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The creation of a time line of the siege is
fraught with danger, this is because times
declared differ from witness to witness.
The following is as close to correct as I have been able to get at this
stage.
If you believe I have it wrong, feel free to offer your suggestions.
No one text has attempted to
cover all that you see below.
Sat 26th June
6:30 pm Joe executes Aaron Sherritt. (Brown says 10pm)
7:30 pm Ned & Steve enter Glenrowan. (Brown) (we know for sure that
Ned & Steve watched the last
train pass) (Gary Dean says 1am Sunday; Kevin Passey 6am)
Ned & Steve take some horses behind McDonnell's Hotel and also a drum
of gunpowder.
9:00 pm Last train passes through Glenrowan. Dan & Joe leave Aaron's
hut on a 25 mile ride
to Glenrowan. (source: Molony & Brown)
Ned & Steve try and fail to lift rails at dangerous bend.
Sun 27th June
12:00 am Ned visits the tents of the navvies or stone breakers;
awakes Ann Jones at the Glenrowan Inn; back to tents;
The Stationmaster's house (Mr & Mrs. Stanistreet says Ned knocked at
3am);
The Platelayers, (Denis Sullivan (platelayer) said he was visited at
11pm Sat night).
Note: people offer conflicting times in there statements, however we
know it was the
Station-Master who directed Ned to the platelayers homes. Ned had 8 men
with him
when he awoke the Station-Master.
3:00 am Rails lifted. (takes one hour) (2.am according to
Dunstan)
6:30-9 am Police leave Sherritt hut. (Armstrong says he left at 9am)
11:00 am Curnow arrives in his buggy.
1:00 pm Constable Armstrong arrives at Beechworth, Ward notified of
Sherritt's death.
2:30 pm Hare and Sadleir notified.
3:00 pm Hop, step & jump activities.
4:00 pm Steve brings women and children from the Stationmasters to
the Inn (Gary Dean)
4:30 pm Standish notified. (Brown)
6:30 pm Prisoners dancing. (Gary Dean says men were taken to the Inn,
women left at the
Stationmasters house. However he also has them doing this at 12:00)
7:30 pm O'Connor receives request to use his trackers.
9:57 pm Special train leaves Melbourne. (Carrington) (10:15 Brown)
10:00 pm Party of prisoners with Ned and Joe go to collect Bracken.
(source-Curnow's statement)
(Gary Dean says Curnow left at 10 pm) (Molony agrees with 10pm)
10:15 pm Train arrives at Essendon. (Molony says train left Melbourne
at this time.)
11:00pm-12 am Bracken arrives at the Inn. (source-Curnow's statement)
Mon 28th June
1:30 am Police train arrives at Benalla. (1am according to Gary Dean,
1.30am Molony)
Curnow starts out to stop the train.
2:00 am Ned declares everyone is free to go, (Brown & Gary Dean) they
stay.
(Some say Ann Jones forced them to stay, she says Ned wanted to speak to
2 men and others
stayed as they wanted to listen).
2:05 Trains (pilot and special) leave Benalla. (source- railways).
(2:30am source: Molony)
3:00 am Train pulls into Glenrowan. (source-reporter Melvin says
3:15am, George Allen 3:00am) (Arthur says 2:30am)
(Molony says that the train was less than two miles from
Glenrowan at this time)
3:00 am Bracken escapes after having hidden a key in the hem of his
trousers.
3:10 am Shooting starts. (source-reporter McWhirter says 3:15 am)
(source-const Phillips says shooting by 3am)
Skyrockets fired.
There was roughly a two hour period after Hare left,
where the only police present were O'Connor,
five trackers and seven troopers.
5:00 am Sadleir arrives. ** (Clune
has 5:40am)
5-5:30 am Steele arrives.
** (Const Phillips says neither Sadleir nor Steele were there before Joe
was killed)
5:30 am Joe killed.( time verified by the two persons he fell on)
6:30 am Ned's last stand, 30 minutes duration approx.
(source-reporter Melvin says between 7-8 am)
7:00 am Ned captured (Kenneally) Line repaired.
7:17 am Sunrise.
9:00 am Beechworth police arrive.
10:00 am Sadleir calls ceasefire.
Last prisoners leave. (source: Molony)
12:00 pm Rev. Gibney arrives. More police arrive.
1:00 pm No more shots heard. More police arrive.
2:50 pm Last police volley. (Argus)
3:00 pm The Inn is fired.
4:00 pm Bodies raked from the ashes of the fire. (Kenneally has it
fired at 4pm)
*note: it is at times difficult to confirm times. As the Reward Board
put it in relation to Gascoigne, 'but is somewhat
confused as to the periods of the day, when certain events happened.'
**note: according to Constable Phillips, in being questioned by The
Royal Commission, neither party was on the
ground before 6am. However he seems to have based this on Railways
records, Sgt Steele arrived on horseback,
not by train. |