Ned Kelly - Where did he go?

Evening All

On the 8th February 1879, Victoria's most wanted man, Ned Kelly and his gang disappeared off of the face of the earth, not to be seen again until June 1880.

Where did Kelly and his gang go?. Victorians are ardament that they never left the state, but again there is no evidence to prove this and have had well over 130 years to prove it.

During the early years of the Clare Valley, (Clare was founded by Paddy Gleeson in 1842, and named the area Clare, as it reminded him of his home county in Ireland, County Clare ) there was a large Irish population and true to early days form, had a great dislike for the British and its rule. The passing of time has now erased all living witnesses, but in very strong local history, locals farmers in the area claim that Ned and his gang took safe refuge in an area known then as "Kelly Town" in an area between Polish Hill River and Penwortham.

There has been a lot written by local history buffs and today, we spent the day with a good friend and a man that has been behind the story of Ned in the Clare Valley. Martin's family were Irish and settled in the area in the mid 1850's and from a very small beginning, Martin still owns the original family farm and a lot more land than his ancestors ever had.

We were privileged to see the ruins of the old Hut, that is claimed where the Kelly gang lived and them Martin took us to the top of one of his blocks, Mount Rufus, with unreal 360 degrees overlooking his land and then onto Mintaro where he is restoring an old flour mill dating back to the 1880's.

As I said above, no one can ever prove that Kelly did stay in Victoria, while on the other hand there is so much local folk law from families that were involved in the story of how Irish families in the area helped feed and hide them from the law.

If you are even in the area, drop in to see Martin and his history room that he his getting together in Mintaro.



Cheers



Stephen