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E-mailAustralia farmer hands over 'Ned Kelly's skull'
Refuses to say how he came by it
Published Thursday, November 12, 2009, 2:19 PM
Updated Thursday, November 12, 2009, 2:30 PM
Ned Kelly: Australian farmer hands over the skull of the legendary bushranger but refuses to say where he got it from
An Australian farmer has handed over a skull which he says belongs to the legendary Irish bushranger Ned Kelly (no relation!)
The farmer, Tom Baxter, says the skull is the one stolen in 1978 from a display case at the Old Melbourne Gaol where Kelly was hanged in 1880.
However, Baxter is refusing to say how it came into his hands.
An official inquiry has now been opened some 129 years after the bushranger was hanged.
Australian Attorney-General Rob Hulls said the state of Victoria now had access to more methods to see if the skull was genuinely that of Ned Kelly.
"We now have a unique opportunity, using a combination of historical research and modern technology, to test whether the remains ... are actually those of Ned Kelly," he said.
A descendant of the Kelly family has also offered their DNA for testing.
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Posted by Downunderyan on Nov 16, 2009, 03:18 AM ESTcarrickcourt questioned whether the photo shown depited Ned or his younger brother. There was more than one photo of Ned courtesy of HM Prison Service. The one shown is a 16 year old Ned when he served hard labour (meaning, breaking rocks with sledge hammer and they hoped breaking his spirit too)in Beechworth Jail on trumped up charges of horse stealing. Only a few years earlier Ned was hailed and feted as a hero for saving the son of a local hotel owner from drowning in a river. From hero to villain in such a short time.
Posted by carrickcourt on Nov 13, 2009, 11:47 AM EST
Irish Central folks, are you sure you have the right photo of Ned Kelly with this item on the finding of "Ned Kelly's" skull? To me the photo looks more like Ned (Edmund) Kelly's younger brother Daniel (Dan) Kelly (1861-1880). As far as I know the only photo of Ned Kelly's was one taken just before his execution in 1880, the photo you have posted does not look like that photo at all.
I recently found that my Irish great great uncle James Babington (1832-1881) had dealings with a 15 year old Ned Kelly in 1870. James Babington was a sergeant in the Victoria Police Department. The only know letter in Ned Kelly's own hand is a letter to James Babington dated 28 July 1870. By the way all the members of Ned Kelly's gang were native Australian born while about 80% of the Victoria plice were Irish born.
Posted by SAChili on Nov 12, 2009, 06:50 PM EST
My greatgrandfather and his 4 brothers from Skibbereen weren't able to learn to "dance" to English tunes. As a result, they stowed away on ships bound for New Orleans and swam ashore in the middle iof the night. As they say, the rest is history!
Patrick Peters
Posted by Downunderyan on Nov 12, 2009, 04:50 PM EST
To quote Ned Kelly's last words before he was hanged "Such is life". He was degraded in life and the same in death. Some years ago, a world famous Australian Lawyer, Geoffrey Robertson, conducted a very popular TV show called "Hypotheticals". The TV show conducted a realistic reconstruction of Ned's 'Trial', in an authentic court room of the era, actors playing police, witnesses, lawyers dressed in authentic clothing of the era and utilising original court procedures, transcripts of the original court hearings as the text etc . When presented with the evidence dispassionately (the outcome of the original show trial was a foregone conclusion) the modern jury of 12 found Ned 'Not Guilty' of the capital crimes. The Irish were taught to dance for Sean Davis (old 18th century Irish slang term for the hangman's noose) by the British over many centuries, not only in Britain and Ireland but all over the widespread British Empire.
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