ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

R.I.P.


Ned Kelly's body has been found
and now Ned Kelly's buried
in the church's hallowed ground.
The relatives are comforted.

A judge and jury tested Ned
before he was to hang.
A dignity denied to those
killed by the Kelly gang.
Are their relatives comforted ?

What sacrifice did Kelly make
so others could be served ?
His sentence, as a murderer
was such that he deserved.
But his relatives are comforted.

What comfort came to Bridget Tobin
Sergeant Kennedy's young wife?
And who makes an heroic legend,
of the grief that marred her life?
But Ned's relatives are comforted.

yep, spot on Neville, this very subject was raised amongst us yesterday at our Australia Day celebrations!

Thanks Ross.

An interesting poem Neville that raises some interesting thoughts. I wonder what the relatives (descendants) of those killed by Kelly or killed at Glenrowan thought about the burial? I do think you have to give credit to the family though for making the burial a mostly private affair - anything to do with Ned could never be totally private let's face it. A marquis was erected for the burial so that the press and on-lookers couldn't make more fuss and the grave has been apparently filled with concrete so that his remains can't be stolen, and the grave is apparently going to be unmarked.

I do not defend Ned Kelly at all - he committed some awful crimes and deserved to be punished but he still had a mother and sisters who grieved for their son and brother - no different to any other family. I guess that family needs closure too.

Quite a few years back I witnessed a re-enactment of Kelly's trial which was put together by Justice Phillips who I believe was the Chief Justice of Victoria (I think since passed away). It was very interesting and there was no doubt in Justice Phillips mind that Ned did not get what we would today consider a "fair trial", probably the norm for the times, but not fair. From memory his counsel was inexperienced and incompetent. That's not to say that with a fair trial (in today's standards) that the result would not have been different.

Heather

I believe there was never any doubt that Ned Kelly had murdered at least one policeman, a lot would depend on what you class as a fair trial, what we see today as a fair trial is generally refering to the perpetrator not the victim, a murderer got hung, how much fairer than that can you get?

Ross, today we are all entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.... We should all be entitled to competent representation in court and Kelly did not get that according to today's standards. I have no doubt that Kelly murdered, robbed and terrorised and deserved punishment and if his court case was held today, even with good representation, the verdict would be the same as it was in 1880 (except for the punishment). Do we now consider that the theft of a loaf of bread or a coin deserves a sentence of 7 or 14 years or transportation for life? Expectations, and what is considered appropriate in all manner of things has changed since 1788.

Justice for victims is another matter - and on that we would probably agree......

Heather

Good point Ross. What is fair ? That's a big discussion, too much for here I suspect.

Heather, Thanks for the reply
At least Ned Kelly had a chance to have his day in court and put his case. His victims were sentenced to death without recourse to any legal assessment, fair or otherwise.

Neville, because of Kelly's incompetent and inexperienced lawyer he didn't get to put his case to court, that was my point. I wish I could remember more of what Justice Phillips had to say - you can probably google it. He wasn't defending Ned Kelly, simply discussing the courtcase. (Don't think for one minute that I am defending Kelly either - I'm not).

Heather

Fair enough Heather. That leads to issues of the court system which I could go on and on for far too long here. I recommend Evan Whitton's book The Cartel.

For anyone interested.

http://glenrowan1880.com/Trial.htm