5th April - Glenrowan

Leaving Echuca we  drove through Shepparton and a few other little country towns, the country is looking beautiful and green after the recent rains/floods – headed for Glenrowan infamous as the place of the “Last Stand” between Ned Kelly and his gang and the law.  

 The Mooving Art display in Monash Park, Shepparton by local and overseas renowned artists, to promote the Greater Shepparton Region as the dairy capital of Australia.    There were about 18 cows on display.

Darl and his mate Ned..

Edward "Ned" Kelly (June 1854 – 11 November 1880) was an Irish Australian Bushranger. He is considered by some to be merely a cold-blooded cop killer — others, however, consider him to be a folk hero and symbol of Irish Australian resistance against the Anglo-Australian ruling class.  Kelly was born in Victoria to an Irish convict father, and as a young man he clashed with the Victoria Police.  Following an incident at his home in 1878, police parties searched for him in the bush. After he killed three policemen, the colony proclaimed Kelly and his gang wanted outlaws. 

We visited the animated museum show, took us through the events leading up to the showdown on 11/11/80.   From the railway station in Melbourne, the taking of hostages at the Glenrowan pub, the shoot out, the hanging.

It was different but not really worth the money we paid.   We find out today, that it is illegal in Vic and SA to take photos in shops.

Part of the pub scene, Ned behind the dog

The shoot out scene

A final violent confrontation with police took place at Glenrowan on 28 June 1880. Kelly, dressed in home-made plate metal armour and helmet, was captured and sent to jail. He was convicted of three counts of capital murder and hanged at Old Melbourne Goal in November 1880. His daring and notoriety made him an iconic figure in Australian history, folklore, literature, art and film.   In August 2011, anthropologists announced that a skeleton found in a mass grave in Pentridge Prison had been confirmed as Kelly's. Kelly's skull, however, remains at large.   Apparently even to this day there is angst between the Kelly descendants and those of the policemen killed by the gang.

A couple museums, cafes and pub that's about it for Glenrowan