Page 79 - All About History - Issue 53-17

Ned Kelly

lower limbs. Was the armour intended to protect of them lay dead and only Ned survived. After The hero or villain argument is a subjective
them from a gun fight on the level playing field the bullet wounds to his legs were patched up, one to say the least, especially when
in town or, as some suspect, from survivors he was put on trial, defiant right up until the extrapolating black and white from the grey
defending themselves in the train wreck that hangman’s noose stretched his neck. A petition, mists of 19th century Australia. Ned Kelly
never happened, from an eyrie high above in the signed by over 30,000 (some say coerced) certainly did some bad things and he likely did
railway cutting? supporters, was submitted to the governor of some of them with less than the altruism that
With police and militia closing in, the Kelly Victoria, but to no avail. Judge Sir Redmond is to be expected of a hero — though it’s very
Gang threw a party to put the hostages they took Barry donned the death cap and that was the likely that the authorities he railed against were
at Mrs Jones’s Hotel in Glenrowan — including end of it — but not before Kelly had the last no better than him. As the remains of the truth
some sympathisers — at ease. The rudiments of a word. Apparently, when judge Barry uttered the crumble away, brick by brick, over time, we
Kelly following had begun and there were some words that should have sunk the temerity of the are left with a folk tale that is familiar in every
supporters of his even among the townsfolk. But condemned man, Ned was said to reply: “May corner of the world. The martyred revolutionary
whatever revolution he might have had planned, God have mercy on your soul. I will go a little is a popular totem — and who knows what
this was the Kelly gang’s last stand. After the further than that and say I will see you there form Ned Kelly will take years and centuries
police and militia lay siege to the hotel, three when I go.” from now?

How effective were the Kelly gang’s suits of armour?
Forged from mouldboards, the thick metal parts of a plough, it took some time rifle. So, despite remonstrations from the rest of the gang, once the armour
and a little volunteer help from Kelly sympathisers to put the four suits of armour had been put to the test, they were quickly won round. Ned also armed the
of the Kelly gang together. Even then, they would have had to learn how to move gang with sawn-off Winchester repeater rifles (the famous gun that ‘won the
and shoot in it. It was a hefty 41.4 kilograms — or as much as a bag of wheat — West’ in the US), the rapid fire compensating for the handicap of the armour.
and half as much as Ned Kelly weighed again. It would have slowed him down The gang would also have to learn how to wear it, to take advantage of their
significantly and also made accurate shooting near impossible. However, even at newly bulletproof bodies and unlearn old gunslinging habits made impractical or
point-blank range it proved impenetrable to a bullet fired from a Martini-Henry impossible by the wall of metal they would be wearing around them.
Helmet
The helmet had a visor — a
thin slit in the front — which
put a big restriction on the
gang’s peripheral vision and
shooting accuracy.

Shoulders
Plates protected the
men just over the
shoulder. They would
not be protected from
a bullet to the hand.

Vital organs
Covering the men’s torso
back to front, the chest plate
also provided an anchor
for the the shoulder plates
and helmet, attached with
leather straps and rivets.

Exposed
A plate hung to protect
Kelly’s groin, but the legs
were left unprotected.
Why this was seems a
© Alamy, Getty Images.
point of some contention.

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