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Ned Kelly was, as he said, “a forced outlaw”. His family was treated badly by the police as with other poor families, because the rich were favoured, Ned only ever stole from the people he believed to be enemies of the poor. He treated his prisoners with respect and was a polite and well dressed man. The general public felt sympathy for his unfair treatment, signing a petition and sending it to the government begging for leniency, but to no avail. Ned Kelly’s parents didn’t register his birth date so no one can be sure of the exact date, but it was sometime early December 1854. On the eleventh of November 1880 at the young age of 28, Ned was hanged for his crimes in the old Melbourne Jail. Ned’s father was John Red Kelly, a former convict, transported to Tasmania form Ireland for stealing two pigs. His mother was Ellen Nell Quinn. The Kelly’s had a small farm at Beveridge, a tiny settlement near where the Quinn family lived, about forty five kilometres north or Melbourne. Some Quinn’s chose to live in the bush to avoid trouble with the police. Ned Kelly was a leader of men. In society today he might hold a position such as politician or businessmen. He was intelligent and a skilled bushman, an outstanding horseman and a great shot. He worked hard and was well liked in the community, especially by women, because he was polite and respected them.
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