The freedom of many Irish people had been snatched away during and after the famine years from 1847 .
England wanted an occupation in Austrlia .
Many people from Ireland had faced judge and jury and were found guilty of crimes like stealing food for their starving families .
Their sentence was transportation for the term of their natural lives to Australia .'
Here briefly is an account of why one Irish Rebel by the name of Ned Kelly had become hero for some and an Australian Bushranger to others .
In 1787 when the first fleet was sent to take occupation in Australia there were transport and store ships as well as the HMS Sirius that Governor Phillip commanded and the HMS Supply commanded by Lieutenant H.L. Ball . In total there were eleven ships that carried 1487 persons, livestock and stores completing the 15,063 mile journey in 8 months .
When the first humble beginnings of the Irish arrived in Australia from Cork in 1791 on board The Queen there were 133 males and 22 females . Until 1820 convicts sent from Ireland numbered 6,891 . The numbers grew up to one thousand a year . In 1853 when transportation had ended a total of 40,000 had arrived in ships from Ireland .
It would be hard to imagine how difficult it was for these people who had become a cargo of caged human bodies weary and half alive from the long voyage . These cargos of slaves were herded to the shore like lambs to the slaughter house . Painted over their gaunt faces a canvas of tears mixed with blood and sweat the Irish people now faced living out the rest of their lives as convicts in a strange new land . These people had been convicted by English laws and the hostile crown showed no remorse or pity on their victims .poor Irish . The first Irish exiles arrived as captives in shackles and chains care of their cruel English oppressors . Back then when the cat of nine tails ruled this great nation was being formed . Back then when daily floggings awoke each new day the bitter fruits of cultivation were being sewn by the cruel hands of the English . In the minds of many Irish Exiles old wounds reopened and scars the never healed were again festering within .
In appalling conditions these Irish convicts were sent to clear the land and build roads and if they survived they might one day get a pardon to live as a free man or woman in their new Country ..
It is no wonder over the years In Australia there have been many Irish Rebellions . With their freedom taken away the virtue of the Irish strove under oppression . They began to pray in homes and their prayers were being heard. Poverty and hunger were meant to keep the Irish quiet but the Irish are always strongest when they are on their knees . Rebels were born and bushrangers with a grudge met the oppressor head on in the bush and on the gold fields and where ever they felt they could strike a blow for freedom .
The exploits of the bushrangers in poems and songs plays and movies have numbered many . People like Ned Kelly chose to roam around the bush in freedom rather than spend their life in chains . The bushrangers were patriots and outlaws ,terrorising the countryside between 1820 and 1880 .
These bushrangers were the first Australian folk heroes who are responsible for writing the very first pages of the history books in Australia .
The great majority of the bushrangers were Irish , either born in Ireland or in Australia from Irish parents . Names such as Kelly ,Fitzgerald, Lalor ,Murphy, Gilbert and O’Meally testify to their Irish origins . After the Government organized mounted police called Troopers to combat the bushrangers
A great number of Irish people who had been cruelly treated by the English began to provide a support network for the bushrangers .
Safe houses provided food and shelter for some outlaws on the run .
During the gold rush period bushrangers took the gold and left government men tied up and red faced .
Bushrangers like Jack Donohoe arrived from Ireland as a convict in 1825 and was sentenced to death three years later for robbing bullock drays . He escaped and was on the run for two years . In the end Jack Donohoe was killed in a gun fight in 1830 .
Another Irish bushranger by the name of Martin Cash was transported from Ireland arrived in 1828 to Sydney ,Australia . He was soon imprisioned for his trouble in Port Arthur but escaped with two other men Kavanagh and Jones . Eventually Martin Cash settled down as a farmer in Norfolk Island .
The most famous of all the bushrangers was Ned Kelly . Kelly is still a nation hero , it is worth mentioning Australian people take great pride and feel a sense of patriotism when names like Ned Kelly are mentioned .
Ned Kelly was born in 1854 in Kilmore , Victoria , where a very large Irish community resided . Ned’s father was known as “Red Kelly” and he came from Tipperary in Ireland . “Red was a hard man and often resorted to crime to feed his large family .
When the Kelly family moved to Greta a friendship was struck with many other Irish familes who lived there .
The Kelly’s , The Quinn’s and The Lloyd’s were always in trouble with the law Ned wore a suit of armour for protection as well as to impress all his followers Ned like his Father was a rebel .
Red shared his festered memories with Ned and always vented his anger towards the British who sent him away from his home The potato famine with the evictions was always a talking point with Red Kelly who informed his son Ned about the horrible way the Irish were treated .
It was no wonder Ned Kelly went on a rampage against the police who arrested his Mother and then sent her to jail. This was the turning poin tfor Ned Kelly , as he was devoted to his Mother . Ned shot Sergeant Kennedy with two other policemen at Stringybark .
In the letter Ned Kelly wrote to the powers that be he described the police as Mud- Crushers . He went on calling them Big Ugly-necked , wombat –headed magpie-legged, narrow-hipped, splay-footed sons of Irish bailiffs or English Landlords .
People always think of Ned as a Lone Bush Ranger but in fact Ned Kelly became the leader of a gang that robbed banks.
The Kellys wouldn’t run from a fight and shot it out with the police .
His brother Dan, Steve Hart and Joe Byrne were all killed in the gangs final capture at Glenrowan .
Ned who survived the shootout with the police had to stand before the judge a by the name of Redmond Barry . When the Judge handed down the sentence of death Ned Kelly said ti him “ I dare say the time will come when we shall all have to go to a bigger court than this . I will meet you there “
By a strange coincidence 12 days later Judge Barry died suddenly .
I wonder if Ned knew something more that most did way back then .
His memory has become legend and people still admire him .
The reason why is people like Ned Kelly and the other bushrangers fought for the people . They were under-dogs in society , they fought against oppression and cruelty . They were loyal to their friends and they helped all those who struggled to survive . The character of Ned Kelly is often used in daring phrases like “As game as Kelly” or “The Kellys wouldn’t Run”
There is a mystique about Kelly that still lives today in Australia .
Even despite his outlawed ways he is respected by many .
At the gallows Ned Kellys famous last words were ”Such Is Life” which sum up the attitude of the everyday Australian . that’s the way it goes .
THE END
By Doctor Write
Originally Posted On Site: 2008-04-04 16:30:56
Last Login: 05.21.12
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