Iron Mail

Above image from The Age Newspaper.

THE IRON MAIL.  

The following text is a blend of knowledge gleaned from the archives, police reports, eye-witness accounts, newspaper articles and statements by Ned Kelly himself.

 There were at least 4 sets made [i], all including a helmet, with Ned’s having the only shoulder-caps. The heaviest set weighed around 97 lbs.

 My first article about the armour was written several years ago for Ironoutlaw.[ii]  

In May 2000 I searched for and identified a section of armour that was one of Ned’s missing shoulder-caps. (the other one was in private hands) (Want to learn more?)

 The mixed up sets have been identified [iii] as best as is possible and Joe Byrne’s suit has been tested scientifically [iv].

 We saw the suits reunited recently at the State Library’s Kelly Culture Exhibition.[v]

 The armour is a part of the Kelly story that I have always been fascinated with since I was a boy. Who created it and whether or not it did it’s job are perennial questions. We shall never know for sure who made it, we also can only take an educated guess as to why they made it in the first place.

 Everyone has an opinion as regards the armour and the motivations behind it as well as who actually forged it. This following is my opinion.

A first glimpse of the armour.

    The first reports of the making of the armour came via one of the most reliable ‘police informants (spies)’, the diseased stock agent (DSA). His name was Kennedy and he either witnessed or knew of the boys testing the armour plate. He commented that it was “proof to 10 yards, with a Martini Henry round” and that “jackets fit splendidly”. Superintendent Hare ignored his warnings.

 The next time the armour was seen by an ‘outsider’[vi] was during the siege at Glenrowan. According to some ‘Kelly historians’ Ned and Steve rode into Glenrowan wearing their armour and carrying Dan and Joe’s suits. (others claim Dan and Joe carried their own as they killed Sherritt)  Ned wore his armour in public here for the first time.[vii] The two men removed their armour and placed it in a back room at the Glenrowan Inn. The armour was next seen as Ned and Joe donned it to go and collect the town’s only policeman constable Bracken. Once Bracken had been captured, the armour was again removed and put away until the train’s arrival. Ned again wore his armour to collect Steve from Stanistreet’s[viii] as the others got into theirs in preparation for the fight.

  In the recent film titled ‘Ned Kelly’ the captive Circus ringmaster declared upon seeing the boys in their armour, ‘Knights in shining armour’. Maybe eye-witnesses would not have made such a theatrical statement, however I am sure they would have been very impressed. It came to pass that the only time the gang would ever wear the ‘Iron Mail’ was at the siege of Glenrowan.

What was it made of?

    The construction of the armour has had wide coverage in the media, especially since the suits were put into their correct order. Even back in 1880 newspapers reported what it was made of.  Amazed newspaper readers learned that stolen and borrowed plough mould boards had been used.

The armour in which each member of the gang
was clad was of a most substantial character. It
was made of iron a quarter of an inch thick, and
consisted  of a long breast-plate, shoulder-plates,
back-guard, and helmet………………………..
all these articles are believed to have been made
by two men, one living near Greta, and the other
near Oxley…The iron was procured by the larceny
of plough shares, and larcenies of this kind having
been rather frequent of late in the Kelly district, the
police had begun to suspect that the gang were
preparing for action...

Source: The Oven and Murray advertiser 1 July 1880         

 After the siege, the man who originally manufactured these ploughs, Mr. Lennon, refused to believe it was possible until he saw the actual section of armour bearing his trademark.[ix]

 Many ploughs would have to be taken to make the armour. This was very thick metal and whilst ideal to deflect police bullets, must have been difficult to work with.

 The thick mould-boards (also described as plough-shares) were not the gangs first choice, they tested Indian rubber and common sheet metal before-hand.[x]

So who made the suits?

     This seems such a simple question. Pick a surname, Culph, Lloyd, Kelly, Straugher or Delaney.[xi] We will never know. If someone tells you they know who forged the armour, take it with a grain of salt, for they cannot say so with any certainty.

You may be wondering why we do not know. The simple answer is that it was not something to which you wanted your name attached. There were grave charges attached to those found guilty. According to the police records a Detective Wilson went on a trek in 1880 to learn who the men were. He failed to gain any idea at all.[xii]

Where was the armour forged?

    Every town in the North East would like to lay claim to having had the armour made there. In Beechworth it was believed that the armour was made on the current site of the Armour Inn Motel. Others have claimed it was forged at various locations around Beechworth. (especially for some reason where ‘hotels’ now stand) An early (1929) book on the Kelly story said the armour was created close to Bald Hill at the banks of a river.[xiii]

Newspaper writer B.W. Cookson had the following to say:

Sept. 6, 1911

This armour business is a popular subject for discussion, locally. It is
a sort of eternal guessing competition, without prizes. And when the
people with reliable information on the point have about covered the
ground of reasonable possibility-and wandered far a field there from

certain old stagers will look wise, and wink provokingly and
say that they know, but are under an oath of dreadful and imposing
proportions forbidding them to tell. One of these wiseacres was heard to
declare, under the influence of about three quarts of spirits, that the
Kellys stuck up the Melbourne Museum and took the armor out of there.

He remembered, he said, having seen exactly similar armor there, when he
went to Melbourne. As doubtless he did.

Did the armour do what it was meant to do?

    This is not as easy to answer as you may think. We need to know what they wanted to do, what was the plan in the first place. Ned himself claimed he wore the armour to save bloodshed.[xiv] We can be certain that the armour kept the gang alive despite a barrage of lead flying their way. It also may well have caused their demise because it limited their mobility and hence any escape attempt they may have had in mind during the siege.

 According to Professor McQuilton[xv] the purpose of the armour was to stand above the planned train wreck and be able to either shoot or capture those below without any danger to the gang themselves.

 Obviously Ned could not have carried out his ‘Last Stand at Glenrowan’ for so long if not for his suit of armour. It had its limitations and hence Ned was shot several times in the legs.

 It would seem that the gang did not test the armour in ‘battle’ conditions. They may have tested it against police (type) firepower, however they seemed to have neglected testing it for the ability to aim correctly and manoeuvrability. These were major flaws, you could not take correct aim, could not lift your arms high enough and could not see with any peripheral vision at all. It would also have been a difficult task getting on and off a horse.

 The police commented that if not for the armour the gang may have easily escaped. I don’t think it was that simple for the gang. They were there to stay regardless, they wanted to see this to its conclusion. (whatever that may be) Ned certainly had his chances at escape, he chose to return despite almost certain death.

 The armour certainly saved Dan & Steve from death by police bullets. How they actually died has never been fully proven. In the end their bodies were burned beyond recognition. Armour was laying beside their bodies just before the fire took hold.[xvi] However another theory is that the reason their burnt bodies were mostly head and torso only was due to them still wearing armour at death.[xvii]

According to policeman Dwyer who saw the bodies before the fire took hold, Dan had his breast-plate on as his dead body lay on the floor.[xviii]

 Joe Byrne had been shot in the leg in the initial volley, he is said to have been killed by a police bullet as he drank a toast to the future of the Kelly Gang. It is claimed that he lifted his groin plate to assist him to take a drink. How this action would assist I am unsure, regardless of this a bullet found its way into his groin and severed a major artery. Joe bled to death very swiftly.[xix]

The world is amazed.

 The reporters[xx] wasted no time in getting out the story of the Kelly Gang taking over the town of Glenrowan and that they were all dressed in Iron Mail.

 How excited these reporters must have been! Let your mind step back in time for a moment if you can. These plucky reporters have joined the train to search for the gang, never in their wildest dreams believing that soon enough they will come face to face with a man who had already become a legend. A legend whom they had helped to create. Now they had the opportunity of a lifetime, to witness firsthand and report to the world what was happening as it unfolded at Glenrowan.

 Carrington from the Australasian Sketcher (newspaper) bandaged up Superintendent Hare’s wounded wrist at the start of the siege, that was to be the first taste of blood at Glenrowan. At the end they watched in amazement as the tall metallic-like figure of Ned staggered out of the mist and into the police cordon surrounding the Inn. Think how fast your heart would beat as you witnessed in a state of denial as he banged on his breast-plate with a revolver-butt. With the cool mist of fog laying low on the ground, your every breath would be laboured and visible to those around you. Not that anyone would be looking at you, all eyes were fixed to this amazing man as he entered Australian folklore. Any reporter worth his salt would not have needed his notebook at this juncture. There is no way you would forget this event.

 If only the photographer had had time to set up and capture the image of Ned as he was wrestled with by the police and his true identity learned. 
The armour was taken from Ned and Mr. Carrington of the aptly named Australian Sketcher sketched a drawing of the full suit. It would prove to be of great help when over a hundred years later we tried to sort out who had owned which suit.

After the siege / confusion reigns.

    After Ned was captured his armour was removed and as mentioned, sketched by artist Carrington.

 Once the remaining gang members had perished[xxi] two suits of armour were laid out for display. Photographer Madeley took a photograph as the sets stood erect on the grass. Included in this display were Steve & Dan’s suits, and several items belonging to Ned collected earlier. (Revolving rifle, skull cap & one shoulder–cap[xxii]) Joe’s armour was swiftly removed and would later be given to a wealthy landowner named William Clarke by Superintendent Hare.[xxiii]
 

 For many years after the siege at Glenrowan organisations have sought to display the armour. A Mr. Foster asked for the loan of the armour on the 29/6/80, just a day after the siege! He requested the armour to benefit the Beechworth Hospital as he claimed that the armour “attracts crowds of visitors”[xxiv] Another request came from the Bendigo Agricultural & Horticultural Society on Oct 5 1880, a loan of the ‘Kelly Armour’ for the exhibition at the society’s ‘Spring Show’. The committee went on to say that they were ‘sorry to be compelled to cast about for sensational items to make their show a pecuniary success’.[xxv]

 The sets of armour quickly became mixed up and only Joe’s suit, (held in private hands) managed to stay in its original state. The Melbourne Aquarium displayed a suit up until its closure. Parts of the armour were stored in various Government locations around Melbourne. At one stage some of the armour was stored at the police stables  and played with by children of serving mounted policemen.[xxvi]

 For many years a mixed up suit of armour was the prime display at the Old Melbourne Gaol in Melbourne. This suit had Ned’s helmet and a mismatch of other pieces. It was the most obvious mix up because it had a back-plate at the front, but try and convince the people running the place that at the time of this fact.[xxvii] They still sell posters showing this confused suit of armour, at least they stopped calling it Ned’s and now use the phrase ‘Kelly Gang Armour’.

 On several occasions we have been most fortunate to have all four suits together. The 1999 ‘Men of Iron Exhibition’ was the first and then at ‘Ned The Exhibition’ run at the Old Melbourne Gaol and more recently at the ‘Kelly Culture’ Exhibition at the State Library.
 

 Joe Byrne’s armour was the star attraction at the 2002 & 2003 Siege dinners at Glenrowan. At the 2002 dinner we were not allowed within a certain distance of the armour, security guards made sure of that. However in the 2003 dinner we were most fortunate in that many of us got to touch the armour and a few to try on Joe’s helmet.

 Whilst in some circles debate rages at to the right or not to try on Joes armour, I think this fact should be remembered: the present owner of the armour is under no obligation to bring out the suit for us to see. He could do like the government does and lock it behind glass, not even allowing photographs. (The Victorian Police museum does allow photographs) At the State Library where Ned's suit is being shown I was refused permission to take pictures, how ridiculous is that!

 We can never be 100% certain which sections were Dan’s and which were Steve’s. However, we do know who was the slighter build and our deductions are based on this fact. (Joe & Ned’s suits are already excluded in these calculations)

 Today you can also see many replica sets on display. Due to the fact that the owner of Joe Byrne’s set has allowed it to be copied, it has become the most popular replica. You can see one at the Benalla Pioneer museum. The real McCoy is currently on display at the Police Museum (WTC) and The State Library. 

 Apart from seeing real or replica suits of armour, many copied suits of armour can now be found and purchased. Some people are even making their own! At tourist shops in Glenrowan you have a multitude of suits of armour available.  

 The armour, especially the helmet is known and recognised worldwide as ‘Ned Kelly’. It is used in many forms of advertising and has lost none of its appeal. Of late we have seen Telstra Big Pond using Ned in armour to help flog their product and Ned is currently on TV ads selling tea and cars. The Kelly gang could never have imagined the icon status as they first ‘donned’ their suits of ‘Iron Mail’.  

 With the recent testing by scientists and the armour displays, it seems the Kelly Gang armour has a very secure future in Australia. A tangible and lasting reminder of Glenrowan in 1880. It is not hard to visualise a young man inside each suit and bring the whole story back to life. Can you imagine the Kelly Gang without armour? I can’t. Would we remember them in the same way if not for the armour? Perhaps not.

Some final words from Kelly authors.

Clune, Frank. …..

 Their preposterous armour was one of the main causes of the downfall of the Kelly Gang. It destroyed their mobility, gave them a false sense of immunity, and, most fatal of all to their battle plans, it spoiled their aim.

 If they had been free of their armour, and had taken cover behind trees or fallen logs, before the police left the railway platform, there can be little doubt that the outlaws would have killed a few of their foes, picking them off one by one as they ran in file to the attack, behind Hare, over the open ground.

Sadleir recollections……

 P233 …..there was no dint whatever in the iron, only the lead marks where the bullets struck and glanced off the convex-formed breastplate. On the concave side, however, there was a deep dint, not the result of the police shooting, but the test mark of which the DSA had already reported, confirming, as indeed did all the occurrences of these two eventful days, the genuineness of the information that Hare had so confidently rejected.