Bullet cartridges found at site of Ned Kelly's last stand

Further evidence has been uncovered of the last gun battle of the iconic Kelly Gang. Image: Ned Kelly's armour. Credit: Public Domain

Australian archaeologists claim they have discovered bullet cartridges at the site of Australia's most infamous outlaw's last stand.

Excavations Director, Adam Ford said his team has uncovered further evidence of the 1880 gun battle between Ned Kelly's gang and police at Glenrowan, in central Victoria.

Earlier this month bullet fragments were found near the former Anne Jones Inn in the region, now the team say two bullet cartridges from a Martini-Henry rifle were discovered in the northern section of the site late last week.

"They [the cartridges] were only released to the police approximately two weeks before the siege event," he said to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation."They were superseded reasonably quickly after the event. I mean within a couple of years. So I feel quite certain that they are physical evidence of the gun battle."

Photo: Ned Kelly, taken the day before he died. Credit: Public Domain (taken from the State Library of Victoria collection)

Born north of Victoria, Australia, Ned Kelly and his gang became notorious bushrangers in the late 1870s and 1880s. He is remembered as much for the iconic armour that he wore during the last battle of the Kelly Gang as for his defiance of authority. Kelly was captured during the last stand, sent to trial and found guilty of multiple murders.

He was hanged at Melbourne gaol in 1880.

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