27 June 2012
- SUCH IS LIFE -
On this day in 1880 Ned Kelly's siege at Glenrowan began.
Glenrowan was, and is, a small town located approximately 180km northeast of Melbourne. Following the murder of police informer Aaron Sherritt the day before, on 27 June 1880 Ned Kelly's gang expected a large number of police to travel to Glenrowan by train. They attempted to coerce some of the townsfolk into helping lift the rail tracks, thereby causing the train to crash and kill a large number of the expected police. Few were willing to assist, and people were gradually rounded up and held in the Glenrowan Inn so that they could not warn the train.
After entertaining the hostages for hours with games and dancing, the Kelly gang allowed the more trusted hostages to go home at nightfall, as the train was running late. Thomas Curnow, the local schoolteacher, was one of those released, and when he heard the approaching train in the early hours of June 28th, he ran quickly to warn of the danger ahead. This gave the police time to prepare. Wearing their famous armour, the Kelly brothers held a shootout with police. Several hostages were injured in the gun battle and two later died from gunshot wounds. Gang members Dan Kelly, Steve Hart and Joe Byrne were killed, and Ned was shot twenty-eight times in the legs, which were unprotected by the armour. He survived to stand trial, and was sentenced to death by hanging, by Judge Redmond Barry on 29 October 1880. Ned Kelly was hanged in Melbourne on 11 November 1880.
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