What really made him famous, was this; his iron suit that he fabricated to protect himself from police, as he robbed banks.

Between 1788 and 1868, over 162,000 convicts were sent to various penal colonies in Australia, in lieu of imprisonment or execution. They helped establish the first European settlements on the island, and after their emancipation and release, they settled there. This is how the Kelly’s ended up in Australia. Ned’s father, Red, was caught stealing two pigs in Ireland and sent to Australia in 1841.

By 1848, he was out and Ned was born to Red and Ellen Kelly in 1854 as the third of 8 children, and was introduced to the criminal lifestyle at an early age. His father, who either didn’t learn his lesson about not stealing, or just didn’t care, was a notorious horse and cattle thief and their home was a meeting place for all the known criminals.

When he was 9 years old, he saved a boy from drowning and received a green sash in recognition for his bravery. He wore this sash under his metal armour when he was robbing banks, including the last shootout that resulted in his capture. To him, the sash was a sign of heroism and his wearing it, while robbing banks is incredibly telling of what kind of man Kelly really was.

His father died in prison when he was 12, and his mother was constantly being brought to court for allegedly stealing cattle and encroaching on nearby farms, that by age 14, he had his first brush with the law when he allegedly beat up and robbed a man. Kelly maintained his innocence, saying the the man struck his sister, and Kelly was defending her, but regardless, Kelly was charged with theft.

By 16, he was officially an outlaw, joining a band of bushwhackers (convicts who had escaped and came out of the bush to rob and assault), and even got his brother Dan involved. When the police came to their homestead for an arrest, Ned shot at the police and he and his brother escaped, so they arrested and imprisoned their mother instead. This helped develop Kelly’s hate for the police and a belief that he and his family were being unfairly targeted.

From then on Ned was in and out of prison for various attempts at theft and assault, including one instance where he bought a horse from a man named Wright, who then told the police. Turns out the horse that Ned had legally purchased was stolen. Ned spent 3 years in hard labor. Now comes the best part. When he was released, he went after Wright, but didn’t kill him. He challenged him to a bare knuckle boxing match, defeating him in 20 rounds and being declared the district champion.

A few years later, police came to his mothers house, again looking for a missing horse and Dan Kelly. Ned shot the officer in the arm, then made him dig out the bullet himself, so it couldn’t be used as evidence against him, and escaped. They took his mother into custody again, and she spent another 3 years in hard labour. Dan and Ned, however, had a different version of the events, that which the police did not believe, so they disappeared into the bush.

Now at this point, there was no chance that the two men could lead legal and free existences, so they started a gang with some other friends. The Kelly Gang started laying low, until 4 police officers, sent to find them, came upon their encampment. They took one hostage and demanded the rest lay down their guns, but someone got spooked and 3 officers died. There was no coming back from this; the Kelly Gang were now on the most wanted list. A reward for £8,000 (almost $1.5 Million now), was posted for Ned’s capture, and bounty hunters were dispatched to find him.

The Gang began robbing banks, but did it in a clever way. They knocked over the police station first, capturing the officers and tying them up, confiscating their weapons. Then they went to the bank and took the money without fear of getting captured. This wasn’t enough for Kelly. Fed up with the police and the way his family was treated, he wrote a 56 page manifesto, outlining a justification of his lawless ways, outlining how his family was unfairly targeted, belittling the police forces of Australia, and finishing the letter with a promise that £10 of every £100 stolen would be given to the widows and orphans, and that if he is not left alone, there would be consequences as he was “a widows son outlawed and [his] orders must be obeyed.”

After several more bank robberies, the Kelly Gang’s luck ran out at Glenrowan in 1880. The gang had taken 60 people hostage in a hotel and were surrounded by police, with several police injured in the shootout. During a lull in the shooting, the gang formulated a plan, letting the hostages go and putting on iron suits to protect them from bullets, but left their legs exposed so they could move quickly.

When the gunfight erupted again, Kelly snuck out the back and tried to singlehandedly outflank and take on the police, causing them to get caught in a crossfire. All he had was his armour, his revolver and some cojones.

The police fired at him, but once they realized they couldn’t penetrate the armour, they then aimed for his legs. He went down firing and once apprehended, he had 28 wounds to his arms, hands, legs, feet and groin.

As for the rest of the gang, when they wouldn’t come out, the police set the hotel on fire and dealt with the bodies, putting the pieces of armour on display as a lesson.

Ned Kelly was allowed to heal until he was fit to stand trial and was sentenced to death by hanging in 1880, with his last words being “Such is life.”

After his death, his face and head were shaved and a death mask was made, to be put on display as a sign of what a criminal looks like, while his skull was put on display at the prison.

In 2013, what was left of his bones were buried beside his mother, not far from Glenrowan.

Since then, he’s been an inspiration, with statues, art, 3 films about his story, countless books, and he serves as a legend in Australia. Whether he’s a cold-blooded killer or a misunderstood hero, you can’t deny that he was one hell of a badass, who in all honesty, was just standing up for his family.