A Bit of History

We are in the last month of winter with yesterday cool and overcast.
When the sun omits to shine not even the birds feel the urge to sing.
Yes, we are spoilt, and the idea of remaining indoors for the day was not encouraging, so we decided on a drive.  
Only a little over an hour away is the sugarcane town of Maryborough.
Every Thursday is market and 'dress-up in the past' day.
So,  on with the warm clothes and off we went.
Through pine forests, past wild brumbies then vast sugar cane plantations, and on to the town.
An enjoyable time was spent looking at all the wares eating popcorn and watching the lunch time re-enactment with cannon blast, in the town square.

Although I doubt that Ned Kelly ever came to Queensland.

Maryborough sports his statue guarding over a Service Station/Motel with pride.

(Petrol priced at $1.23 a litre, now isn't that robbery?)

NED KELLY

(1854 - 1880)

On a cold June morning, more than 100 years ago a bush ranger called Ned Kelly fought his final battle.
He was an outlaw who put on a suit of armour, rode a horse and fought police. Today, he is an Australian legend.
The eldest of eight children, he was born to Irish parents in Victoria in 1854.
When only twelve years of age his ex-convict father died. This forced the family to move closer to relatives at Greta, two hundred and forty kilometres northeast of Melbourne.
The countryside consisted of wild rugged terrain, making life hard.
The best land was held by a handful of wealthy squatters.
Ned's family was poor and the only opportunity they had to own land was as 'selectors'.
Under the selection system families took up areas of land set aside by the government and paid them off bit by bit.
As part of the scheme they were obliged to improve the property by clearing it, building a house, putting up fences and growing crops.
If this wasn't done, the land could be taken away.
For many it was an impossible situation. The plots of land were small, and the soil poor, making it impossible to make a living.
Faced with poverty, selectors often stole horses and cattle.
At sixteen Ned was convicted of receiving a stolen horse and served three years in gaol. His release came in 1874. 
In April 1878, a police officer accused Ned's mother of attacking him,  and Ned of shooting him in the wrist.
Whether this was true or not, Mrs. Kelly was sent to prison for three years and a one hundred pound reward was offered for the capture of Ned.
From that time on Ned, his brother Dan and two others lived and hid in the bush.
A reward of two thousand pounds was offered for Kelly and his gang.
This was later to rise to an amazing eight thousand pounds, the equivalent today of nearly two millions dollars!
But people supported Ned and for almost two years they helped the gang evade police.
During this time the Kelly gang robbed two banks.
The robberies were important in the making of the Kelly legend.
In June 1880 Ned made his final stand.
The gang were at the Glenrowan Hotel when surrounded by police.
Prepared to fight, the four bushrangers wore suits of armour made from steel.  Ned became the sole survivor of the siege.
Then in a Melbourne gaol, on 11 November 1880 Ned Kelly was hanged.
He was twenty-five years old.
Today some see Ned as little more than a criminal.
While others see him as badly done by, brave and  a bit of a larrikin.
No matter what, he will always remain distinctly Australian.