Legends of the Old West - Introducing "Real Outlaws" from Noiser

Episode Date: September 7, 2022

Ned Kelly is the model social bandit, an Australian legend without equal – even today he’s still considered a symbol of rebellion against the establishment. But what’s the truth behind the myth?  We journey into the harsh bushland territories of Colonial Australia to see what happens when the forces of Imperial authority collide with a young man who won’t lie down, or accept the hand he’s been dealt. A Noiser production, written by Danny Marshall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shop with Rakuten and you'll get it. What's it? It's the best deal. The highest cash back. The most savings on your shopping. So join Rakuten and start getting cash back at Sephora, Old Navy, Expedia, and other stores you love. You can even stack sales on top of cash back. Just start your shopping with Rakuten to save money at over 750 stores. Join for free at Rakuten.ca or get the Rakuten app. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N. Hey, Legends family. To be continued... Noiser's new podcast. It's called Real Outlaws, and that's a very straightforward and direct title. It tells the stories of outlaws from all over the world, and that's the aspect that interests me the most. Between our two podcasts here at Black Barrel, Legends of the Old West, and Infamous America, I've told stories of tons of American outlaws, from Jesse James up to Pretty Boy Floyd. And Real Outlaws tells those stories as well. They've already released episodes about Billy the Kid and John Dillinger.

But candidly, I don't know much about outlaws from other countries. So I'm excited to listen to recent episodes about the Cray brothers, twin brothers from London who were the most notorious gangsters of the 1950s and 60s. Their story was made into a movie called Legend, starring Tom Hardy. And I can't wait to hear the true story of the Peaky Blinders, the gang from Birmingham, England, that's the namesake of the awesome show on Netflix. And the episode I want to share with you today is about another famous and infamous international outlaw. Many of you have probably heard of him.

His story has been made into multiple movies, but I didn't know the true story until I listened to the series on Real Outlaws. It's the story of Ned Kelly, the outlaw who has been called the Australian Jesse James. Ned was the model social bandit, an Australian legend without equal. Even today, he's considered a symbol of rebellion against the establishment. But what's the truth behind the myth?

The series journeys into the harsh bushland territories of colonial Australia to see what happens when the forces of imperial authority collide with a young man who won't lie down or accept the hand he's been dealt. I have the full episode one of the three-part series right here. It'll start as soon as I'm done talking, which I'm sure you're anxious for at this point, so I'll wind down my introduction. While you listen to episode one of the Ned Kelly story, subscribe to or follow Real Outlaws

wherever you get your podcasts. Ned Kelly is popularly known as the Australian Robin Hood, a semi-mythical figure drawn from the traditions of the highwayman. Depending on who you speak to, he's a cultural icon, a social revolutionary, or just another stone-cold killer. The harsh realities of life on the fringes in the bushland territories of colonial Australia shaped the man he would become, and the legend that would emerge. This is Ned Kelly, Part 1, The Bushranger. Southern Australia, in the year 1870.

Way out in the middle of nowhere. A single road cuts through the dense bush. It's mid-March and the rain falls heavily this time of year. Open to the elements, the torrential downpour fills the rutted dirt track that passes for a road. A huge figure of a man stumbles out of the trees, dragging a thick log out onto the road. He drops it next to another huge tree trunk already lying in the mud. He curses, this is back-breaking work. It's 50 years since Harry Power was born all the way across the world in Waterford, Ireland.

His broad Southern Irish accent still carries clearly, even though it's been decades since he was transported here to Australia, to the colony of Victoria. Power straightens up, rubbing the small of his back. Bauer straightens up, rubbing the small of his back. He takes a breath, pushing his wild hair up off his face. He smooths his thick beard with the back of his calloused hand. He cocks an ear. There's a cart approaching, faintly, growing louder. He throws a look toward the side of the road, then a nod. Barely noticeable in the dim afternoon light, a small, filthy face, nestled amidst the thick vegetation, nods back. It belongs to a young accomplice of Power's, barely fifteen years old.

It belongs to a young accomplice of Powers, barely 15 years old. Power hurtles the logs and splashes across the road, back into the trees, crouching out of sight. He grabs his rifle. A few feet away, the boy pulls back the hammer on a revolver. The cart rounds the corner. It's an open-topped coach. Driver sat on a raised bench. Four horses out front, pulling at the reins. Three passengers, two men and a lady.

Well turned out. Heading straight for them. Straight into their trap. Peering through the sheets of rain, bouncing along on top of the cart, it's hard to see more than a few feet ahead. In the nick of time, the driver spots the logs slung out over the track. He tugs on the reins. The cart skids to a halt. The passenger door swings open. One of the men jumps down. He grabs a log and makes to heave it out of the way. The driver suddenly yells at him to stop,

grabbing for a shotgun stationed by his foot. Too late. A bandana concealing his face. Power fires into the air and steps out onto the road. He levels his rifle at the coach. Bail up, he bellows, gesturing with the barrel. The passengers comply, frozen with terror, their hands held in midair. The driver hesitates, his hand still hovering inches over his weapon.

Power narrows his eyes, his grip rock steady on his gun. He never kills his victims, but there's a first time for everything. A second gunshot rings out, causing the driver to jump with fright. It's the turn of power's young accomplice to enter the party. Revolver raised, jaw clenched, he approaches the back of the coach. The driver's mind is made up. He knows better than to take on these bushrangers. He too throws his hands in the air. The boy holds out a sack for the valuables. the air. The boy holds out a sack for the valuables. A couple of pocket watches, the woman's jewelry, and all the cash and mail in the trunks strapped to the back of the cart. Power demands the gold. There's a coach due from the mines at nearby Beechworth. But there is none. Different cart. The heavy rains have delayed its progress.

Power uncouples two of the horses. One for the kid, one for himself. Together they head straight into the bush, back from whence they came. The holdup has come and gone in a matter of minutes. Blink, and you've missed it. Now the bewildered victims have no choice but to make their way into town, two horses light. There they will report yet another highway robbery by the notorious bushranger, Harry Power. But it's his mysterious young accomplice who, in the years to come, will make all the headlines. Young Edward will go down in history as Australia's most infamous son, the one and only Ned Kelly. History is full of men and women who live outside the law. Some are heroes, others are villains.

Many are both. Each week, we'll take you on a journey into the life and times of notorious outlaws, from Billy the Kid and Ned Kelly to Anne Bonny and Al Capone. We'll delve deep into their stories to find out how legends were born and continue to grow, often long after they're gone. I'm Nathan Wiley, and this is Real Outlaws. Ned Kelly is the archetypal social bandit who reflected the injustices of life in the early Australian colonies. He robbed banks and distributed some of his ill-gotten gains to the poor.

But he was also a violent man who slayed police officers and tormented his enemies with impunity. Where does the real man end and the folk hero begin? To understand the real Ned Kelly, we need to understand Australia in the 1800s. The Australian colonies in the 19th century are a unique melting pot. In 1770, explorer Captain James Cook had claimed the land for the Kingdom of Great Britain. It's not long after, in 1788, when the first penal colony is established under the flag of the King's Col colors at what will become Sydney. With British prisons bursting, penal colonies separate criminals from society by transporting them to far-flung corners of the empire.

Transportation, as the sentence is known, is seen as a more humane alternative to execution. But it takes more than career criminals and murderers to build an empire. Petty crimes are also punished with transportation. They are assigned as indentured servants to other settlers, or are given time as laborers. Just like the population of Britain's crowded prisons, many of these undesirables are also social outcasts, even before their sentencing, by virtue of their birth. Graham Seal is a professor of folklore at Curtin University in Perth, and author of Tell Him I Died Game, the legend of Ned Kelly. The history of transportation is that the Irish feature very heavily in it, or transportation from Britain anyway to its various empire colonies. And no difference in Australia, of course.

Some were political prisoners, as you say. They'd been arrested and tried and so forth for trying to defy British authority. Others, of course, were just people who'd committed crimes of one kind or another. But by that stage, of course, most Irish people weren't very happy about the British or the English in particular. And of course, that all started to play out here as well. Rising republicanism in Ireland following the Great Famine and growing political strife had swelled Britain's prisons with Irishmen and women, who were subsequently transported to the colonies. But Australia isn't merely a penal colony for the British.

It also contains colonies of settlement. These have been built on the premise that the land belongs to no one. Criminals have been transported to Australia, sure, but also settlers have been encouraged to move here, largely from Britain and Ireland. Their job is to till the soil that supposedly is up for grabs. The settlers have pushed further inland, establishing their own towns and villages, with scant regard for the Aboriginal people they've encountered along the way. Australia's indigenous population has been almost totally overlooked. Worse than that, they've been brutally persecuted, harried off their ancestral lands, forced into camps and pressed into service for the Europeans.

And then the gold rushes come in the 1850s and 60s, and the population increases dramatically. After the gold rushes are over, the population has increased, but most of them haven't made their fortune and have got nowhere to go. So there's a great deal of pressure on colonial governments to what they call open up the land. So they open up the land to what they call free selectors or selectors, which is all fine and well, but there's already a group on the land to what they call free selectors or selectors, which is all fine and well, but there's already a group on the land who've previously displaced the indigenous inhabitants,

of course, and they're called squatters. They're the kind of group who got there a generation or two earlier and took up government grants or simply squatted out the middle of nowhere. And because they'd been there for however many years it was, everybody said, okay, well, However many years it was, everybody said, OK, well, it's your land. Edward Kelly is born into one of these selector farming families in December 1854. His father, Red Kelly, is a tough Irishman, transported to Australia for pig theft in 1842. Following release from prison, he moves to the colony of Victoria and finds work on a farm north of Melbourne. He's smitten with Ellen Quinn, the daughter of his employer, and soon the couple are married.

It's not long before they've built a tiny two-room house in which they'll start their family. Edward, or Ned as he will become known, is the third of their eight children and the eldest boy. The family are proud Irish Catholics, and their resentment of their treatment in the colonies and the British Empire will set the tone for Ned's short life. The foundation faith was Protestantism. Roman Catholicism was out for the first 20-30 years I guess of the settlement, so it wasn't allowed effectively. It wasn't until a fair bit of time later that Catholics were really allowed to worship in public. And it's that kind of

situation which also plays into the Kelly saga to some extent, because the Kellys themselves are Catholic, Irish and selectors. So they're, if you like, working class, I suppose you'd say, with selectors. They are from the Irish background, even if they're born here, as Ned Kelly was, even if the kids are born here, they've inherited those kind of images and ideas of Irish antagonism towards the English. And of course, as I said, they're also Catholics. And they're also pretty unhappy about the situation they find themselves in. It's not an easy life. Harsh laws and an even harsher landscape.

Unscrupulous farmers and corrupt officials. And a lawless population. Not unlike America's Wild West. A big difference to the dynamic here is the large convict population, transported for minor offenses and finding themselves on the other side of the earth. Often sentenced to hard labor, they work the land on farms and join work gangs on public projects. Usually employed outside, many find opportunities to escape.

Convicts flee into the thick bush, a wild and unforgiving land. There are numerous tales of gangs of escaped petty criminals turning cannibal before survivors reach civilization again, only to be caught and hanged as murderers. Other prisoners serve out their sentences and are released, to commit further crimes and flee into the bush to avoid going back into prison and backbreaking labor. These men, who live as outlaws in the heavily forested areas, are known as bush rangers. Convicts in particular, first they escape into the bush. In order to survive, they rob people on the roads. They get to be called bush rangers, and that continues on. After the convict era is

over and the gold era begins. The people who are called bush rangers then are basically robbing gold coaches rather than individual travelers. Bush rangers are to the Australian colonies as outlawed gunslingers are to the Wild West. Romanticized and lauded by many, they are despised as bloodthirsty criminals by others. Examples exist at both ends of the spectrum, but the majority fall somewhere in between. A small number of these bushrangers become celebrated folk heroes, but none so much as Ned Kelly. Ned Kelly. In 1864, the family moved to Avenel,

a small village on the main Melbourne to Sydney road, and the 10-year-old Ned is learning about the bush himself. He receives basic schooling, but as a tall, strong, athletic boy, sports are where he really thrives. Ned has the opportunity to put his physical prowess to good use when he's 11. Heavy rains have swollen the nearby creek, and fast-moving floodwaters rush through the gully. When a seven-year-old boy falls into the creek, Ned doesn't hesitate to jump in after him.

He saves the boy from drowning and is lauded as a hero in the village. The boy's parents, proprietors of the local hotel, present Ned with a green silk sash fringed with gold in recognition of his bravery. It becomes his most treasured possession. He'll be wearing it in very different circumstances several years from now. He was given a green sash as a reward, presumably the green reflecting the Irishness of the community there, and he was extremely proud of that sash. At the end of 1866, tragedy strikes.

Red Kelly, Ned's father, dies of alcohol-related illness. At the tender age of 12, young Ned Kelly leaves school to step into his father's boots. Ellen Kelly moves the family to the town of Greta to be nearer to her relatives, taking up an 88-acre selection farm. The family soon learns the land is unsuitable for farming, so Ellen supplements the family income by offering accommodation to travelers and selling moonshine, homemade liquor illicitly brewed in hidden stills.

Ned is coming of age in a tough environment. But with his mother's siblings and their own extended family and friends, they make up a formidable clan. He's one of the young tearaways. All these kids are growing to adolescence, of course, in this area. Many of the parents were convicts. Ned's father was a convict, of course. And they're all related to each other by marriage.

So it's the Kellys, there's quite a lot of those. It's the Quinns and the Lloyds, all of whom, as I said, are related by one way or another. Everybody knows everybody, basically, whether it's the police, the squatters, the selectors, the shopkeepers, and, of course, the Kellys and everybody else. So when someone does something wrong, everyone knows about it straight away. And it's a very kind of tightly compressed social situation

that we get in that Northeastern Victoria area as a result of those kind of influences. Ned works the farm as best he can, using his muscle to good effect, mustering cattle and breaking in horses. But it's not just a hostile environment he has to contend with. The selector farming families are at a constant war with the larger, more powerful squatter landowners who already lay claim to the land. who already lay claim to the land. They do take up these selections of land and find that the squatters that have been there before

have got the best land, they've got the water supplies sewn up, and they've also got the local policing and authorities sewn up as well. And they've also got the access to the markets, by and large, sewn up as well. So that doesn't leave very much room for people like the Kellys

to actually get out there and prosper, which, of course, they needed to do in order to eventually buy out the land that the government had given them. Police and the government are the enemy, viewed with suspicion. In return, the police despise the closely interwoven clans. By early 1869, Ned realizes there's little prospect of supporting himself and his family against these odds. The 14-year-old decides to even those odds up and makes a decision that will change the course of his life. He teams up with a notorious local outlaw bushranger named Harry Power. named Harry Power.

Power is a 50-year-old escaped Irish convict, a large, gruff man with wild hair and a beard as dense as the bush. He's been living on Ned's grandfather's land. Power has built up a network of sympathizers among these poor, downtrodden farmers. Now, to keep them on side, he's turned to highway robbery, holding up travelers on the rural roads. He distributes the proceeds to his supporters. Harry Power was a very colorful bushranger of the old school,

and he happened to be sort of hanging out around the Kelly country and had connections with the people that the Kellys knew. Harry was the tutor for Ned, and Harry told him and showed him how to conduct robberies. Not that they were very sophisticated. Basically, you just rode up to somebody on the road and pointed your gun in their face and said, bail up. And generally speaking, they did, which was a pretty sensible reaction. Harry was, as I said, colourful.

He didn't kill anybody, which was always a plus for Bushrangers, because people weren't too happy about that for one reason or another. The duo make a great team, undertaking several successful robberies together. It's not long, however, before Ned gets his first taste of the sharp end of bush ranging. An attempt to steal horses from a large squatter farm sees the two almost shot. It's too close a shave for Ned. He decides to split from power, leaving the older bushranger to go it alone. Soon after arriving back at the family home, Ned has his first brush-in with the law. A passing Chinese animal dealer accuses Ned of robbery.

Ned gives a very different version of events to the police. He claims the man assaulted his sister and he was merely coming to her aid. The police can't dig up anything either way, and once Ned's sister and two other Kelly family members give evidence in support of Ned, the charges are dismissed. Kelly family members give evidence in support of Ned, the charges are dismissed. Already, the fiery young Ned is building a reputation for himself. By 1870, Ellen is behind with her rent. To bring in some much-needed cash, Ned goes against his better judgment and hooks up with power again.

cash, Ned goes against his better judgment and hooks up with power again. Together, they commit a string of highway robberies across Victoria, traveling great distances and attacking with impunity. They hold up everyone, from stockmen to police officers. They even rob a local magistrate, relieving him of his watch, his horse, and his riding gear. The police are on to power in no time, but the identity of his mysterious young accomplice remains hidden for months. Finally, young Ned is named, thanks to paid informers, and he's captured at the end of April, 1870. Ned finds himself in Beechworth Jail for the first time, facing a hefty sentence if found guilty. Fortunately, witnesses fail to identify him

and a month later he is released without charge. The Kelly family see Ned's arrest as clear evidence of corruption, bias, and police harassment, despite Ned actually being guilty of the robberies. Some believe the Kelly family got to those witnesses, intimidating people into silence. But despite Ned being free, it's the end of the duo's tumultuous partnership.

He is done with power, this time for good. partnership. He is done with power, this time for good. When the older bushranger is caught in June 1870, word spreads that it was Ned who informed on him in exchange for the charges being dropped. It's an accusation which doesn't win Ned many friends. which doesn't win Ned many friends. The truth soon comes out that it was actually Ned's uncle who pocketed the 500-pound reward. Even so, it takes a while for Ned to shake the snitching rumors.

It's not long before Ned ends up in hot water again. His friend is accused of stealing a hawker's horse. The argument escalates, only ended by a swift fist to the nose from Ned. The assault lands him back in Beechworth Jail for a second time. This time, it sticks

and it's three months hard labor for the teenager. 20th of April, 1871. Ned has only been out of prison for a month, but he's kept his nose fairly clean, and today he's doing a good deed. deed. The chestnut mare he's riding belongs to a man named Isaiah Wild Wright, who's in town to see Ned's brother-in-law. When the horse went missing a few days ago, Ned volunteered to go after it and bring it back. Now, as the horse lazily ambles between the wooden buildings along the high street, a police constable hollers for Ned to stop. He tugs on the reins and watches as the constable jogs across the dirt road, eyes on the horse beneath him. Unknown to Ned, the policeman has a bee in his bonnet, as he thinks the horse is stolen.

The constable tells Ned to dismount, and asks him, all friendly-like, to come and sign some papers. As soon as Ned's boots touch the ground, the policeman is upon him, grabbing for his clothes, wrestling him violently. The arrest turns into a scuffle. A crowd gathers to watch as the seemingly innocuous confrontation escalates. The constable manages to pull his revolver, trying to shoot a bewildered Ned who backs away. The hammer clicks, but the gun misfires. Ned is enraged, but the constable pulls the trigger again. And again, the gun misfires three times in a row.

Ned uses his temporary good fortune to overpower his opponent, knocking him to the ground. good fortune to overpower his opponent, knocking him to the ground. Ned straddles the man, stabbing his riding spurs into the constable's thighs. The howls of pain prompt the crowd into action. Bystanders manage to pull Ned off the constable, holding him firmly. The enraged policeman brandishes his impotent revolver again, but instead of trying to shoot Ned, he swings it at his head. It connects with a dull thud, knocking Ned sideways into the dirt. As Ned blinks in the blood running down his head, the policeman swings the gun again,

brutally pistol-whipping Ned, spinning his head. He swings over and over until finally Ned is senseless, lying on the ground. With a man under each arm, the constable drags the severely injured and half-conscious Ned down the street to the police station. When Wild Wright and Ellen Kelly come to trace her son, they find him by the pools of blood spilled in the dust and the bright red smears across the gatepost. There was a charge on assault and indecent behavior, another one for receiving stolen horses.

He got three years' hard labor in Pentridge for that one. Pentridge Prison was the main prison in Melbourne. That's away from Beechworth, away in the city. And of course, three years in that kind of environment at the age of 14, 15 or so, didn't do him a great deal of good. What Ned hadn't known as he'd ridden down that street was that the horse really was stolen, swiped by Isaiah Wright from the postmaster in a nearby town.

While Ned serves three years for receiving a stolen horse, Wright was sentenced to just 18 months for the actual theft. Ned's brutal arrest and subsequent long, hard labor stint have further reinforced his views of the police and the notorious Victorian penal system. When he finally breathes fresh air again in 1874, he swears he'll never step foot in prison again. He also swears revenge on Wilde Wright for the loss of his three years. One of the best-known photographs of Ned Kelly shows him standing in his underwear, arms up, ready in a boxing pose, foot forward, hair swept back,

bushy beard flowing down towards his chest. It was famously snapped following Ned's revenge on Wild Wright. On the 8th of August 1874, at the Imperial Hotel in Beechworth, Ned fights a bare-knuckle match with Wild Wright over the affair of the horse. He was a very well-known local man, a powerfully built man, as you can tell from the photographs, and a great bare-knuckle fighter. And the one, the match you're referring to, which was kind of legendary,

it was a 20-round stand-up match against a man called Wild Wright. It was, if anything, even bigger and more solid than Ned. Ned won. He beat him, well and truly. But later on, Wild Rite became one of his strongest supporters, even though there were enemies at the time that the bout took place. But yeah, it's a great story. For a time, Ned works at a sawmill, then takes on building work, both skills he picked up in prison.

But while he was inside, his mother had begun courting an American, George King. The two are now married, and in 1877, Ned joins his new stepfather in the more profitable business of horse theft. He also joins a local organized crime gang founded by his younger brothers, Jim and Dan, called the Greta Mob. They're known for their distinctive fancy style of dress, which includes wearing their hat chin strap under their nose. Not only does it keep their hat on when riding at full gallop down the high street, but it's also a stab at authority, aristocracy, and the upper class. A signal of teenage rebellion that echoes down the ages to today. As well as being responsible for a fair chunk of the petty crime in the area, the Greta Mob's primary interests are much the same as teenagers today. Smoking, boozing, and chatting up local

girls. Larrican is an Australian slang term for a loud, boisterous young man with a disregard for authority. A hoodlum or hooligan. The word is still used today, and these young men really live up to it. They race their horses through the streets, vaulting fences and gates, and wagering each other on racing and trick riding, generally making a nuisance of themselves. In September of 1877, Ned Kelly is arrested for riding over a footpath drunk. Ned Kelly is arrested for riding over a footpath drunk. Following his previous run-in with the law, this was never going to end well. He resists from the off.

A fight ensues, Ned on one side and two constables by the names of Lonegan and Fitzpatrick on the other. While Ned scuffles with the smaller Fitzpatrick, Lonegan grabs Ned's testicles so tightly it'll cause him problems for the rest of his short life. After he's done screaming with pain and rage, Ned supposedly hollers, well Lonegan, I never shot a man yet, but so help me God you'll be the first. These are certainly fateful words. Ned flees to a bootmaker's opposite the courthouse, but is eventually subdued and dragged back across the street. He is fined and released, but the event will have long-lasting ramifications for all three men. have long-lasting ramifications for all three men.

It's Constable Fitzpatrick's turn first on a pleasant evening in April 1878. The air is thick with insects and evening birdsong as he ties his horse up outside the Kelly Place. He looks around at the dry grass and dense forest beyond. No sign of Dan Kelly, Ned's brother, the man he's come to arrest. Dan, Ned, and their stepfather all have warrants out for horse theft. A glance through the window suggests Dan is not inside. Ellen Kelly looks up from the stove and rushes out to see what the policeman wants. The two have known each other for a long time and chat a while, though it's clear Fitzpatrick has no care for Ellen's sons,

particularly since his run-in with Ned a few months earlier. That feeling is mutual. There's a noise from the dirt road behind. Fitzpatrick turns to see two riders approaching. The first is the Kellys' neighbor, but alongside him rides Dan Kelly himself. The younger Kelly is much smaller than Ned, a good-looking lad but darting and nervous. The constable is confident he can take him in,

but waits until Dan ties his horse up before walking over to arrest him. Dan protests and asks to at least eat his dinner first. Fitzpatrick agrees and the two men go inside with Ellen Kelly. The room is dark, smoky with the scent of cooking. Dan sits at the rough wooden table and picks up a fork as Ellen dishes up the grub. up a fork as Ellen dishes up the grub. She ladles stew into a bowl and places it on a table, glaring at the policeman as if daring him to ask for some. A shadow crosses the window behind Fitzpatrick. He's watching Dan Kelly so intently, he doesn't hear the horse outside. He only turns as he hears the door swing open, but by then it's too late. Ned Kelly fills the doorway, silhouetted in the low sun.

The odds are against the policeman, and with Ned's recent threats ringing in his ears, he reaches for his gun. It's a mistake. Ned is already holding his. He squeezes the trigger, the shot deafening the small room. The bullet misses, slamming into the wooden wall. Splinters fly as Fitzpatrick ducks back, still reaching for his gun. He's outflanked by Ellen Kelly with a shovel. The sound of it bouncing off Fitzpatrick's head is almost as loud as the following gunshot. Fitzpatrick staggers, clutching his wrist before his world goes black. The constable drops to the floor like a sack of washing. When he comes round,

like a sack of washing. When he comes round, Ned is standing over him brandishing a knife. He passes it to the dazed policeman, telling him to dig out the bullet. Fitzpatrick glances round and sees his revolver now held firmly in Dan Kelly's hands. The Kelly's mother is still hovering nearby, holding the shovel As he curses and digs out the bullet, Ned tosses a grubby piece of cloth under the floor to dress the wound The three Kellys concoct a cover story, which Fitzpatrick is told to stick to or there'll be trouble He's bustled out of the house and helped onto his horse. As he gallops away into the darkening evening, he heads not for home but straight for his police station and his superior officer to inform him of everything that happened.

It had started as Dan's arrest for horse theft, but now the Kelly family are wanted for the attempted murder of a policeman. The Fitzpatrick affair, yes, one of the most controversial elements of the whole story. The other version of the story is that Constable Fitzpatrick went out to arrest someone, but he turned up at the Kelly place drunk, according to the story, and attempted to molest one of the Kelly girls who were there and didn't behave himself very well. And the Kellys simply denied that Ned was there and said, you know, that didn't happen.

And so we don't really know, basically. You can take one view or another view. Fitzpatrick's wrist wound is examined by a doctor. The knife marks make it seem superficial, inconsistent with a gunshot. The Kellys' story seems to stack up. The wound appears to be self-inflicted. Despite this evidence, the law takes a very dim view of any larrikin behavior, and the Kellys have already gained a reputation.

Ned and Dan Kelly waste no time and flee into the bush, but their mother stays behind and is found guilty of attempted murder. Ellen Kelly is sentenced to three years' hard labor. It's a harsh sentence, especially since she has a newborn baby at home. It's summer 1878. Now living as bush rangers in the Wombat Ranges, the Kelly brothers hide out in the thick bush. Living outside of the law,

always looking over their shoulder. They build two huts from thick wooden logs for shelter, and make money by sluicing gold and selling moonshine to their large network of sympathizers. The brothers swear revenge on the police and the government, who they feel are persecuting their family without just cause. Fitzpatrick doesn't, he's later on dismissed from the police over that and other things too. He didn't have much of a reputation. And that particular incident was the thing that set off the outbreak

because as a consequence of it, Nick Kelly's mother was arrested, sent to jail, and some various other ones who were there at the same time also went to jail but needed escape by then, into the Wombat Ranges. And four policemen were sent out to chase him. And in the Long Stringybark Creek, they caught up with each other. Whatever the truth behind the Fitzpatrick incident, events have now been set in motion that will be remembered for centuries to follow. The Kelly Rampage is about to begin.

Next week on Real Outlaws. Events turn violent as the police and the Kelly gang clash in the bush. The story of the Kelly outbreak is one of murder and revenge, a vicious crime spree of violence and daring bank heists. The cat-and-mouse games turn ever more dangerous with the introduction of a terrifying Aboriginal tracking team sent into the bush to take the Kelly Gang down. Will they succeed in bringing Ned Kelly to justice?

Or will the outlaw Bushranger achieve his ultimate goal, destroying the corrupt forces of colonial authority? Find out next time on Real Outlaws. To be continued... As well as ad-free listening to Noiser Originals, including Real Outlaws, Real Dictators, Short History Of, and History Daily, you'll get bonus content and early access to new episodes. Start your free trial today with Noiser Plus.