. From the position in which they were lying it was conjectured that they had either committed suicide or that they had simultaneously shot each other. But there was no time to decide whether either or which of these conjectures were true. As Father Gibney was about to stoop down to examine the bodies, a gust of wind swept the flames towards him and compelled him to retire. The building was thoroughly alight at last, and the priest and the police and others who had entered were forced out by the fierce heat. In a very short time afterwards the house collapsed, and nothing was left but a heap of ashes, the sign post and trough in front, and the detached kitchen at the rear. In this kitchen was found old Martin Cherry, severely wounded. He was carried out and placed under the doctor's care, but died before night. Close beside the kitchen was the body of a dog, which had been wounded by the attacking party and had crawled between the two buildings to die. Some time before the attempt to fire the building had been made, a telegram had been sent to Melbourne to ask for a small cannon to blow the house down with. Now a telegram was sent to say that it was not required. Consequently the 12-pounder Armstrong gun with the requisite number of men of the Garrison Artillery which had been sent off by special train were stopped at Seymour and sent back. When the fire had burned down sufficiently for an examination to be made, the two mounds of ashes which were all that remained of Dan Kelly and Steve Hart were given to Mrs. Skillian for burial, while the body of Joe Byrnes was reserved for an inquest to be held. Two other suits of armour, similar to that worn by Ned Kelly, were found, the lightest being ninety-two pounds. During the fight "Wild" Wright, Tom Wright, Frank Hart, Kate Kelly, several of the Lloyds and the Byrneses, and other relations and friends of the bushrangers, had been stationed on a ridge a short distance away to see the fun. There was also a large number of other and perhaps more disinterested spectators, some of them from Melbourne or Beechworth, or other even more distant localities. After the inquest the body of Joe Byrnes was given to his friends for burial. Ned Kelly soon recovered from his wounds and was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for the murder of Sergeant Kennedy. In conversations with Inspector Sadlier and other police officials before his trial, he said that the bushrangers had known of every movement of the police. They were aware that the police had been hiding in Sherritt's hut for more than a week, hoping to catch Joe if he visited his mother. The police had no right to stop a man from going to see his mother. When the special train arrived the intention of the bushrangers had been to rake it with shots as soon as it reached the place where the rails had been removed. "But," exclaimed Sadlier, "you would have killed all the people in the train." "Yes, of course, God help them," replied Ned, "they'd have got shot, but wouldn't they have shot me if they could?" He said that Steve Hart had visited his mother at Wangaratta, and "didn't we laugh when we saw it in the Wangaratta News afterwards. It was true, too, though the police didn't believe it." He also said that he had been told that after the sticking up of the banks at Euroa and Jerilderie, all the branch banks in Victoria sent their receipts to Melbourne almost daily. They were not going to stick up any more banks. It wasn't worth it. What they had intended to do was to stick up a railway train, and they'd have done it, "only those little black devils were always about."
On November the 5th, a mass meeting was held in the Hippodrome, in Stephen's Street, Melbourne, with Mr. Hamilton, President of the Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishment, in the chair. The principal speaker was Mr. David Gaunson, M.L.A., and a resolution was unanimously carried to the effect that the case of Edward Kelly was a fit one for the exercise of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy. The Melbourne Argus said that "those present belonged to the larrikin classes," but the attendance was estimated at 4000 persons (including 300 women) inside the building, and about 2000 outside who could not obtain admittance. Similar meetings were also held in Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, and other towns, but these efforts were of no avail, and Ned Kelly, "the last of the bushrangers," was hung in the Melbourne gaol, on November 11th, 1880.
Within a few days afterwards, a show was opened in Melbourne, with Kate Kelly, one of the sisters of the dead bushrangers, "mounted on Ned Kelly's celebrated grey mare." A suit of the armour used in the last great fight at Glenrowan, several guns, pistols, and revolvers alleged to have been used in the various raids committed by the bushrangers, some handcuffs and other articles which had belonged to, or were used by them, were exhibited, and some particulars of their careers were given in the form of a lecture, but the police authorities soon interfered and the show was closed. It was re-opened in Sydney, but was suppressed there as "tending towards immorality" almost immediately, and the Kellys returned to the obscurity of private life.
Thus ended the last act in the great tragedy which had supplied almost the only feature of romance to Australian history. Bushranging had been spoken of as "the national crime of Australia," but, as I have shown, there was very little bushranging outside the three colonies—New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, and Victoria. It was rather an excrescence on, than a development of, Australian character. It has been estimated that the bushrangers in the colonies from the date of the great outbreak inaugurated by Frank Gardiner in 1861, to the death of Ned Kelly, with their more active partisans, never exceeded 300 persons, and the story of their exploits shows how even so small a party can disturb a whole country when the rebels are reckless and determined. It may be said in conclusion, that crime has steadily decreased in Australia from the cessation of transportation. At first, while the gold fever raged, the improvement was very slight, but from the date when the population settled down to steady work the criminal statistics, which are very complete in the colonies, show a steady diminution in crimes against the person or property. There was an increase in the years during which the Ben Hall and Gilbert gang, and their imitators in New South Wales, Victoria and New Zealand, were most active, but even this did not materially affect the general result, and was speedily compensated for after the death of Thunderbolt and the capture of Power. In this last epoch of bushranging the Moonlite and Kelly gangs arrested the movement to some degree, but far less sympathy was exhibited with them than in the earlier epoch, and their deeds did not inspire so many young men with the desire to go and do likewise, as those of Hall and Gilbert had done. In fact, bushranging had ceased to be popular, so that the retrogression was small in comparison. Since then numbers of gaols have been closed or converted to other uses. There was a time when every little town in New South Wales had its gaol. Now many of these gaols have been converted into factories or stores, or are used for municipal or other purposes. In Victoria the gaols were fewer but larger, and several of these have been closed, while others once full are now almost empty. A similar story might be told of each of the other colonies of the Australasian group, and Australia as a whole compares favourably with other civilised countries in criminal matters. What the Irishman calls "the bad drop" in the blood of the country has been purged away by the most drastic remedies, and it is extremely improbable that there will ever again be a Frank Gardiner or a Ned Kelly to incite the young and thoughtless to deeds of violence.
THE END.
Allerton, Benjamin,[195], [196]
Anderson, James, [155]
Anderson, see Beveridge, John
Armytage, [117], [118]
Atkins, William, [165]
Atterill, James, alias Thomson, [111]-113
Baker, John, [306]
Baldwin, James, [274]
Bankes, Anthony, [111]-113
Barry, [163]
Baylie, John, [145], [146]
Beavors, George, alias Berry, [108]-110
Bennett, alias Wyndham, see Gough, Charles Hugh
Bennett, Graham, [349]
Bermingham, George, [229]
Berry, James, [79], [80]
Berryman, Thomas, [278]
Bertram, William, [306], [315]
Beveridge, John, alias Anderson, [106], [107]
Billy from the Den, see Jenkins, Henry
Bird, [44]
Birkett, Moses, [186]
Black Jack, [24]
Black Mary, [19]
Blue Cap, see Cotterall, Robert
Bodenham, Thomas, [33]-35
Bollard, John, [306], [313]
Booth, James, [298]
Booth, John, [130]
Boulton, John, [167]-169
Bourke, Robert, [316]
Bowe, Charles, [145], [146]
Bow, John, [202]-204, [256], [276], [313]
Boyd, [57], [58]
Boyd, James, alias McGrath, [296], [312]
Brace, Emanuel, [56], [57]
Brady, Mathew, [44]-47, [71], [82], [353]
Brannagan, Francis, [155]
Brennan, see Smith, Henry
Brennan, Stephen, [123]
Britton, Frederick, [207]
Brookman, William, [282], [312]-314
Broomfield, James, [114]
Broughton, [41]
Brown, [47]
Brown, Harry, [274]
Brown, James, [33]-35, [39]
Brown, William, [155]
Brownlow, John, [206]
Bryan, William, [166]
Bryant, James, [41]-47
Bryant, James, [87]
Bryant, Richard, [154], [155], [158]
Bull, [57], [58]
Bullfrog, Jacky, [199]
Burgess, Richard H., alias Miller, [327]-332
Burke, [221]-225, [276]
Burns, John, [41]
Burrow, Arthur, [166]
Byrnes, Joe, [360]-382
Campbell, Robert, [286]
Captain Melville, see McCallum, Frank, alias Smith
Captain Moonlite, see Scott, George
Captain Thunderbolt, see Ward, Frederick
"Carrots," [29]
Cash, Martin, [118]-123, [130]
Cashan, alias Nowlan, [99]-101
Charters, Daniel, [202]-204, [333]
Cheetham, [37]
Chesley, John, [155]
Chinese Bushranger, The, [293]
Chitty, Robert, [87]
Christie, see Gardiner, Frank
Clarke, [294]
Clarke, James, [269]-270
Clarke, John, [269]-276, [317], [355]
Clarke, Samuel, [312]
Clarke, Thomas, [269]-276, [317], [355]
Clayton, [239]
Clayton, Thomas, [173]-176
Clegg, James, [173]-176
Connell, Morris, [48]
Connell, Patrick, [270], [276]
Connell, Tom, [270], [276]
Connelly, Patrick, [41]
Connors, John, [298]
Conway, John, [115]-117
Cooper, Patrick, [173]-176
Cornelius, Bill, alias Kenelly, [33]-35, [39]
Cotterall, Robert, alias Blue Cap, [286], [312]
Cowan, or Cohen, [45], [46]
Cox, Thomas, [37], [38]
Coxen's Tom, see Long Tom
Crawford, James, [41], [46]
Crookwell, James, [232], [279]
Crumsden, George, [123]
Cummings, [281]
Cunningham, Thomas, alias Smith, [274], [313]
Curran, Paddy, [71]-73, [78], [79], [80]
Dalton, [185]
Dalton, Alexander, [33]-34, [39]
Dalton, James, [121], [122]
Daly, Patrick or Patsy, [213], [214]
Dargue, Henry, [313]
Dargue, Thomas, [313]
Davis, [200], [276]
Davis, Bill, [37]
Davis, George James, alias Huntley, [106], [107]
Davis, Joseph, [173]-176
Davis, Michael Henry, [195]
Davis, Teddy or Edward, The Jewboy, [71], [82]-88, [353]
Davis, William, [111]-113
Dermoodie, [344]
Dido, see Driscoll, Timothy or William
Dobson, [307]
Donnelly, [294]
Donohoe, Johnny, [55]
Donovan, Daniel, [155]
Donovan, John, [145]
Douglass, John, [166]
Downes, John, [41]
Downey, James, [199]
Driscoll, Timothy or William, alias Dido, [182]-184
Duncan, James, [143]
Duncan, William, [129], [130]
Dunkley, see Willis, William
Dunleavy, John, [239]-241, [276]
Dunleavy, see Lynch, John
Dunn, Johnny, [241]-256, [276], [304]
Dunne, [41], [42], [44], [47]
Dunne, William, [228]
Edwards, William, [160]
Egan, John, [281]
Ehrstein, Aaron von, [195]
Ellis, John, alias Yanky Jack, [96]-99
Ellison, George, [161]
Eumarrah, [30]
Eureka Gang, The, [145], [146]
Everett, John, [87]
Farrell, Christopher, [140]
Farrer, Abraham, [129], [130]
Finegan, John, [145], [146]
Fitzgerald, Patrick, alias Paddy Wandong, [282]
Fletcher, John, [117]
Fletcher, William, [270]
Fogarty, Young, [96]-99
Foley, Charles, [206]
Foley, Francis, [217]
Foley, John, [212], [216], [217], [276]
Foley, Timothy, [217]
Foran, John, [282], [313]
Foran, Patrick, [298]
Ford, Henry, [180]
Ford, John, [278]
Fordyce, Alexander, [202]-204, [256], [276], [312]
Forster, John, [236]
Gardiner, Frank, alias Christie, [193]-204, [212], [254]-257, [269], [271], [276], [304], [311]-314, [316], [335], [353], [355], [384], [385]
Gardner, John, [129], [130]
Garrett, Henry Beresford, [167]-169, [327]
Garroway, William, [166]
German Bill, [259], [274]
Gilbert, Johnny, alias Roberts, [205], [212], [217]-253, [256]-258, [269], [271], [276], [304], [326], [337], [339], [369], [384], [385]
"Ginger," [173]-176
Glanvill, Richard, [87]
Goldman, [141]
Goodison, Christopher, [165]
Gordon, [276]
Gordon, Richard, [181]
Gorman, Thomas, [350]
Gough, Charles Hugh, alias Wyndham, alias Bennett, [274], [313]
Green, [95]
Greenhill, Bob, [33]-38
Gregory, [47]
Griffiths, Dennis, [173]-176
Griffiths, George, [115]
Griffiths, John, [41]
Gunn, John, [115]
Gunn, William, [91]
Hall, [59]
Hall, Ben, [217], [221]-253, [256]-258, [269], [271], [276], [304], [337], [339], [370], [384], [385]
Hammond, James, [160]
Hampton, Thomas, [298]
Hanslip, George, [170]
Harrison, Samuel, [115]
Hart, Steve, [360]-382
Hath, see Hitchcock Anthony
Healy, John, [207]
Heather, [208], [209]
Herbert, William, see Jones, Charles
Hickson, [186]
Hill, James, [233]
Hitchcock, Anthony, alias Hath, [51]-53
Hobbs, William, alias Hoppy Bill, [350]
Hodgetts, [47]
Hogan, [117], [118]
Hopkins, [40], [41], [47]
Hopkins, Jonas, [114]
Horne, Joseph, [306]
Houlihan, Michael, [130]
Howe, Mike, [19]-21, [82], [353]
Huntley, see Davis, George James
Hurn, Thomas, [115]
Hutchinson, William, [90]
Jackey, Bullfrog, see Bullfrog
Jackey, Jackey, the Gentleman Bushranger, see Westwood, William
Jack, Muck, see Stanton Patrick
Jackson, James, [86]
Jackson, John, [129], [130]
Jack the Lagger, see Jones, John
Jack the Rammer, [57], [58]
James, John, alias Johnston, [142], [143]
Jamieson, George, [182]
Jefferies, [40], [46], [47]
Jeffs, Riley, [115]-117
Jenkins, Henry, alias Billy from the Deu, [181]
Jenkins, John, [56], [57]
Jepps, the Vandemonian, [96]-99
Jewboy, The, see Davis, Edward or Teddy
Johnson, Charley, [284]
Johnson, see Power, Harry
Johnson, William, [274]
Johnston, Henry, [145], [146]
Johnstone, Robert, [291]
Jones, [182]
Jones, Charles, [350]
Jones, Charles, alias Herbert, William, [233]
Jones, David, [51], [53]
Jones, James, [233], [312]
Jones, John, [184]
Jones, John, alias Jack the Lagger, [108]-110
Jones, Richard, [155]
Jones, see Williams, Thomas
Jones, Thomas, [118]-122
Jones, William, [155]
Kavanagh, Lawrence, [118]-123, [129], [130], [132]
Kaye, William, [350]
Keene, Henry, [194], [196]
Kelly, [185]
Kelly, Bartley, [109]
Kelly, Dan, [354]-384
Kelly, Edward, [282], [313]
Kelly, James, [154], [155]
Kelly, James, [298]
Kelly, James, [354]
Kelly, John, [274], [313]
Kelly, Ned, [320], [341], [345], [353]-384
Kelly, Ted, [282]
Kelly, Thomas, alias Noon, [327]-332
Kenelly, see Cornelius, Bill
Kennedy, James, alias Southgate, [298]
Keer, John, alias Maher, [280], [299]
Keys, [58]
Lacey, George, [41]
Lambeth, William, [115]
Lawler, Michael, [194], [196]
Layworth, William, [161]
Lee, Henry, [117]
Lee, William, [279]
Levy, Philip, [327]-332
Lewis, Nicholas, [108]-110
Liddell, John, [121], [122]
Long, Tom, alias Coxen's Tom, [93]
Long, Ned, [93]
Lowe, see Young, John
Lowry, Frederick, [212], [219], [220], [256], [276], [355]
Lynam, George, [232]
Lynch, John, alias Dunleavy, [60]-70, [77], [333]
Lynch, Patrick, [123]
Lynch, William, [93]
Lyons, see Nesbit, James
McCabe, James, [41], [42], [44], [45]
McCallum, Frank, alias Thomas Smith, alias Captain Melville, [148]-156, [236]
McCallum, James, [114]
McCann, John, [93]
McCarthy, [184]
McDonald, Hector, [22]
McDonald, William, see O'Donnell, James
McGrath, see Boyd, James
McGuire, John, [202]-204
McGuire, Thomas, [84]
McIntyre, [99]-102
McKenny, [47]
McLean, [109]
McMahon, John, alias McManus, [195]
Maberley, [186]
Mack, William, [158]
Mackay, Charles, [207]
Mackay, James, [207]
Mackie, William, [195], [291], [298]
Macpherson, Alpin, alias The Wild Scotchman, [337]-340
Maher, see Kerr, John
Maher, Walter, [283]
Maloney, Thomas, [155]
Manns, Henry, [202]-204, [276]
Marriott, Henry, [167]-169