Ned Kelly records returned to public domain

By Stuart Finlayson

The Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) has purchased key documents related to the trial of the 1870s Victorian bushranger - and legend of Aussie folklore - Ned Kelly, adding to its already substantial collection of material relating to the famous (or infamous) outlaw.

While originally in public ownership, the documents were discovered in private boxes last year in a Camberwell home. The family has asked to remain anonymous.

After they had come to light, the documents were prescribed as records of special historical significance to Victoria, a process which gives PROV the legal power to track the ownership of public records in private hands. If prescribed records are not returned voluntarily, PROV are authorised to purchase at market rates.

Ned Kelly was tried for the murder of Constable Thomas Lonigan at Stringy Bark Creek. The court documents unearthed show that the prosecution had also begun preparing the case against Kelly for the murder of Constable Michael Scanlon.

The documents are witness statements and would have formed part of a prosecutor's brief for Kelly's eventual trial for murder. They were prepared around the time of Kelly's committal hearing in Beechworth. PROV paid $22,475 for the papers.

Kelly was eventually tried and convicted for the murder of Constable Lonigan, but until these documents came to light historians were not aware that the prosecution had actually begun the paperwork for the second prosecution for the murder of Constable Scanlon.  The existence of these copy depositions sheds significant light on the legal process leading to Kelly's conviction, particularly as they contain pencilled notes on aspects of the case not present in any of the other copies of the witness statements in PROV possession.

PROV intends to digitise the records and make them available on its Ned Kelly website (www.prov.vic.gov.au/nedonline).

Related Article:

Big guns in hunt for massive digital archiving contract