Ned Kelly timeline

By AAP with AG Staff 1 September 2011
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Dates in the life and death of the infamous Australian bushranger.

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

Related: Australia’s most notorious bushrangers