City secures piece of Kelly folklore

Source The Border Mail Newspaper.
May 25 2002.

WANGARATTA City Council has bought the Kelly gang mural which was formerly at the Solectron building.

It paid $7500.

The sale was announced yesterday by Mayor Cr Geoff Dinning.

``The mural was initially purchased by IBM and displayed prominently in the foyer of the former Solectron facility in Wangaratta,'' Cr Dinning said.

``The striking artwork was painted by renowned contemporary artist Mr Barry Warisn (Walsh) and has been the subject of considerable negotiation between the council and Solectron since the council's purchase of the Solectron site late last year.''

Cr Dinning said he was thankful to Solectron management for their ``sympathetic consideration`` in ensuring the Kelly mural remained in its rightful home.

He said there had been considerable interest from collectors across Australia.

``There is no doubt the Kelly legend is integral with our local folklore,'' he said.

``In fact, Ned Kelly and Glenrowan are the biggest story in Australian folklore and it is important that we respectfully capitalise on the unique opportunities that the Kelly story provides.''

Cr Dinning said the council was yet to decide where the mural, which measured 2m x 4m, would be kept.

The council announced in December that it had bought the Solectron building in South Wangaratta industrial estate for a fraction of the site's value.

The site is valued at more than $6 million but was bought for $731,000.

The Victorian Government contributed $365,000.

The Regional Development Minister, Mr John Brumby, said at the time that he had directed his department to consider the estate when negotiating with new businesses wishing to set up in the State.

The Wangaratta council took over the site last month but as yet a tenant has 
not been found.

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State library buys Kelly's armour

The Border Mail Aug 1 2001
 

By NICOLE STRAHAN and AAP

NED Kelly's North East descendents believe a piece of armour worn by the convicted murderer turned national icon when he was shot and captured in 1880 always belonged in the State Library.

The piece, which protected the upper arm and shoulder, was yesterday bought at auction for $199,750 by the State Library of Victoria.

The library contributed $80,000 to the purchase and the remaining funds came from the Federal Government.

Until yesterday, the shoulder piece was the only part of Kelly's suit of armour that was privately owned.

Mrs Bernadette Griffiths, of Wangaratta, whose husband Paul is Kelly's great nephew, said the piece of armour ``should have been in the library in the first place''.

``It's an icon, isn't it,'' she said.

A spokesman for auctioneers Christie's said the State Library had beaten two other bidders, including one from outside Australia.

The Federal Government stopped a permit in May which would have allowed the armour to be taken overseas.

Arts Minister Mr Peter McGauran refused the permit under the Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act after fears were raised the shoulder place would be sold at auction and lost to the nation.

The rest of the Kelly armour is displayed in three different sites - the State Library, the Victoria Police Museum and the Museum of Victoria.

It is believed all three displays will be brought together.

The shoulder piece, fashioned from the mould board of a plough, is 25cm long and weighs 2.37kg.

Other items of Ned Kelly paraphernalia sold at the auction included a transcription of the Jerilderie Letter.

It sold to an undisclosed bidder for $58,000.

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Wed, Jun 05, 2002 Border Mail
 

Armour returns for commemorative dinner
 

IT has been 122 years since the Kelly gang siege at Glenrowan and this month some of the original armour of the bushranger's mate, Joe Byrne, will return to the town.

It will be first time any of the original armour has been at Glenrowan since 1880.

Byrne's armour will be displayed as part of the Kelly siege commemorative dinner on June 28.

The manager, development, of Wangaratta Unlimited, Mr Graham Nickless, said the armour would arrive by pack horse, just as it had when Byrne and Dan Kelly had ridden from the Wool Shed Valley to join Ned Kelly and Steve Hart at Anne Jones' Inn.

The armour will arrive to the sounds of Irish music performed by The Sheds.

Byrne was shot dead during the siege.

The Kelly siege commemorative dinner is being held on the anniversary of the siege and on the site from where the first shots were fired.

Special guest will be author Ian Jones, an authority on Ned Kelly, who will set the scene.

Mr Ashley Davies will present an audiovisual tribute to Kelly.

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Sat, Jun 08, 2002

The Border Mail.

Outlaw inspired art Mick Toal has a yarn with a couple of tradesman 
who have been inspired by the famous armour of the infamous Kelly 
gang to transform scrap materials into big-selling rustic art forms.
 

ALMOST 122 years on from his abortive last stand at Glenrowan, two Albury tradesman are cashing in on the Ned Kelly myth through a rustic range of products inspired by the infamous outlaw.

Earlier this year boilermaker Gary Zienert (should be Ziebell), 40, teamed up with his life-long mate, carpenter Peter Gibbs, 41, to form Brinc - Bushrangers Incorporated - and produce a range of Australiana outlaw items.

The venture had its genesis last year when Gary was working as a theatre technician at the Sydney Opera House.

``I knocked-up a few Kelly masks for a stage production and people wanted to buy a few,'' he said.

``To get some of the finer details I got in touch with historian Dave White and I ended up getting really interested in the Kelly legend.''

What began as a few one-off creations and informal adornments for mate's bars has grown into an ever-expanding product range with artistic aspirations.

Brinc products are now on sale at the Indigo Shire's Beechworth Visitors Centre and Gary and Peter have received enquiries about displaying their wares in Canberra's National Museum of Australia and a number of metropolitan galleries.

As part of his research Gary went to Ned Kelly: The Exhibition, which is still showing at the Old Melbourne Gaol

The exhibition - which has been extended due to popular demand - was the first time the suits of armour worn by Ned, his younger brother Dan, Steve Hart and Joe Byrne at the gang's last stand on June 28, 1880, have been displayed together.

``Once I did my research I found that each suit of armour was unique and each had very distinctive features,'' he said.

``They were all made by different blacksmiths - whose identities were kept a secret - and the plate was cobbled together with rivets and bolts.''

Gary soon started to become more creative with his armour-clad creations and the gang's distinctive helmets became rustic braziers and stout lamp shades.

After teaming-up with Mr Gibbs, who is a staunch enthusiast of working with recycled native Australian timbers, masks in varying scales began to adorn coat and wine racks.

The pair have even taken up bushranging themselves, foraging materials for their project from farm clearing sales and scrap yards.

Mr Gibbs' South Albury shed now contains stacks of worn timber, battered sheets of metal, strips of leather, railway sleepers and spikes and even expended .303 cartridge cases - all waiting to be transformed into outlaw-inspired art.

Stuck up on the wall of the workshop are pictures of the four sets of the original Kelly gang armour.

Ned's battered helmet is the biggest single seller in an ever-growing range but some of the Brinc creations feature reproductions of all four helmets - accurate down to the rivet, bolt and bullet dent.

Like the originals, the mild steel helmets are heated and hammered into shape and Mr Zienert blackens the finished products in a furnace before sealing them with a clear lacquer.

Brinc will have a stall at this weekend's Winery Walkabout markets in Rutherglen.

 Happy to help!

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Thu, Jun 27, 2002 - The Border Mail.
 

Kelly gang armour matched up

THE armour used by Ned Kelly and his gang was matched up yesterday for the first time since the famous showdown with police at Glenrowan.

The pieces of the three suits of armour held in public collections were rearranged to coincide with the anniversary of the bushrangers' final shootout at the Glenrowan pub on June 28, 1880.

After the siege the four sets of armour were dispersed.

Ned's suit, made up of helmet, breastplate, backplate, apron and shoulder-plates, bolted and strapped together using forged iron from ploughshares, was presented in the Victorian Supreme Court as evidence in his trial.

Suits fashioned for Dan Kelly, Steve Hart and Joe Byrne were also gathered by police.

In December, 1880, Joe Byrne's armour was souvenired by Supt Hare and is now owned by a private collector.

The three other suits are owned by the Victoria Police Museum, State Library of Victoria and Old Melbourne Jail.

A century of being moved from place to place for display in museums and exhibitions resulted in the suits becoming mismatched.

In recent years, researchers have identified the correct pieces for each suit using photographs taken after the Glenrowan siege, sketches made at the same time, police archival records, diaries and forensic testing.

In a ceremony yesterday at the Old Melbourne Jail, the police, State Library and the jail swapped sections to restore the suits made for Ned, Dan and Steve Hart.

Ned's 41kg suit is now complete at the State Library of Victoria.

On Saturday, June 27, 1880, the gang assembled at Glenrowan and commandeered the hotel.

When the police arrived, Ned took refuge in the bush and the other three in the pub.

Ned, in his armour, confronted the police but was brought down with bullets in his legs.

The pub was set alight and the bodies of the other three gang members were found in the ashes.

Ned was hanged on November 11, 1880.

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Forges fashion history for the Kelly Gang

In Ned Kelly's day, blacksmiths were as common as 7-Eleven stores now. And in Victoria there were plenty of Irish kinsmen - anti-establishment types or men out for some cash on the sly - who would be willing to hammer out some armor for a Kelly Gang heist.

Were he alive in 1999, Ned might have to ride a few more kilometres to find a ``smithy'', but the bushranger would still be able to procure some heavy iron suits.

Mr Paul Horigan, from the Australian Blacksmiths Association, proved this yesterday at the Old Melbourne Gaol - but there was no subversive intent.

The old bluestone Russell Street jail, where Ned Kelly was hanged 118 years ago, is holding a Blacksmiths Day in its forecourt tomorrow.

Mr Horigan and others in his trade will demonstrate how blacksmiths would have used hammer, tongs and a bellowed forge fire to create the four knee-length suits and helmets used by Ned and Dan Kelly, Steve Hart and Joe Byrne in their shoot-out with police at the Glenrowan Inn on 28 June 1880.

Historians believe the design of the body armor may have come from a sighting by Byrne and Ned Kelly of traditional Chinese soldier armor worn in a parade in Beechworth in 1873 to commemorate the birthday of Edward, Prince of Wales.

A Kelly Gang expert, Mr Ian Jones, said the 50-millimetre-thick steel breast and back plates, aprons, shoulder pieces and helmets were made using sections of ploughs donated by sympathetic farmers around Oxley and Greta, outside Wangaratta. Some were stolen.

Mr Jones believes Ned's suit was made in great secrecy by his cousin, Tom Lloyd, and the Kelly Gang in a rough bush forge behind the Bald Hills near the Kelly homestead at Glenrowan West. It weighed about 50kilograms and after being tested with a rifle shot, it was deemed bulletproof.

Police heard about the existence of the armor a month before the Glenrowan confrontation, but did not believe it until the gang stepped out on to the hotel's verandah, guns blazing.

The four Kelly Gang armor suits are on display at the Old Melbourne Gaol until 31 January.

Mr Jones says the armor prolonged the gang members' lives once the gunfight started, but it also gave them false confidence.

They could have shot at police arriving by train, but instead boldly waited for the law to come to them. Ned Kelly was shot in the arms and legs and captured by 8am. The other three were killed.

SOURCE THE AGE 9 JAN 1999.

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