“The Capture of Ned Kelly”--four figures (three Victoria's police trooper figures and Ned Kelly figure)
$204.00

King & Country

Item Number: GMT003

“The Capture of Ned Kelly”

This four-man set comprises the aforementioned Ned, complete with his home-made suit of armour and armed to the teeth with three different revolvers.
On his head, Ned is protected by an almost medieval-shaped, bucket-like helmet that on top is open to the elements and hopefully, a little fresh air.
Opposing this 'wild colonial boy' are three of Victoria's police troopers armed with both carbines and revolvers and probably worried that their bullets are having little or no effect on the well protected Ned.  A great little set and a fond reminder of Australia's most famous outlaw!

*'Bootnecks':  A slang term for a Royal Marine, somewhat similar to the U.S.M.C. 'Leatherneck'.  Both nicknames were derived from the leather stock once worn around the neck by the two different Marine Corps.

‘The Wild Colonial Boy’ 

Last July 2024, on my most recent trip down to Australia to meet with K&C’s dealers and collectors in that amazing country, I previewed a sketch line drawing of Australia’s most famous ‘bushranger’, outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, convicted police murderer, and general ‘ne’er-do-well, Edward Kelly, better known to friend and foe alike as ‘Ned Kelly’ (1854-1880).
Like many before him and quite a few since ‘Ned’ was raised in hard rural poverty, the third of eight children of Irish parents. His father, a transported convict, died in 1866, leaving the young Ned as the eldest son of the household.
As a poor, impoverished family, the Kellys considered themselves, not unsurprisingly, as downtrodden by their more fortunate neighbours and as hapless victims of persecution by the local Victoria Police.
While still a teenager, young Ned served two prison terms for a number of criminal offences, the second of which kept him in jail for three years. 1871-1874.
After release, Ned, once more, returned to his life of crime and picked up where he left off…stealing cattle and committing ‘armed robbery’.

In 1878, Ned took part in a violent incident at his family home where a Policeman was seriously injured and Ned was indicted for the law officer’s attempted murder.  Fleeing to the ‘bush’, Ned vowed revenge after his elderly mother was imprisoned as an accomplice to his crimes.
A short time later, Ned and some of his criminal confederates shot dead three policemen with the government of Victoria proclaiming Ned and his gang out-and-out outlaws… with a very large bounty on their heads!
 

For the next two years Ned and his Gang ranged far and wide causing mayhem and committing various crimes that included killing Aaron Sherritt, a one-time friend who had since turned police informant.
At the same time, in a hand-written ‘manifesto’, Ned denounced the State Police, the government of Victoria and…the entire British Empire for all his misfortunes.  He also demanded justice for his family and the rural poor as well as threatening dire consequences against anyone who opposed him.
Finally, in late June 1880, in the small town of Glenrowan, Victoria, Ned and a number of his gang were cornered and surrounded by a police contingent of around forty officers.
More than 150 rounds of ammunition were exchanged between the policeman and the outlaws over many hours as the battle waxed and waned throughout the night.
Then just after dawn (about 7 a.m.), Ned, clad in home-made, sheet armour and topped with a bucket-like steel helmet appeared with no less than three handguns and began firing at the surrounding policemen.  Police returned fire as Ned staggered around already wounded and bearing the heavy weight of his armour and the impact of police bullets striking it.
Eventually, Ned was brought down by two shotgun blasts to his unprotected legs and thighs.
Immediately, the police surrounded and disarmed him before having a doctor attend to his many wounds.
Later, he was found to have suffered no less than 28 injuries including serious gunshot wounds to his left elbow, right foot and several flesh wounds and all kinds of other cuts and abrasions from bullets striking, but not penetrating, his home-made ‘suit-of-iron’.
 

Ned Kelly’s criminal trial began on 19 October 1880 and was completed on 28 October of the same year with a finding of ‘guilty as charged’ and the sentence of ‘death by hanging’ to be carried out on 11 November.  Justice was swift in those days!

Shortly before the sentence of death was executed, Ned’s long suffering mother visited him in the Melbourne Gaol and told her son, “Mind you die like a Kelly!”

A day later, at 10am, Ned Kelly, in hand cuffs, was led out of the condemned cell to the prison’s execution chamber where his ankles were then bound together by a strong, thick leather strap.  A black cloth hood then covered his head before the hangman’s sturdy rope noose was placed securely around his neck.  A few seconds later a lever was pulled, the trapdoor sprung open and Australia’s most famous criminal was dispatched into eternity and everlasting fame.
After his hanging, several reports of the event gave varying accounts of Ned’s last words.  For me the two best are: “Ah well, I suppose it has come to this!” and… “Such is life”.

Feel free to take your pick.

Due to be released in MAY 2025.