Joe

Joe Byrne was born in November 1857 to Irish immigrant parents.
He was a clever student and remembered as a smart lad.
He attended school with Aaron Sherritt and passed fifth grade,
not bad for a boy of that time. Joe was often seen as the ‘brains’
of the gang. When Joe was around the age of twelve or thirteen,
his father died from heart disease.

Joe was sent to prison with Aaron Sherritt for six months for the crime of unlawful possession of meat, apart from this he was a law abiding man.

Joe was most likely present when Fitzpatrick called at the Kelly house, and happened to be at Stringybark Creek, causing him to become a member of the Kelly Gang. (there was no gang prior to the shootings)

The family lived close to the gold workings of The Woolshed Valley and Joe got to know the Chinese well, even learning the language.

The Chinese miners of the area and of Australia at the time were not very popular with miners from the rest of the world. There were anti-Chinese Leagues and much of the animosity stemmed from the fact that the Chinese would work the areas no one else wanted, areas thought worked out and when they found gold they would send the proceeds back to China. The rest of the miners would spend their gold on booze and other 'wasteful' pursuits of happiness. Joe however got on well with the Chinese. He spoke their language and smoked their pipes, opium pipes. Police telegraphic correspondence reported his purchase of opium in 1878. In 1879 Police reports mention Chinese names said to be assisting the gang, they lived in Sebastapol, Woolshed Valley. It is believed that the involvement with the Chinese miners gave Joe the skills to mine the gold fields at Bullock's Creek with friends of the Kelly's.

Joe was Ned Kelly's second in command and worked with Ned on the strategies planned by the gang.
Joe was said to have been heavily involved in the creation of the famous armour, however he was later said to have doubted its effectiveness and would be proved correct.

Joe penned the Jerilderie letter with Ned Kelly and worked on the other letters such as the Cameron one.

He was something of a 'ladies man' who took great risks to visit his favourite drinking holes as well as visiting his mothers home despite the police watch parties.

Joe was camera shy and police had great trouble trying to find his 'likeness' In fact they never did get an image of him until a photo was taken of his stiffened corpse after the Glenrowan Siege.

Joe was an excellent horseman and marksman.

After his death at Glenrowan Joe was buried at the cemetery in Benalla where his grave can be seen today.

JOE BYRNE.

"Joe Byrne was a native of Beechworth, and of the members of
the gang appears to have had the least provocation for the defiance of
the law. While still in his ‘teens he was intimately associated with
Aaron Sherritt, with whom he was convicted of having meat in his
possession suspected to have been stolen. Joe Byrne’s voluntary
association with the Kellys appears to have been the result of that
hero worship which creates so strong an impression upon some natures.

Like Ned Kelly, he was an expert marksman, a good horseman,
and a first-class bushman. He had a good knowledge of alluvial
digging, and readily accepted Ned Kelly’s invitation to join the two
Kellys and Steve Hart in their mining venture on the Stringybark
and Kelly’s Creeks, where they worked with some success from the
end of April to the 26th October, 1878, when the mining activities
were suddenly terminated by the fatal fight with the police. Byrne
was described as a handsome youth, who possessed no mean educational
ability. He was Ned Kelly’s right-hand man, and was always consulted
by the leader on all questions of strategy. During the period of
his outlawry he frequently visited his mother’s home, which was
continuously watched by the police.

The fact that the police never intercepted him was due either
to the cleverness of Joe Byrne or to the incompetence and insincerity
of the police. With his revolver he rarely, if ever, missed a two-shilling
piece thrown in the air".

Source: J.J. Kenneally.'The Inner History of the Kelly Gang' 1969 edit.

The grave of Joe Byrne as it looks today. A bird overlooks Joe's grave.