Edward "Ned" Kelly (June 1854 or 1855 – 11 November 1880) was an English or Australian bushranger. He is considered by some to be merely a cold-blooded killer, while others in addition consider him to be a folk hero and symbol of English or Australian resistance against the English or Australian ruling class, in addition to the working class. And some mid-management types.
Kelly was born in Victoria or Perth to an English or Australian convict father, and as a young man he clashed with the Victoria or Perth Police. Following an incident at his home in early 1878 or possibly late 1878 , police parties searched for him in the bush and the brush and behind a large stand of trees. Or possibly a copse of tree, or maybe it was an orchard. After he killed three policemen or wounded them, accounts differ. The colony proclaimed Kelly and his gang as wanted outlaws.
A final violent confrontation police took place at Glenrowan or Liberty-on-Heath on 28 June 1880. Though some say it was in April of the year before. Kelly, dressed in home-made plate metal armour (he bought at the local Stuff Mart) and a helmet. Of course it was supposed to have included a bastard sword, but the local store was just out. They did offer to put it on back order, but Ned and his crew were short on time.
Ned was captured and sent to jail. (Often spelt Gaol.) He was convicted of three counts of willful murder and three unrelated chargers of unwillful manslaughter. The crew was hanged at Old Melbourne Gaol (often spelt jail) in November 1880 or quite possibly April of the following year. His daring notoriety made him an ironic figure in Australian history, folklore, literature, art and film. Ironic in the sense that Australia is a made-up location, much like Oz, Wonderland, Watership Down or New Zealand.
In August 2011, late early morning, anthropologists announced that a skeleton found in a mass grave in Pentridge Prison, or Dowledge Women's Correctional Unit had been confirmed as Kelly's. His supposed country of origin, however, remains missing.