Flashermac Posted September 1, 2011 Report Share Posted September 1, 2011 Remains of Australian outlaw Ned Kelly identified The headless remains of Australian outlaw Ned Kelly have been identified, 130 years after he was hanged for murder, officials have said. His body was dumped into a mass grave, later transferred to another mass grave and again exhumed in 2009. Although his skull is still missing the body was identified by comparing a DNA sample with that of a relative. Ned Kelly was seen by many as a cold-blooded killer and others as a folk hero of Irish-Australian resistance. The bushranger killed three policeman before being captured in Victoria state in 1880 and was hanged for murder at Old Melbourne Jail in November of the same year. But his body went missing after it was thrown into a mass grave. The bodies in the grave were transferred from the prison to Pentridge prison in 1929 and then exhumed again in 2009. Scientists at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine said they had identified the body after a DNA sample was taken from a Melbourne school teacher who is a direct relative - the great grandson of Kelly's sister. The state's Attorney-General Robert Clark said he found the discovery amazing. According to the ABC network, the forensic team had to sift through the remains of 34 people mingled together in the mass grave. "To think a group of scientists could identify the body of a man who was executed more than 130 years ago, moved and buried in a haphazard fashion among 33 other prisoners, most of whom are not identified, is amazing," said Mr Clark. The exploits of Ned Kelly and his gang have been the subject of numerous films and television series, including a portrayal by Rolling Stone Mick Jagger in a 1970 movie of the same name. My link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian2 Posted September 1, 2011 Report Share Posted September 1, 2011 Australia's Jesse James, except he was hung rather than shot in the back. Strange how most cultures make heroes out of a bad guy, I suppose England's would be Robin Hood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted September 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2011 People seem to like those who thumb their noses at authority, at least as long as they don't bother the ordinary folks. In the 1930s depression, many tried to make heroes out of bank robbers like Bonnie and Clyde and Pretty Boy Floyd. The banks were foreclosing on homes and farms, and poor folks despised the bankers. Can't blame them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozpharlap Posted September 1, 2011 Report Share Posted September 1, 2011 It has become news again because they have found and identified the skull, as well, they now have the complete skeleton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robaus Posted September 3, 2011 Report Share Posted September 3, 2011 It has become news again because they have found and identified the skull, as well, they now have the complete skeleton From what I saw on the news yesterday the so called Ned skull discovered a while ago does not match his DNA; only the recently identified skeleton is genuine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozpharlap Posted September 3, 2011 Report Share Posted September 3, 2011 Could be, but it is what I read, they connected his tooth with a skull, but it was not in a broadsheet, so, it may or may not be right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozpharlap Posted September 4, 2011 Report Share Posted September 4, 2011 There is a program tonight about the skull on SBS 1 Australia @ 1930, I would love to watch it, to see what the exact position is, but I am out for a father's day dinner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted September 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2011 Ned Kelly is probably one of the best known Australians in the US. The idea of an outlaw running around in homemade armour fascinates people. Also, he was Irish and most Americans have some Irish in their ancestry, even Barak Obama and Muhammad Ali. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian2 Posted September 9, 2011 Report Share Posted September 9, 2011 Talking of thieves.... Big news in South Australia this week as Senator Mary Jo Fisher uses depression as a defence against her shop lifting charges. Will I fully sympathise with sufferers of this illness I'm not sure that one of the symptoms is the urge to fill your shopping bag with other people's property and not pay for it. This is one of the problems with an illness that doesn't manifest it self in the form of spots or the loss of limbs; people can claim to suffer from it to defend behaviour that could be just bad social skills or contempt for other people's belongings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coss Posted September 9, 2011 Report Share Posted September 9, 2011 or a tendancy to thieve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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