Reply With Quote
Visit Mansfield cemetery - pay your respects at the graves of the three police officers murdered by Ned Kelly and his gang. The following may be of interest to you. My family wanted to visit the Kelly museum and I refused to go with them...my views are well known here... Sitting in the coffee shop across the road the staff asked if I was a Policeman, when I said yes they said it was quite common to see people doing as I did..especialy Law enforcement.
Remember and honour the bravery of Sergeant Michael Kennedy and Constables Thomas Lonigan and Michael Scanlan who were gunned down by Kelly and his band of outlaws at Stringybark Creek, near Mansfield, in 1878.
Kelly was executed in 1880 after being found guilty of murdering Constable Lonigan.
As Kelly had already been sentenced to death, the authorities decided not to bother trying him for the murders of Sgt Kennedy and Constable Scanlan - a fact which still angers the Kennedy and Scanlan families.
Sgt Kennedy's great grandson, lawyer and chartered accountant Leo Kennedy, used his speech at the rededication of the graves in 2003 (?) to express that anger.
He also blasted the rewriting of history to glorify Kelly.
Sgt Kennedy was leading a search party to find and arrest Kelly and his gang when the bushrangers ambushed the police camp.
The wounded Sgt Kennedy tried to hide in the bush, but Kelly chased after him and shot him dead before stealing his watch and other possessions.
Kelly later claimed he only shot Sgt Kennedy to put him out of his misery as he was in pain and dying from his earlier wounds - a claim the Kennedy family disputes.
Police are sickened by the constant glorifying of Kelly and his gang.
"Winston Churchill once said that 'history is written by the victors', well, one side of the story around armed robbery, theft and multiple murders committed by a bunch of vicious criminals in country Victoria has certainly challenged that statement," Sen-Sgt Davies of Vicpol said.
"From horse thieving to assaults and armed robberies, to unlawful imprisonment and a plan for a massacre by train derailment, to the murder of three policemen, the real story around Kelly has been twisted to something entirely unrecognisable from the historical truth.
"Those who deliberately distort the truth and try to rewrite history, in order to line their pockets by perpetuating a lie, are the worst thieves of all. They steal our past.
"There was nothing brave about Kelly - he was no more brave than Julian Knight or Martin Bryant.
"He was a psychopathic criminal misfit who left a trail of destruction and misery in his wake and who the ignorant have lionised for their own pathetic purposes.
"He was no Robin Hood - there is not a shred of evidence, anywhere, that he spent his filthy lucre on anyone other than himself.
"I only hope that in another 100 years we don't have twisted minds trying to lionise Knight and Bryant.
"No one cares that Kelly may have had a tough life. Almost every single person in the 19th century colony of Victoria had a tough life - and they didn't all become murdering armed robbers.
"Kelly and his mob of thugs would have been consigned to the past had they not wrapped a piece of iron around their heads.
"Thankfully, Kelly ended with a piece of rope around his neck."
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Ken Lay also criticised the glorifying of Kelly and his gang.
"All across Victoria are the bodies of men and women murdered trying to protect their state.
Here are three of them," Mr Lay said in his speech at the Mansfield cemetery.
"It is a shame that in death, another indignity befell Sgt Kennedy and Constables Lonigan and Scanlan.
"They became pawns in the long-running historical conjecture about the meaning of Ned Kelly.
"In other words, they became nothing more than footnotes to the lives and excesses of those who killed them.
"So, let's do these men the honour of stripping away the clutter. Let's give these men our full attention.
"The simple truth is that these men were asked to do something very difficult and very dangerous because it was their job to do it.
"Constable Scanlan knew there was a good chance he wouldn't return, and so, before he left that day on his horse, he told a mate that he could have his dog should he die out there. He did.
"They all died out there.
"There was barbarism and loneliness in their final moments, and the cultural adoration of their killers doesn't change that.
"They hold a sacred place in Victoria Police - as do the other 154 Victorian members killed in the line of duty."
Police Minister Kim Wells, who was also at the ceremony, said the State Government was proud to be associated with the restoration of the graves.
"More than 135 years since the three officers were killed at the battle of Stringybark Creek, their graves have been restored as a mark of respect," he said.
Mr Wells said the Mansfield graves of the Kelly gang victims were among 14 belonging to police officers killed on duty that were being restored as part of the government's commitment to the Victorian Police Graves Memorial Fund.
The fund is managed by the Police Grave Restoration Committee, which is includes members of the Blue Ribbon Foundation, the Police Association and the Victoria Police Historical Society.
Below is an edited version of the speech Leo Kennedy gave at the ceremony
"I am Leo Kennedy, one of Sgt Michael Kennedy and Bridget Tobin's great grandchildren," he said.
"At secondary school I was known as 'Red Ned' due to my great grandfather's murder at the hands of an outlaw and knowledge of the events of the time.
"All my life I have heard about the effects of the murder of Sgt Kennedy on his wife and family. My father Frank repeated things said by his grandmother Bridget and his father James.
"The Kennedys have an untold story. It is a much better story than that of a bully, a cattle thief, a murderer, an economic terrorist; who tried to end his life by suicide by cop - and failed.
"Sgt Kennedy and mounted troopers Lonigan and Scanlan were three Irish migrants, three good and honest police, three respected men in Mansfield and surrounds.
"At the time Mansfield was a growing town, but it was being impeded by an element of lawlessness - thefts of cattle and horses were ruining farmers and damaging the economy.
"Sgt Kennedy was awarded for his efforts in stopping a lot of it. But it would lead to his death. "He led one of two parties of four sent to hunt for the Kelly gang.
"In the case of Bridget Kennedy - like Mrs Lonigan - it is a story of the determination, strength and enterprise of pioneering women, wearing aprons not armour. True heroes. Fighting adversity to raise large families left fatherless after brutal slayings.
"The loss of the three police had a deep impact on Mansfield, the State of Victoria and Australia. It is notable that the Anglican archbishop came to Mansfield after the deaths of these Catholic men - an unprecedented ecumenical act.
"Sgt Kennedy came to Australia with his parents, Hugh and Roaseanna, and possibly other family. We know vaguely of a sister because Jimmy had cousins. Lost - due to the break in the line. One can only imagine their grief. Fortunately they were there for his widow and children.
"Bridget Kennedy was with child (her sixth). Deeply saddened, first hearing her husband was unaccounted for then waiting for days for news.
"Was he captured? Was he wounded? Was he dead? Comforting her five children, aged between nine and two, and worrying about her unborn.
"Then news he was found dead, brutalised - his body blasted into repeatedly after death and robbed. His watch and other possessions sold by the Kellys.
"His stolen note book is still in the hands of a private collector.
"Have a heart - please return it to his family.
"My father would often recite things he heard his grandmother, Sgt Kennedy's wife, say."
Those words have been recorded and passed down through generations of the Kennedy family.
The comments of Sgt Kennedy's wife include:
IT is unjust that Kelly was never tried for the murder of my husband.
THEY should not have stopped at one trial. He should have been tried for the murder of my husband. So it could be there for history. People talk of one murder - there were three.
THEY left him so badly mutilated I was not allowed to see the body - I was not allowed to grieve properly.
THE inquest said he was shot several times after he had been felled. What sort of animals do that?
THEY robbed his body - how low to take a man's watch and other belongings.
THEY bragged about how they blew them away and then they changed their story.
THEY should never release that Kelly movie. There is already too much printed nonsense about that murderer.
"She was indeed in grief and angry all her life at her loss and the treatment of her husband at the hands of the outlaws," Leo Kennedy said at the ceremony.
"And she let it be known.
"She fought the image of as 'bold as Ned Kelly'. She would say there was only one bold one that day 'it was my Michael'.
"She proudly said how she and Mrs Lonigan had stopped that movie.
"As a post script - the Kelly movie was released about a week after she died.
"The other side of Bridget is that of a woman who was resilient and stoic, who faced up to the challenges of raising her family alone.
"She had their sixth child alone - no husband to support her. Imagine her grief when her new born died weeks later.
"From that low ebb she fought back with the support of family, the Mansfield community, the churches and last but not least, the police. It was a community binding effort and we thank them for that support.
"It is often said there is a police family - it is true. The police looked after and supported the Kennedys and Lonigans - and again we thank them.
"Bridget's son James Kennedy, it has been said of him that he seemed to live with a shadow over him and it affected how he dealt with people.
"He appeared arrogant. A front to block out the hurt. His father's killer was used as a symbol of defiance and bravery - but to him he was a cruel killer.
"The mention of Kelly in any form would ignite in him an angry outburst about the gutless cur who killed his father and robbed his body and used it for target practice.
"The hurt ran deep and was with him all his life.
"The impact from the murder of Sgt Kennedy on the Kennedy family goes on - in the form of the treatment of his killer and fictional accounts of his life.
"All ignoring the true victims - the families of the murdered police.
"Seldom has anyone called upon the family to find out their perspective or ask their view. Or even seek our permission for an event or a sign or a tourist promotion.
"When my father passed away in 2009 I started a journey of writing down what I remembered him saying so that it would not be lost like other oral history.
"I went further - I went to the State Library and read the papers of the day.
"I went to the Public Records of Victoria to read the inquest of Sgt Kennedy's death. But I was severely disappointed - only the cover sleeve is there. The contents gone - probably in the hands of some so called historian or lost.
"Wikipedia - on a site with nameless moderators - Sgt Kennedy's death and treatment at the hands of the outlaws keeps disappearing.
"I say, spare me the apologies to Ned. When is someone going to turn their attention to the wives and families of those murdered?
"As a family we were extremely disappointed and upset to find Tourism Victoria describe our forebear as 'associated' with Kelly - he was not. Being murdered by is not the same as associated.
"Imagine our shock when we found a Kelly Trail sign inside the cemetery pointing to their graves - Tourism Victoria, shame on you. Again we were not asked. We were not considered.
"I would like to make some constructive comments.
"In 2012 I sought out the Police Grave Restoration Committee, which approved work on the graves. I wish to thank them for their dedication and work on all fallen police graves. It is a highly commendable activity.
"Going forward, "Tourism Victoria must reshape its pitch - many Victorians, interstate Australians and overseas visitors do not understand the worship of a police killer.
"If you want a trail then make it the Kelly Hunter's trail. Clean it up with some wholesome factual characters.
"For the next generation - what do I say to a son who wants to enter the police force?
"Beware that one day you may come against someone who has been fed a steady diet of Kelly nonsense - that it is OK to defy the law and police.
"Or be brave like the Sgt. Try to do your job like the Sgt. Be proud of your heritage and of being a policeman. Uphold the right.
"As a family we continue to protect the honour and reputation of Sgt Kennedy and his widow. "We will protect their names and image. We will insist upon factual accounts of them - not twisted to attract tourists.
" We are proud of them and their place in history - as true heroes.
"One died on the job for justice and right.
"The other worked hard and raised her family alone. She did not wear stolen armour or blame others - instead she wore an apron, faced into a hard reality, accepted responsibility and raised a family."
I reckon that should be some food for thought...
text from a Kieth Moor article
Originally Posted by Pickles2
..
Bookmarks