As
in New South Wales, so in Victoria, the last of the
bushranging gangs was the worst. The leading members
of the gang in each case were brothers, springing from
a vicious stock. Each gang operated in a district where
tribal ramifications were strong and numerous, and “telegraphs” and
harbourers as plentiful as mushrooms on an old sheep
station after autumn rain. The most sanguinary deed
of each was the murder of a party of policemen, entrapped
in a lonely part of the bush. But the Kellys were in
every way better generals than the Clarkes—more
systematic in their proceedings, having bolder conceptions,
which they carried out in a more daring manner.
It will
be remembered that the Chief Justice of New South Wales,
when referring to the criminality of the Clarkes, spoke
of it as the working of the old leaven of convictism.
For this statement he was taken to task by not a few
press writers, and was charged with vindictively recalling
things which should be carefully buried and kept out
of sight. But whatever was said concerning the Clarkes
might have been said with absolute truth concerning
the Kelly's, who appear to have lived in an atmosphere
of crime and luxuriated in robbery and violence. The
family was, root and branch, morally diseased. “Red Kelly”,
as the father was called, had been transported to Tasmania
in 1841 for attempting to shoot his landlord, and arrived
in Victoria early in the history of that colony, which
received not a few of the worst of the Van Demonians.
He was first heard of at Wallan, thirty miles from
Melbourne, which was in those days considered quite
an out-station. Here he became acquainted with a family
named Quinn, who had settled in the same locality;
and whatever else he may have been, there was no reason
to doubt the statement then made that he possessed
a violent temper and was given to frequent quarrels
and brawls. This trait, according to the little that
was known, did not predispose James Quinn in his favour,
and Kelly's visits to the house were discountenanced
by him as the head of the family, although one of the
daughters, the third, became violently attached to
him. The two were married; after the marriage the Quinns
became reconciled to the inevitable, as is usually
the case, and the two families lived in amity; and
when Quinn moved north to a station between Mansfield
and Beechworth, called Glenmore, the Kellys went with
him.
Finally, the whole party got as far as Greta, and
there, and in that neighbourhood, Kellys, Quinns, and
relations of other names were settled in such number
as to form quite a formidable clan by themselves. As
the younger members grew up it became thoroughly well
known that they were engaged in an extensive system
of cattle “duffing” — the colonial term
for stealing. Squatters and others within a radius
of many miles lost cattle and horses in great numbers,
and were not slow to attribute the disappearance to
the Quinns and their friends. Ned Kelly himself admitted
that during his bushranging career he alone had stolen
over two hundred and eighty horses; and he, be it remembered,
was but one of a large gang. Numerous prosecutions
were, not always successfully, instituted against various
members of the confederation. It was generally known
that the stolen stock was taken northwards, and disposed
of mostly in New South Wales, but principally through
the agency of the allies on the Border.
“Red” Kelly's offspring consisted of three
sons — James, Edward, and Daniel — and four
daughters, one of the latter being Mrs. Skillian. At
the time of the bushranging trouble there were two
unmarried daughters, Kate and Grace, and of the former
some romantic stories have been told. When Mrs. Kelly
got into “trouble”, she had an infant in
arms, and when the mother went to prison the baby had
to go with her. “Red” Kelly himself died
some time before his two sons, Ned and Dan, attained
full development in the course of crime which was to
end so disastrously to them and those with whom they
were associated.
Ned Kelly commenced his criminal career when but a
raw lad, and cattle “duffing” was the profession
to which he was educated. When only about sixteen years
of age he was arrested as an accomplice of a notorious
bushranger named Power, for whose apprehension the
Victorian Government had offered a large reward, and
concerning whose exploits it is necessary that something
should be said. [continued] |
