Kelly's first govenor letter Kelly's first govenor letter

Public Record Office Victoria

Public Record Office Victoria (State Archives of Victoria, Australia)
North Melbourne, Australia

Addressed to His Excellency the Governor, Ned dictated this seven-page letter to Warden William Buck from his prison cell. The letter is one of three that Ned dictated whilst incarcerated and brings forth his views on various incidents, most notably the Fitzpatrick shooting, the Stringy Bark Creek murders and the discrepancies in McIntyres reports. Once the letter was completed it was forwarded to Sheriff Rede by J. B. Castieau the gaols governor. The annotations made along the left-hand side of the letter acknowledge that the letter was received after the Executive Council meeting and was then forwarded to the Premier Graham Berry. The letter did little to sway the opinion of the Executive Council, and the date of 11 November was set for his execution

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Details

Title: Kelly's first govenor letter Kelly's first govenor letter
Creator: Public Record Office Victoria, Public Record Office Victoria
Date Created: 1880-11-03
Provenance: VPRS 4966 P0 UNIT 2 ITEM 4 RECORD 11, VPRS 4966 P0 UNIT 2 ITEM 4 RECORD 11
Transcript:
if I had have been allowed to call him I was living with my Brother & several others, in in Bullock Creek, one mile from Stringy Bark we had a house 2 miles of fencing 20 acres of ground cleared for the purpose of growing mangle worsels & Barley for the purpose of distilling whisky We were also digging for Gold. We had tools & sluce boxes & every thing requisite for the work we had a place excavated close to the house for the Purpose of erecting a Small distill so if any one informed on us they would not get the most valuable or main distill that was further down the ? the Sugar & other requisites this is unlawful I know but it goes to show that men spending all their time, labour & money in this way had no intention of murdering Police The things are there at the present time & I could direct any person to where they are to be found. as it has been represented to the Jury at my trial for the purpose of Robbing on the Highway and shooting Police for revenge but as over six months elapsed from the arrest of my mother to the time the encounter with the Police & no murder nor robbery was committed & no person interfered nor molested by me nor any of my companions. as it was represented in the Court that I was searching for the Police for revenge but the facts of the case show that instead of me going to look for the Police in any towns or any where they came
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