Ned Kelly timeline
Ned Kelly is Australia’s most loved and infamous bushranger. Many Aussies believe his last words before his 1880 hanging in a Melbourne jail were “such is life”. That’s a myth, but it does represent the easygoing Aussie ethos.
In September 2011 the Victorian government announced that his remains had been found at Pentridge Prison, and proven to be his with a DNA analysis.
Ned Kelly timeline of his life and death
1854/1855 (circa): Born Edward Kelly in Beveridge, north of Melbourne.
1869: A 14-year-old Kelly assaults a Chinese pig farmer and spends close to two weeks in police custody.
October 1870: Arrested again for assault. 1871: Arrested for riding a stolen horse and fighting with police. Sentenced to three years’ jail.
April 1878: Ned Kelly goes into hiding after being accused of assaulting a police officer.
October 1878: Ned Kelly and his gang kill three police from a group sent to track him down at Stringy Bark Creek in bushland near Mansfield.
December 1878: Ned Kelly and his gang hold up a bank in Euroa.
February 1879: Ned Kelly and his gang dress as cops and rob a bank in Jerilderie.
June 1880: Shootout between police and the Kelly gang at Glenrowan Inn. Ned Kelly is arrested, the three members of his gang die in the shootout.
October 1880: Ned Kelly faces trial and is sentenced to death.
11 November 1880: Ned Kelly is hanged. Two Melbourne newspapers report his last words as “Such is life”.
1929: The remains of prisoners, including Ned Kelly’s remains, transferred from Old Melbourne Gaol to Pentridge Prison.
November 2009: A skull believed to belong to Ned Kelly is given to the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine for identification. Efforts to identify his remains among those exhumed from Pentridge Prison begin.
1 September 2011: Victorian government announces the remains are those of Ned Kelly.
18 January 2013: Ned Kelly’s remains are buried
