Aussie Outlaw

Face to face with a scary mannequin
Ned Kelly's armor

First floor view inside prison
Ned Kelly's deathmask (left) and armor
Inside a cell

On Saturday we toured the Melbourne Gaol, a bleak 1841 prison and site of 135 hangings, including Ned Kelly. He is the most well-known Australian outlaw (or folk-hero, depending on your perspective), much like our Jesse James in the U.S. He was known as a horse-thief, bank robber, murderer, gang-leader, and was put to death in 1880 after a long, dramatic shootout with police. The Ned Kelly story has inspired films (one stars Mick Jagger as Ned Kelly), many books, artworks, a game, a maze, and songs, such as Midnight Oil's "If Ned Kelly was King". I'm hoping to read Peter Carey's book "True History of the Kelly Gang" (2000), which won a Booker Prize, while I'm here. One of the creepiest things in the prison were the deathmasks of people who had been executed there, along with their stories. Another was seeing the gallows which is inside the building on the second level. After an hour inside the building, we were ready to get back out into the fresh winter air.