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THE DIG AT THE GLENROWAN INN SITE NEWS 2006.

New chapter for Kelly tale

(Source: The Border Mail) 21 Apr 2006

BY BRAD WORRALL

 

Sophie Panopoulos and Don Joyce at the siege site yesterday. 
Picture SIMON DALLINGER
 

THEY’RE peeling back the layers of the famed Ned Kelly legend at Glenrowan.

An archaeological dig of the Glenrowan Inn, the scene of the 1880 siege and capture 
of the bushranger, will start in spring.

It could also be a springboard to a project that would deliver a $15 million museum, 
as well as 126 jobs and $6.9 million to the region.

The dig will peel back about ½m of top soil on the block of land, where a pony now 
grazes, and is expected to reveal the foundations of the inn and other artefacts.

Wangaratta Mayor Don Joyce said it was quite likely bullets and shell cases would 
be found.

“This dig will be of national significance, already experts have said it is the most 
prominent dig in recent memory,” he said.

“It will also be the start of a much bigger project that will include a raised walkway 
around the site, complemented by storyboards and maps of where the bodies of the 
three men fell.

“Work will most likely begin in either September or October.”

Member for Indi Sophie Panopoulos yesterday chipped in $121,000 of federal funds 
for the project that will cost more than $210,000.

“Glenrowan is recognised on the national heritage list and with that recognition 
comes the responsibility to preserve and advance its history,” Ms Panopoulos said.

“This project is one small part of that.

“The community and council have done a lot of work to improve Glenrowan but 
there is still a long way to go to achieve the status the legend demands.

“No matter what side of the Kelly argument — hero or criminal — you are on, there 
is no questioning the importance of this site.

“The story needs to be told without bias so people can interpret the events that 
happened here.”

Council economic development manager Graham Nickless said the long-term goal 
was to build a $15 million interpretative centre.

“We want to do justice to the legend,” he said.

“We already have 100,000 visitors to Glenrowan each year but also know that 3.5 
million people travel past on the Hume Highway every 12 months.”

Archaeologists called in to unearth more Kelly history.

The Chronicle Apr 21 2006.

THE DIG AT THE GLENROWAN INN SITE DURING MAY 2008.

Ned’s hiding spot pinpointed in dig

BRAD WORRALL
31/05/2008 12:00:00 AM
 
ARCHEOLOGISTS now believe the Kelly Gang took refuge in a bedroom completely protected from the hail
of bullets fired by police during the Glenrowan siege.

Yesterday at the end of a month-long dig of Ann Jones’ Inn, project leader Adam Ford said the discovery had
redefined the site.

He said it now had international significance and compared it to Custer’s Last Stand at Little Bighorn.

“We can now map the movement of the Kelly Gang in their last hours,” Mr Ford said.

“The bullets that came in from police smashed through the front wall but didn’t penetrate the rear wall.

“Behind that wall, which was one of the bedrooms, is a host of cartridges used by the Kelly Gang as they took
refuge and reloaded and then came out and re-engaged the police.

“To find that dynamic movement and understand that is incredible.

“I don’t recall any other site, perhaps only work done on the Little Bighorn dig in the 1980s, having that.

“It is beyond our wildest dreams.”

Thousands of artefacts, some relating directly to the siege and the inn, have also been recovered.

But the most exciting discovery may well be one of the smallest items found on the site.

A tiny copper percussion cap from an early musket or revolver may well have belonged to Ned Kelly himself.

“We know of only three weapons involved in the siege that used such percussion caps — and all three were actually
owned and used by Ned,” Mr Ford said.

“And because the firing cap was found within the remains of the original Ann Jones’ Inn we can reasonably surmise
that it was Ned Kelly himself who last handled this tiny but hugely significant object.”

Mr Ford has not ruled out returning to the site.

“We can walk away from here knowing we have exhausted all the avenues on the inn site but I would like to get to the
residence behind the inn,” he said.

A final report on the findings is not expected to be completed until later this year.

7500 treasures found at Ned Kelly site

By Katie Bradford

May 30, 2008

SEVEN-and-a-half thousand archaeological treasures have been uncovered at the site where
outlaw Ned Kelly fought his way into Australia's history.

The artefacts tell more about the battle of Glenrowan in June 1880, where Kelly and his gang
held locals hostage at the Ann Jones Inn, than ever known before.

A month-long dig at the site in northern Victoria ended today.

Kelly was arrested and later hung for his actions, while his partners in crime were killed during
a shoot-out that ended the siege.

The inn was burnt to the ground during the siege and its remains lost to history - until now.

Adam Ford, of Dig International, led the team of archaeologists involved in the groundbreaking
project.

Cartridges from rifles fired by the police during the siege, cartridges from the Kelly Gang's weapons
and melted lead bullets that were fired into the hotel as the battle raged, were uncovered.

Mr Ford said those cartridges told historians more about the battle than was ever known before.

"The physical evidence of the battle is an amazing discovery, we can look at it in full details," he told AAP.

"We can see where police fired rounds from outside the building, coming through the front walls and hitting
the back of the wall near where the Kelly gang were.

"We know this because all the cartridges are lying in a line."

It's also now known where the Kelly gang was hiding out.

"In the back bedroom, we found cartridges and percussion caps, so it appears the Kelly gang were going in
there and reloading and getting protection, then heading back out again to the front of the building."

Potentially the most exciting find was a tiny copper percussion cap from an early musket or revolver, which may
well have belonged to Ned Kelly.

Mr Ford believes a large part of a 128-year-old mystery has now been solved.

"It's absolutely outstanding, amazing. The preservation of the artefacts, what we've found is beyond our wildest
dreams."

The burnt post holes and charred foundation timbers of the inn have also been uncovered.

"For the first time since the siege itself, we have an accurate picture of how the famous hotel looked, how big it was,
how it was built and of what was going on during the desperate, brutal hours of the gun battle."

Coins dating back to the late 1850s and personal items such as jewellery, glass buttons and slate pencils were other
discoveries.

Melted window glass and bottles that were uncovered show the ferocious heat of the fire, Mr Ford said.

Ian Jones, who has written books about Ned Kelly, was at the site today and was completely amazed by what
archaeologists had found, Mr Ford said.

"It's sad it's the last day, but we can walk away happy that we've found everything we could," he said.

The artefacts will now be taken away and examined in close detail by specialists and reports compiled.

Mr Ford's final wish is for the artefacts to be stored on public display in Glenrowan - although not on the site of the
inn itself.

The dig was funded by Heritage Victoria.

SOURCE: NEWS COM.AU

Smallness of siege site is shown up

BRAD WORRALL

The Border Mail

22/05/2008 12:00:00 AM

Ann Jones' inn was tiny, not much larger than a garden shed.

The site of Ned Kelly's last stand, where more than 40 people
including hostages and the bushranger's gang took refuge, is now
emerging from the dust at Glenrowan,


Archeologist and team leader of the month-long dig Adam Ford says it
is one of the major points to emerge from their work.


Charred wooden posts that had fallen when the five-room inn was
torched to end the siege have been uncovered for the first time in 128
years.


Molten glass, another remnant of the arson, also litters the site.


"The outline of the inn is contained within the confines of the brick
foundations of a wine shanty that was built on the site much later,"
Mr Ford said.


"To think so many people would have been inside.


"It is said that they were laying on top of each other as the hail of
bullets crashed through the walls.


"It would have been terrifying."


Mr Ford said progress had slowed in the past week.


"We have worked through five periods of occupation to get where we
are," he said.


"It is quite complex and now that we have reached this level we need
to be meticulous, it is slow going, almost tedious.


"But this is our only chance to do this, we need to squeeze the life
out of it, get as much information as possible —it is unlikely this
will ever be done again."


The team of about 20, including archaeologists and university
students, is expected to move up to 400 tonnes of dirt in the dig that
winds up tomorrow week.


Last week two Martini-Henry shell cases, almost certainly fired in the
battle, were uncovered.

'Exciting' finds in Ned Kelly dig. (The Age May 14)

Two cartridges and burnt artefacts have been excavated from the site of infamous bushranger
Ned Kelly's last stand.

Kelly was badly wounded and captured at the Ann Jones Inn at Glenrowan, in north-eastern Victoria
on June 28, 1880 after he took 60 locals hostage and was involved in a ferocious gun battle with police.

Heritage Victoria is overseeing the month-long project involving six archaeologists, a conservator and
40 students who are mapping out the site and searching for relics.

Project director Adam Ford said the discovery of the two hard brass cartridges is "fabulous" and he is
confident they date back to the siege.

"They are the right age, right location, so we are pretty confident they are evidence of the gun battle."

Police moved from using soft brass cartridges to hard brass, just weeks before the siege.

"This is very exciting. We had spent a whole week here moving very slowly and trying to understand
the site so to find this is amazing," Mr Ford said.

The cartridges, which came from a Martini-Henry rifle, were uncovered last Friday during a dig to the
north of the main site.

Mr Ford said an important part of the project was trying to identify the original outline of the inn.

Two posts that date back to the original inn, burnt nails and other burnt or ash covered remnants also
have been found this week.

"Today is very significant because we are really getting down to where we are identifying outlines, form
and function.

"We're very happy with the progress at the moment, the remains are in very good condition," Mr Ford said.

"The information is coming out of the ground every second, really."

He said the burnt nails and posts were very "evocative" of what happened on the site.

The archaeological site is very shallow - with many of the remnants being found just 20 centimetres below
ground - because there has been only two other buildings on the site since.

Once the dig is finished, all information gathered will be sent to Heritage Victoria and LaTrobe University.

The data will be researched and analysed then added to the existing history of the battle.

"The great thing about archaeology is we can look at it in a very objective way," Mr Ford said.

"We're finding stuff that has not been looked at before, or seen since the siege. That information can add
to the story of the siege, it's very exciting."

The dig, which started on May 5, continues for two and a half more weeks.

Archaeologists find bullet cartridges from Kelly siege

Posted Wed May 14, 2008
 

One of the cartridges found at Glenrowan.

One of the cartridges found at the scene of Ned Kelly's last stand. (ABC News: Narelle Graham)

 

Archaeologists believe they have found more evidence of the 1880 gun battle between Ned Kelly's
gang and police at Glenrowan, in central Victoria.

Bullet fragments were uncovered during excavations at the former Anne Jones Inn site earlier this month.

Now archaeologists have revealed that two bullet cartridges from a Martini-Henry rifle were discovered in
the northern section of the site on Friday afternoon.

Excavations Director, Adam Ford believes they came from weapons that would have been used by police
at the time.

"They [the cartridges] were only released to the police approximately two weeks before the siege event,"
he said.

"They were superseded reasonably quickly after the event. I mean within a couple of years. S I feel quite
certain that they are physical evidence of the gun battle."

Site of Ned Kelly's last stand being excavated.

Archaeologists have begun scouring the site of Ned Kelly's last stand at Glenrowan.

It has been nearly 130 years since the shootout but they hope to find artefacts from the siege that will shed new
light on the episode.

The dig is being conducted at what had been a vacant block of land for the past 30 years.

Now the site of Ned Kelly's last stand is being scraped, dug and sifted.

Project director Adam Ford says no stone is being left unturned in the hunt for Kelly artefacts.

"I'm pretty sure we will find physical remains that I can attribute to that night in June 1880," he said.

Kelly historian Gary Dean thinks the dig could help substantiate rumours that Ned Kelly's brother Dan escaped
the siege and subsequent fire by hiding in a cellar.

"Actually locating the cellar means the story, the actual oral histories from families that tell this story, means it's
probably a true story.

Archaeology students from La Trobe University will spend the next four weeks working on the dig and they are excited
about working on the site of one of Australia's most fabled legends.

Student Luke Falvey says it is a fantastic opportunity.

"I never thought that I'd be working on a site like this. The guy's a legend and to be working on the famous shootout
site, it's just indescribable, really," he said.

As the dig begins, the exhumation of 20 sets of remains has ended at the old Pentridge Prison.

It is hoped the remains include the bones of Ned Kelly.

Source: ABC News.

Spade gang hoping to unearth Kelly relics at Glenrowan.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS will start a major month-long dig today on the site of Ned Kelly's doomed siege at Glenrowan.

Heritage Victoria is overseeing the project involving six professional archaeologists, a conservator and 40 student
volunteers.

They hope to map out the site and find relics of the Glenrowan Inn, which police burnt down on June 28, 1880, in a
bid to flush out the Kelly Gang — Ned, his brother Dan, Joe Byrne and Steve Hart — after it had kept 60 locals hostage.

The gang had ripped up train tracks 40 metres away, hoping to derail a police train. But police were tipped off, and
on arrival in the north-eastern Victorian town troopers surrounded the inn — a five-room weatherboard belonging to
Ann Jones.

According to historian Ian Jones, four locals, including two of Mrs Jones' children, died in the ensuing shootout, and
Dan Kelly, Byrne and Hart perished either from gunshot wounds or in the fire.

Despite his famous metal body armour, police shot and badly wounded Ned Kelly and he was captured and sent to
Old Melbourne Gaol, where he was later hanged.

Bizarre stories of dancing, singing and card games held during the siege later emerged. In his book Ned Kelly:
A Short Life, Mr Jones said that most of the hostages "stood in that strange borderland between sympathiser and neutral".

Ann Jones rebuilt on the site with government compensation. A later, 1890s wine shanty on the 80-metre by 25-metre
block on Siege Street was demolished in 1976 and the privately owned site is now vacant.

The Rural City of Wangaratta received a $121,000 Federal Government grant to excavate.

The project director, archaeologist Adam Ford, said the siege was a "brutal gun battle" in which 15,000 rounds were fired.

It was a "momentous event in Australia's history" that still polarised the town. "One challenge of the excavation will be
distinguishing what relics and deposits relate to the siege and the inn, as opposed to periods before or after June 1880,"
he said.

Heritage Victoria senior archaeologist Jeremy Smith said the project could help direct future use of the land for tourism,
and any remains or relics could be conserved and displayed, "in a way that can help share the story of the Kelly Gang,
particularly with visitors to the region".

Source: The Age May 5.

 

Source: Wangaratta Chronicle

Findings at Kelly Gang's last stand.

STEVEN BURKE

MORE is now known about the day Glenrowan changed forever, following the
release of a report into the archeological dig at Glenrowan two years
ago.

The Rural City of Wangaratta has received the report from archeologist,
Adam Ford, who conducted the dig at the site of the former Ann Jones
Inn.

The report provides answers to key questions about Ned Kelly's last
stand and the exact locations where the battle occurred.

The report states one of the major finds of the project was the matching
of at least one of the percussion caps found on the site with Ned
Kelly's revolving carbine.

It also attempts to answer the question of whether Steve Hart and Dan
Kelly escaped from the siege, after fragments of bone were found during
the dig.

It has still not been determined if the bone is human, but the report
nevertheless dismisses the theory the two gang members escaped.

 

 

 

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