66:. After the plan failed, the gang, having taken hostages in a local hotel, wore the armour during a final shootout with the police. Byrne died from a stray bullet that hit his groin through a small gap in the armour, and in an attempt to rescue Dan and Hart, Ned donned his suit during a fifteen-minute exchange of gunfire with the police. Although the armour protected his head and torso, he received several bullet wounds to the hands and legs, causing significant blood loss and resulting in his capture. Hart and Dan died during the final stages of the siege, possibly in a suicide pact. After making sufficient recovery from his wounds, Ned was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by hanging.
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helmet was separate with internal leather straps that straddled the head, keeping the massive weight off of the collar bones and the shoulders, also allowing it to be removed easily. Ned Kelly's armour weighed 44 kilograms (97 lb). His suit was the only one to have an apron at the back, but all four had front aprons. Padding is only known from Ned's armour and it is not clear if the other suits were similarly padded. Ned wore a padded skull cap and his helmet also had internal strapping so that his head could take some of the weight. After the shootout there were five bullet marks on the helmet, three on the breast-plate, nine on the back-plate, and one on the shoulder-plate.
256:(SLV). Byrne's was kept by Hare and now belongs to the latter's descendants. Dan Kelly and Hart's are still owned by the Victorian Police force. As no effort was made to maintain the armour's integrity while stored, the suits were reassembled by guesswork. In 2002 several parts were identified from photographs taken shortly after the siege and reunited with their original suits. The SLV was able to exchange Hart's breastplate for Ned Kelly's, making Kelly's suit currently the most original. In January 2002 all four suits were displayed together for an exhibition in the Old Melbourne Gaol.
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168:(1,292 °F), which is consistent with the bush forge theory. The quality of forging was also determined to be less than believed, and it was considered unlikely to have been done by a blacksmith. The bush forge theory is now widely accepted. After heating, the mould boards were likely beaten straight over a green log before being cut into shape and riveted together to form each individual piece.
199:". Constable Gascoigne, who recognised Ned's voice, told Superintendent Sadleir he had "fired at him point blank and hit him straight in the body. But there is no use firing at Ned Kelly; he can't be hurt". Although aware of the information supplied by the informant prior to the siege, Sadleir later wrote that even after Gascoigne's comment "no thought of armour" had occurred to him.
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armour made a number of policemen even question whether he was human, and his apparent invulnerability caused onlookers to react with "superstitious awe". Constable Arthur, the first policeman to encounter Kelly, recalled that he was initially "completely astonished, and could not understand what the object was firing at was"; as the shootout continued he thought Kelly was a "huge
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59:, either donated by sympathisers or stolen from farms. The boards were heated and then beaten into shape over the course of four to five months, most likely in a crude bush forge and possibly with the assistance of blacksmiths. While the suits successfully repelled bullets, their heavy weight made them cumbersome to wear, and the gang debated their utility.
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reported that
Glenrowan district blacksmith Joe Grigg had made the armour from parts of ploughs and harvesting machines while watched by Ned and Dan Kelly. Ned paid for Grigg's work in gold sovereigns. Grigg immediately told the authorities about it and was told to keep the cash as he had earned it
74:. However, within days of the Kelly gang's demise, the armour started to become mismatched, and there was confusion over which pieces belonged to which suit. It was not until 2002, after extensive research, that owners reached an agreement to swap the necessary pieces to restore the original suits.
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The
Victorian Police were told about the armour three times by informants, but Hare and Sadleir both dismissed the information as "nonsense" and "an impossibility". None of the police realised the gang were wearing armour until Ned fell. In the mist and dim light of dawn, the size and shape of his
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originally believed the armour could only have been made by a professional blacksmith in a forge. A professional blacksmith would have heated the steel to over 1,000 °C (1,830 °F), before shaping it. A bush forge could only reach 750 °C (1,380 °F) which would make shaping the
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The gang's armour was made of iron 6 mm thick, each consisting of a long breast-plate, shoulder-plates, back-guard, apron and helmet. The helmet resembled a tin can without a crown, and included a long slit for the eyes. The suits' separate parts were strapped together on the body while the
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News reports of the armour caused a sensation throughout
Australia and much of the world. It has become a widely recognisable image and icon, inspiring many cultural depictions and cementing Ned Kelly as one of Australia's most well-known historical figures. The suits of armour ended up in both
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in Sydney to determine how the armour was made and what temperatures were involved. The results indicated that the heating of the metal was "patchy". Some parts had been bent cold while other parts had been subjected to extended periods in a heat source of not much more than 700 °C
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commented on the gang's imagination and recommended similar armour for use by
British infantry. The police announcement to the Australian public that the armour was made from ploughshares was ridiculed, disputed, and deemed impossible even by blacksmiths.
104:(1869). Set in 17th-century England, the novel is about a family of outlaws, and in one part describes them on horseback wearing "iron plates on breast and head". Another story is that Ned saw and drew a suit of armour during a visit to the
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honestly. This information did not become known until Grigg's death in 1934 as authorities apparently did not want details known to the public and, apart from its mention in Grigg's 1934 obituary, the story remained relatively unknown.
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during a carnival procession through the streets of
Beechworth in 1873. The gang also had a network of Chinese sympathisers, and Byrne, who grew up near Chinese camps on the
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Although no bullets actually penetrated through the armour, each bullet to Ned's helmet caused massive bruising, lacerations and disorienting concussion. All four men wore
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There was considerable debate over whether to destroy the armour, but all four disassembled suits were eventually stored in
Melbourne. Hare gave Ned Kelly's armour to
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Following the siege of
Glenrowan the media reported the events and use of armour around the world. The gang were admired in military circles and
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The manufacture of the four suits took four or five months. Two stolen circular saws and iron tacks were tried and found not to be bulletproof.
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There are two main theories for the inspiration for the armour. One is that members of the gang had witnessed performers wearing
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devised a plan to create bulletproof armour and wear it during shootouts with the police. He and other members of the Kelly gang—
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for plough shares were ultimately adopted. It was likely that the first suit made was defective, and was therefore discarded.
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log by the gang themselves. Due to the quality of the workmanship and the difficulties involved in forging, historians and
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An 1880 illustration showing Ned Kelly's helmet and armour suit complete with an apron and shoulder plates
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The gang found use for the armour as part of a plan to derail and ambush a police train in June 1880 at
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metal very difficult. In 2003 Byrne's suit of armour was disassembled and tested by
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195:, to which Constable Kelly (no relation to Ned Kelly) replied, "No, it must be the
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108:. What is widely accepted is that the idea and decision to wear armour was Ned's.
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Dan Kelly's armour (left) and Steve Hart's armour (right), on display in the
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wrapped in a blanket". A civilian volunteer, Dowsett, cried out that it was
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Ned Kelly: The Life and
Adventures of Australia's Notorious Bushranger
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94:. The other theory is that Ned got the idea from his favourite book,
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private and public hands; Ned Kelly's, for instance, is held by the
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Australian
Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
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Piecing
Together the Past: The Kelly Armour Exchange
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Homemade armour used by Ned Kelly and his associates
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291:. 31 March 1881. p. 2. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
416:. Hobart, Tasmania. 19 October 1934. p. 7
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147:According to legend the armour was made on a
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572:Ned Kelly: The Authentic Illustrated History
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424:– via National Library of Australia.
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90:, was reported to have been fluent in
23:Ned Kelly's armour on display in the
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1100:The Inner History of the Kelly Gang
372:Australian Broadcasting Corporation
319:Australian Town and Country Journal
252:, and it was later donated to the
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531:Ned Kelly: Under the Microscope
468:Bailup.com Ned Kelly Bushranger
350:. SA. 13 August 1880. p. 3
1081:True History of the Kelly Gang
929:True History of the Kelly Gang
798:The Kelly Gang (Majeroni play)
322:. NSW. 10 July 1880. p. 6
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857:The Story of the Kelly Gang
31:rifle and one of his boots.
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1187:Individual suits of armour
758:The Kelly Gang (Rede play)
384:Testing Joe Byrne's Armour
790:Ned Kelly, the Bushranger
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510:State Library of Victoria
254:State Library of Victoria
72:State Library of Victoria
25:State Library of Victoria
1151:Armour of the Kelly gang
873:When the Kellys Were Out
570:McMenomy, Keith (2001).
136:Manufacturing the armour
1049:(1970 soundtrack album)
203:Aftermath and ownership
132:coats over the armour.
1144:Other related articles
574:. Hardie Grant Books.
483:State Library Victoria
232:Victoria Police Museum
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975:First-class Marksman
889:The Glenrowan Affair
881:When the Kellys Rode
533:. CSIRO Publishing.
408:"NED KELLY'S ARMOUR"
342:"Trial of Ned Kelly"
289:Mount Alexander Mail
35:In 1879, Australian
742:Catching the Kellys
726:Cultural depictions
703:Michael Edward Ward
449:(2 July 1880), p. 7
391:Library of Congress
389:14 May 2009 at the
1019:Trial of Ned Kelly
1011:Ballad for One Gun
464:2018-05-15 at the
250:Sir William Clarke
242:Arthur Conan Doyle
182:Glenrowan shootout
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555:. Cheshire.
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512:January 2003
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491:. Retrieved
487:the original
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435:Farwell 1970
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418:. Retrieved
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352:. Retrieved
347:Burra Record
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1182:Bushrangers
1125:'Ned Kelly'
1092:Non fiction
691:Authorities
677:Harry Power
479:"Ned Kelly"
413:The Mercury
326:19 February
189:blackfellow
171:The Hobart
153:blacksmiths
149:stringybark
142:Mouldboards
101:Lorna Doone
78:Inspiration
39:and outlaw
1177:Body armor
1171:Categories
1065:Literature
994:Television
750:Ostracized
667:Kate Kelly
646:Steve Hart
634:Kelly Gang
493:2018-05-16
420:4 February
260:References
88:goldfields
49:Steve Hart
37:bushranger
1192:Ned Kelly
1123:Grevillea
1054:Ned Kelly
1046:Ned Kelly
1003:Ned Kelly
983:The Trial
967:Paintings
948:Ned Kelly
913:Ned Kelly
897:Ned Kelly
830:Ned Kelly
822:Ned Kelly
806:Ned Kelly
672:Tom Lloyd
651:Dan Kelly
641:Joe Byrne
620:Ned Kelly
447:The Argus
193:the Devil
92:Cantonese
64:Glenrowan
53:Dan Kelly
45:Joe Byrne
41:Ned Kelly
782:Hands Up
551:(1970).
529:(2014).
462:Archived
387:Archived
354:12 March
520:Sources
397:(ANSTO)
174:Mercury
160:at the
130:oilskin
1103:(1929)
1084:(2001)
1076:(1991)
1030:(1980)
1022:(1977)
1014:(1963)
1006:(1959)
986:(1947)
978:(1946)
959:(1963)
951:(1942)
932:(2019)
924:(2003)
916:(2003)
908:(1993)
900:(1970)
892:(1951)
884:(1934)
876:(1922)
868:(1920)
860:(1906)
841:(2012)
833:(1977)
825:(1960)
817:(1951)
809:(1942)
801:(1905)
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785:(1900)
777:(1899)
769:(1899)
761:(1896)
753:(1881)
745:(1879)
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197:bunyip
112:Design
1038:Music
940:Radio
838:Kelly
734:Stage
158:ANSTO
849:Film
576:ISBN
557:ISBN
535:ISBN
422:2012
356:2012
328:2012
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