Ned Kelly

Ned Kelly was Australia's most famous outlaw. The son of an Irish immigrant family, Kelly's father died in prison and the young Ned found himself in a life of crime from his teenage years, facing police persecution and the challenges of poverty.

At age 17, Kelly was imprisoned for horse stealing and spent three years behind bars. When he emerged, he joined a group of bushrangers in the colony of Victoria, an area rapidly moving from 'lawless frontier' to civilised society. When his mother was imprisoned in 1878 for assaulting a police officer, and his brother was declared an outlaw after shooting an officer, Kelly and his gang began eluding police capture.

For two years, the Kelly gang battled police across country Victoria, becoming legends in their own right. The press and popular culture were divided between those who saw Kelly as the example of the lawlessness of the working classes, and those who saw him as a saviour fighting against the iron fist of capitalism and oppression.

In 1879, Kelly penned his surviving piece of writing, the so-called Jerilderie Letter, in which he set out a manifesto denouncing the police and the Empire, and attempting to put forward his own account of his events.

In June 1880, the Kelly gang - growing bolder - attempted to ambush a police train, but the attempt went sour. The gang engaged in a police shootout at Glenrowan, where all but Kelly were killed. Kelly was taken to the Old Melbourne Gaol, where he was tried and sentenced to death. Thousands of people turned out to support him and demand a reprieve, but Kelly was hanged on 11 November 1880, at age 25. His last words were reported as: "Such is life".