Thread: Ned Kelly.

Originally Posted by Chenz

I was alway of the opinion that Kelly was a criminal and got his just deserts. Most of reason he and his family attracted police attention was he was a thief and constantly under suspicion for one crime or another.

I read Peter Fitsimmons book which seemed to gloss over a lot of the facts that were raised by Digger and made him out to be a poor misguided hardly done by lad.

As was stated previously, most people had a hard time back then and did not revert to stealing horses and cattle, armed robbery and ambushing and shooting police officers. I agree, if it wasn't for the lump of plough iron around his head he would be just one more crim hung and buried.

Lets also not forget that if it was not for the school teacher escaping and alerting the train driver at Glenrowan, Kelly would have derailed a train full of police officers with many of them being killed or injured. Today we would would call that a terrorist act

No, a terrorist act would be if he was going to derail and kill all aboard a passenger train. An act of war is when you target the opposing troops
Now to me a train full of govt reps with rifles and pistols are troops, not normal police on the beat.
As has already been said the 3 cops who died where sent to kill kelly, without any warrant, in plain clothes. Now what would you call that today? 4 police , heavily armed , in plain clothes , sent with specific instructions to kill several members of a group who had done minor crimes to that point?

Unlawful

We will never know what was the EXACT and real truth from BOTH sides.
The Kellys did wrong and broke the law, FACT.
Were the Police at the time totally blameless in all respects and did they conduct themselves, in all honesty within the spirit and word of the law? No they did not.
There were things done on BOTH sides that should not have been. FACT.

People here have there on opinions whether or not the the kellys were persecuted; however when one of the descendants of one of the members of the kelly gang gave a watch that was taken back to the original family they thought they were doing the right thing, only to find the person who received the watch wanted them charged with receiving and handling stolen goods. I do not know how far this went or if it was acted upon but you would think that a simple "thank you" would have been in order.

My personal views are exactly that MY personal views and they will not be stated here.


Note: I will not respond to any correspondence on this.

I think that's spot on G. Not black nor white, but a shade of grey.
And as for this...

Originally Posted by gruntfuttock

when one of the descendants of one of the members of the kelly gang gave a watch that was taken back to the original family they thought they were doing the right thing, only to find the person who received the watch wanted them charged with receiving and handling stolen goods. I do not know how far this went or if it was acted upon but you would think that a simple "thank you" would have been in order.

I believe the correct technical term for such a person is 'arsehole'.
Any honest act or gesture of an apologetic nature should be received in similar spirit, talk about milking it....


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Like I've said, Ya've gotta look at both sides.
I have my views, some agree with 'em some don't. If someone is prepared to listen to mine, I'm ALWAYS prepared to listen to theirs........and if I am prepared to first listen to someone elses view, then I would expect them to listen but for sure not necessarily agree with, mine.
All sorts of views, ....just look at the differing views on this Forum,...the subject is massive, as are the views. Ya can strike up a conversation just about anywhere, as I have, about "The Kellys", & someone will have a view.
I was at a Wycheproof Hotel a few years ago, talking to someone about it, and another guy came over who'd heard us talking, and He joined in,...all good!
Pickles.

Interestingly I did a job for a bloke who was a relative of the K's and he only just retired permanently from the Federal Police at the time did undercover work mostly. He did tell me a lot more but that is all I am going to say. (Still sleeps with a gun under his pillow). He showed me his driver licences all under different names all legit, credit cards etc. When I asked if he told them he was related, he just said no, way to many one sided arguments, generally doesn't tell anyone he is related.

Originally Posted by gruntfuttock

Interestingly I did a job for a bloke who was a relative of the K's and he only just retired permanently from the Federal Police at the time did undercover work mostly. He did tell me a lot more but that is all I am going to say. (Still sleeps with a gun under his pillow). He showed me his driver licences all under different names all legit, credit cards etc. When I asked if he told them he was related, he just said no, way to many one sided arguments, generally doesn't tell anyone he is related.

"All I am going to say"???...(I presume you are speaking about the Kellys?)......well then mate, why say anything??.....Big secrets, about the Kellys,????!!!!.....after 135yrs??.....Wow.
I've spoken to plenty of people, some Kelly relos, some Police,...never had any issues with anything,...like I said, disagreement is something one expects when the subject of Ned kelly is raised, and that is NEVER a problem with me on this subject,.....in fact, I enjoy it.
I absolutely LOVE a good discussion, so on this subject inparticular, the more the merrier, & the more opinions the better, IMHO of course.Pickles.