NED KELLY
Edward (Ned) Kelly was born in Victoria in 1855, and in his twenties, became the last, and most famous, of the Australian bushrangers (rural outlaws). He led his gang of four in a series of horse thefts and bank hold-ups, and became a kind of folk-hero. He was brave and generous, and a fine horseman.
His was a short life, (he was hanged at the age of 26), but, one which made him a legend in his own lifetime, and earned him a lasting recognition as the first Australian to stage an effective protest against the injustices of life in early colonial Victoria. Ned lived in Avenel as a boy, and rode the Avenel end of the Strathbogie Ranges, later to become home to the Kelly gang.
Ned's Avenel Days
