Lawless: The Real Bushrangers

The brutal gunfight between Ned Kelly’s gang and Victorian policeman on the banks of Stringybark Creek is the pivotal event in the Ned Kelly story, transforming Kelly from a petty thief to wanted outlaw and eventually a national icon. But were the killings an act of self-defence as Kelly later claimed? Folklore holds Ned Kelly to be a hero, endlessly mythologised. But what if he was a clear-eyed killer? Our team embarks on the first ever archaeological and scientific investigation of the events at Stringybark Creek to answer the questions. Using the latest cutting edge survey technology (LiDAR 3D Laser Scanning), traditional archaeology and forensic ballistics testing together with new historical evidence, the team put conflicting claims to the test. Finally we bring descendants from both sides of the story together for the first time to hear the team reveal their findings. Controversial and highly provocative, this investigation challenges the legend that has shaped our national identity and aims to change how Australians see their most famous folk icon: the hero of the underdog.

Born 8 Jan 1845 in a small town in Northern Ireland, the son of an Anglican clergyman. He had one older brother. Scott came to Australia in 1868 age 23 from New Zealand. His family had travelled from Ireland to NZ when he was 16. In NZ, by his own recollection, he was said to have completed studies as an engineer/surveyor. He also fought in the Maori Wars and says he was wounded in the Battle of Orakau. Both of these statements have been called into question by many historians – e.g. the UK Institute of Civil Engineers advised, that in 1868, the minimum age to be qualified was 25. Scott’s father had high status as a magistrate and lay preacher. After Scott left NZ he never saw his parents or brother again. Moonlite has been described as an enigma, far removed from the traditional image of a bushranger. Educated and articulate, Moonlite was a poet, a preacher, skilled horseman, civil engineer, skilled with and knowledgeable about firearms, a fluent public speaker, gentlemanly, a soldier, sailor, prison reformer, adventurer, rebel. Magnetic personality. Moonlite was staunchly loyal to his comrades. The Reverend Canon Rich, who spent time with Moonlite when he was on death row, described him as follows: “Scott was indeed a peculiar man and one whose abilities no one could doubt after being in his company several minutes. His quickness of perception, rapidity and exactness of reasoning is a constant subject of wonder to those about him… and his knowledge of Scripture history is exceedingly good.” In 1879 Scott asked the writer Marcus Clarke (For The Term Of His Natural Life) to support his lecture tour. Clarke later wrote his impressions of Scott – who had struck him as a respectably dressed man ‘who looked like the sub-overseer of a station.’ Moonlite did not appear to be a villain and there was nothing peculiar about him except for his… ‘Light steel-blue eyes, which appeared without any depth in the iris, and shifted a good

The bushranger Ben Hall, is believed to have been born on 9 May 1837 at Maitland, New South Wales, son of Benjamin Hall and his wife Elizabeth; both parents were ex-convicts. He became a stockman and with his brother in law, John McGuire leased a run, Sandy Creek, near Wheogo. On 29 February 1856 at Bathurst Ben Hall married Bridget Walsh of Wheogo. Her sister Kitty became Frank Gardiner‘s mistress. On the orders of Sir Frederick Pottinger, Hall was arrested in April 1862 at a race meeting for armed robbery but the case was dismissed for lack of evidence. By then his wife had left him taking their infant son Henry. In July he was detained for his share in the infamous Eugowra gold escort robbery but again the case against Hall was dismissed for lack of evidence. Escalating legal costs probably forced Hall and McGuire to quit the lease of Sandy Creek. On 14 March 1863, Frederick Pottinger burnt down Hall’s home. Embittered, Hall joined John Gilbert and became leader of a gang of bushrangers. Hall was probably the most efficient of the bushranger leaders. His men were well armed and superbly mounted, often on stolen racehorses, which easily outpaced the police nags. Some of their holdups seem designed only to defy the police: on their daredevil raid on Bathurst in October 1863 they took little loot and at Canowindra they offered food, drink and festivity to all for three days, but drank little themselves and left the town empty-handed. On 24 October in a raid on Henry Keightley’s homestead at Dunn’s Plains Mickey Burke, one of the gang was shot. Hall prevented Burke’s mate, John Vane from shooting Keightley in revenge and accepted the £500 ransom procured by Mrs Keightley. John Vane surrendered to the police soon after and in November at David Campbell’s Goimbla Station, John O’Meally; another member of the gang was shot dead. Gilbert returned to Victoria to visit his family and Hall was joined by ‘The Old Man’ (James Mount) and John Dunlea

Patrick Kenniff (1863-1903) and James (1869-1940). Patrick was born at Main Creek, near Dungog, New South Wales, on 28 September 1863. James’s birth was not registered. After convictions for stock stealing in northern New South Wales, they overlanded in 1891 with their father to Queensland, where their younger brothers Thomas and John later joined them. Living by bush work, they also raced horses and opened books on the local race meetings. Moving to the Upper Warrego in 1893, they occupied blocks of land in the Hoganthulla and Killarney resumptions and later the Ralph block. With convicted cattle duffers Thomas Stapleton, John and Richard Riley and others, they launched a reign of ‘mild terror’ from their base on Ralph, stealing cattle from Carnarvon and other neighbouring stations. During this period both brothers served prison terms. They developed a special animosity towards the manager of Carnarvon, Albert Christian Dahlke. When the charred remains of station manager Albert Dahlke and Constable George Doyle were found in Lethbridge’s Pocket, strong suspicion fell on Patrick and James Kenniff. Despite a reward of £1000 and a large police manhunt, they were not arrested until 23 June at Arrest Creek, south of Mitchell. Found guilty of wilful murder, both prisoners were sentenced to death. Patrick was executed on 12 January 1903 and buried in South Brisbane cemetery with Catholic rites; the sentence of James was commuted to life imprisonment.