Unfortunately for Ned, Senior Constable Hall was under explicit instructions to “get” him as soon as possible after his release from Beechworth. Hall recognised the mare from the Police Gazette and tried to arrest him when he rode into Greta. An extremely big man, Hall nevertheless must have been nervous of the teenager, for, in his official report, he admitted he failed to unseat Kelly and tried to shoot him.”

When Isaiah Wild Wright called into the Kelly homestead in early April 1871 he unwittingly set in motion one of the more violent events in the life of the young Ned Kelly. Wild told Ned, whom he had never met before, that he had lost his horse in the nearby scrub and asked if he could borrow one of his. In return, if Ned found his horse he could ride it until he called back. Ned later described the horse “as a remarkable chestnut mare, white faced, docked tail... branded (M) as plains as the hands of a town hall clock”.

Ned found the horse on the way to Wangaratta and took it with him. During his stay he even allowed the daughters of the publican to ride the mare. What Ned didn’t realise and what Wild had forgot to tell him was that the animal was stolen. As Ned was approaching home he was stopped by Senior Constable Hall on the Greta bridge. Hall told the 16 year old Kelly that he had some papers that needed signing at the police camp. Ned followed Hall but refused to dismount and enter the building. Hall then declared that Ned was under arrest for horse stealing, and made a grab for the young man. The fight that ensued was both bloody and violent. Hall weighed over 102 kilograms (16 stone), Ned was a boy of sixteen. Yet Kelly managed to over power the raging Constable even though Hall had fired his service revolver at Ned three times (all three shots had misfired). According to Ned:

Instead of me putting my foot on Hall's neck, and taking his revolver and putting him in the lock-up, I tried to catch the mare. I kept throwing him in the dust until I got him across the street the very spot where Mrs O'Brien's Hotel stands now the celler was just dug then there was some brush fencing where the post and rail was taking down and on this I threw big cowardly Hall on his belly I straddled him and rooted both spurs into his thighs he roared like a big calf attacked by dogs and shifted several yards of fence I got his hands at the back of his neck and tried to make him let go of the revolver but he stuck to it like grim death to a dead volunteer he called for assistance to a man named Cohen and Barnett, Lewis, Thompson, Jewitt and two blacksmiths who was looking on. I dare not strike any of them as I was bound to keep the peace or I could have spread those curs like dung in a paddock they got ropes and tied my hands and feet and Hall beat me over the head with his six chambered Colts revolver.

Hall hammered Ned over the head with his pistol half a dozen times. The wounds were so severe that an urgent dispatch was sent to Wangaratta for a doctor and two troopers. The doctor administered nine stitches then the following day Ned was carted off to the Wangaratta lock-up. After three months on remand, Ned was convicted of receiving a stolen horse. Yet, while Wild received 18 months for actually stealing the mare, Ned received three years with hard labour.

During the trial it was noted that Hall had pistol whipped and tried to shoot an unarmed youth. However, instead of censure Hall received a reward. This was the same man who had previously been charged with assault and perjury at Eldorado, forced out and transferred to Broadford only to leave there in similar disgrace for “violent and vindictive behaviour”. Afterwards Hall feared reprisals from the Kelly clan and refused lone mounted patrols. The massively overweight Constable continued to pile on the kilograms, which resulted in the inability of government horses to bear his weight. Later the same year Hall was dismounted and transferred out of the district.

Fitzpatrick described finally how he came to and found he had a ball in his wrist, and how Ned insisted on prising it out with a penknife despite his preference for seeking treatment in Benalla. After agreeing to say nothing about the matter, he left the house about 11 pm. Ned poured ridicule on Fitzpatrick’s story. The trouble began, he said, when Fitzpatrick produced a telegram instead of a warrant and Mrs Kelly ordered him off the premises. The trooper had drawn his revolver, which prompted her to say, “It’s just as well Ned is not home or he would ram that down your throat!” This had given Dan the cue to cry, “Ned is coming now!” He had clapped a wrestling hold on Fitzpatrick.
Max Brown Australian Son
Photo Victoria Police Historical Unit

In the late afternoon of Monday April 15, 1878 Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick, an Irishman in his early twenties, visited the Kelly homestead at Greta. The next morning he rode into Benalla with a lacerated wrist. Whatever the circumstances surrounding his wound, this incident above all others was the catalyst for the Kelly outbreak.

Fitzpatrick was a lazy, weak willed man, who, against orders, he had gone to the Kelly homestead alone to arrest Dan Kelly.

At Beechworth on October 9 1878, before the trial judge Sir Redmond Barry, the charge of “aiding and abetting Ned Kelly with shooting with intent to murder Constable Fitzpatrick” was leveled at the three defendants Ellen Kelly, William Skillion and William Williamson. Fitzpatrick was the only witness for the prosecution and despite numerous witnesses countering his claims all three were found guilty and sentenced to hard labour. After Stringybark Creek, Fitzpatrick was transferred to Lancefield. He was there only nine months before his superior, Senior Constable Mayes, accused him of "not being fit to be in the police force; that he associated with the lowest persons in Lancefield; that he could not be trusted out of sight; and that he never did his duty".

Needless to say these charges lead to Fitzpatrick's dismissal from the police force but by this stage it was too late for Ned Kelly and his clan. The 1881 Police Royal Commission heard evidence from Fitzpatrick that during his three years in the police force he had pleaded guilty to numerous other charges of neglect of duty and misconduct. After the Royal Commission William Williamson was pardoned, suggesting the court was wrong on one important fact. Evidence does show Ned was present at the homestead on that fateful day but as the doctor who tended Fitzpatricks wounds stated in court “of the two wounds present one definitely could not have been made by a bullet and both were only skin wounds yet the constable had the smell of brandy on him”. The question still remains today, did the Kelly outbreak arise due to one constable's battle with the bottle and his countless lies and half truths?

Joe and Dan rode up to a selection in the Woolshed opposite the Sugarloaf where Sherritt was working. They already knew something of Aaron’s dealings with the police, in particular of his meetings with Detective Ward whose affairs with servant girls were common gossip. Ward’s waxed moustache, which he liked to twirl, gave the lie to his many disguises.
Max Brown Australian Son
Photo Victoria Police Historical Unit

From an early age both Joe Byrne and Aaron Sherritt became prime targets for Ward. It would be Ward’s shrewd and often illegal activities which set in motion the killing of Sherritt. His manipulative manner fitted well with his police agenda. Ward was the man responsible for setting up the unsuccessful spy ring in a vain attempt to catch the Gang. When it became apparent his network was a failure, Ward put in motion a blood thirsty trap using Sherritt as the bait. By spreading rumours, falsifying reports, and even stealing a saddle.

Ward persuaded Jack Sherritt, Aaron’s brother, to steal a saddle from Aaron’s bride and plant it in the Byrne homestead. On information provided by the Sherritt family, Joe’s brother Paddy, and Mrs Byrne would be arrested for theft.

Ward, therefore managed to put Sherritt under the spot light. By making Aaron his number one informer, even if his leads were vague at best, both Joe and Ned were alerted to a spy in their midst. Joe took it upon himself to put an end to Sherritt’s double dealing. A dire warning by Joe to Aaron’s mother was ignored by Sherritt, who sealed his fate by not leaving Kelly country.

Detective Ward, having received one hundred pounds of the reward, was found guilty of misleading his superior officers and the Commission recommended he be censured and reduced one grade. As for the hut party, Armstrong had already left the country. As for the rest, already awarded a share of the reward, they were charged with disobedience and cowardice, and the Commission recommended their dismissal.
Max Brown Australian Son

To highlight the lunacy of the Reward Board, who were charged with distributing the £8000 after the destruction of the Kelly Gang, Detective Michael Ward was handed £100 even though he was not present at the siege. Instead the money was awarded because of his 'connection with the employment of Aaron Sherritt.' Employment which ended in murder. Ward was as guilty as if he had pulled the trigger himself.

James Whitty photo from the permanent collection of the Burke Museum, Beechworth

James Whitty was a squatter who became one of Ned Kelly's most redoubtable foes. Squatters often occupied important social positions in local communities and were prepared to use such positions to frustrate selection. They were able to choose the best pastures, mainly along river banks and watering holes, effectively picking the eyes out of the land or “peacocking”, as it was known back then. Dummying was also a famous tactic used by squatters whereabouts a man was paid by them to select land. He would then transfer it back to the squatters.

Ned soon found that people had long memories for such as he. He ran in a wild bull and heard that James Whitty, a wealthy property owner on the King, had accused him of stealing it. He stopped him on Oxley racecourse and asked for an explanation. It must have been with some discomfiture that Whitty, a rugged character of Irish extraction like Ned himself, was forced to admit that his son in law, John Farrell, had fed him the rumour. The missing animal, in fact, had since turned up.
Max Brown Australian Son

The squatters with their social influence where able to place roads through selections. They sat on the boards set up to overview the land laws effectiveness. City officials, oblivious to the ways of the country accepted these committees findings as gospel. All this resulted in land lock where quality pastures became unavailable to selectors. These selectors were mainly made up of diggers who had become tired of the gold chase through the bush and decided to settle on the land instead. Squatters resented the diggers calls to 'Unlock the land' as they saw the country as their own. They had pioneered the land during the 1830's and felt a moral right to it.

Ultimately the Victorian Parliament passed legislation which allowed any man or single woman the right to select parcels of land to the size of 640 acres (reduced to 320 acres in 1869). The selectors had to pay off the land and make certain improvements to it to the tune of one pound per acre. This led to an undeclared land war between the squatters and selectors.

Whitty and his fellow squatters presented Sergeant Steele with an engraved sword to commemorate Ned's capture at Glenrowan. Whitty must have been one of the few people Steele didn't shoot at during the siege.

The selectors blamed the squatters for the failure of selections as the best land had already been taken up. At the height of the battle some squatters would resort to harassment if all else failed. Selectors stock would be impounded, their fences broken down, their water flows restricted, and the squatters cattle would graze on the selectors lands. Whitty was one such squatter and along with McBean, was seen by the Kellys, Quinns, Byrnes and the like as men above the law who are able to direct the wrath of the police and magistrates on whom ever they pleased. That many of the selectors were just poor farmers with no land education what so ever was of no real importance, the squatter had build himself up as a tall poppy and it was only a matter of time before someone came along to cut him down.