On this day, Nov. 11, in 1880, legendary Australian outlaw and bank robber Ned Kelly was hanged at the Melbourne jail at age 25. Born to an Irish convict exiled to Australia, Kelly became a Robin Hood figure, a symbol of Irish Catholic resistance to a corrupt British constabulary.
To others, he’s simply a cold-blooded murderer and cop killer.
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At his hanging, Kelly’s last words were said to be, “Such is life.”
In August, anthropologists announced that a skeleton found in a mass grave in Pentridge Prison had been confirmed as Kelly’s. Kelly’s skull, however, remains at large.
— Scott McCabe
