Gougane Barra – Listowel Connection

Gougane Barra 1954; Still as beautiful today.

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The Wild Colonial Boy

This account of Ned Kelly’s demise comes from News Australia

Ned Kelly had a “soft
and mild looking face and eyes” and cried “I am done I am done”
when finally shot by police, according to a 133-year-old letter that gives new
insight into the infamous bushranger.

Kelly staggered when hit
by the force of rifle bullets, the eyewitness reported, “but it was only
when they got him in the legs and arms that he reluctantly fell”.

The account was from
Scotsman Donald Gray Sutherland who was working at the Bank of Victoria in
Oxley when Kelly made his last stand 133 years ago.

The previously unknown
letter described Kelly as a “powerful man” who lay on a stretcher
“quite calm and collected” after sustaining five or six gunshot
wounds in the stand-off with police.

Sutherland goes on to
describe the famous armour – weighing about 97 pounds or 44kg – that caused
police bullets to slide off Kelly “like hail”.

“They were firing
into him at about 10 yards in the grim light of the morning without the
slightest effect,” he wrote.

Sutherland had heard of an
affray involving the Kellys while in Oxley and went to nearby Glenrowan, in
northeast Victoria, to see the “desperados” who caused him “so
many dreams and sleepless nights”.

He then documented what he
saw in a letter to his family.

Now, his descendants have
handed that letter dated July 8, 1880 over to the State Library of Victoria.

A lock of hair from
Kelly’s horse was enclosed with the letter.

State Library of Victoria
chief executive Sue Roberts said the letter is a remarkable document.

“This letter is a
very personal account of events that have become part of Australia’s
folklore,” she said.

“It will join Ned’s
armour, Jerilderie Letter and other important items in our Kelly collection –
one of the largest and most significant in the world.”

The letter will be on
display in its Changing Face of Victoria exhibition from Monday.

It can also be viewed
online with a full transcript on the State Library website.

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This looks like a challenge.

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A few more from Races 2013. Jer Kennelly took these.

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SUDAN; Helena Quinn daughter of Tadgh and Kathleen Quinn, Purt, Abbeyfeale is to to spend two months working with Fr. Tim Galvin on his mission in Sudan. Tadgh Quinn, her father was with the Irish Army in the Congo in 1961. Follow Helen at

https://twitter.com/helenaquinn

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Actor, Aidan Gillen is filming a film about the life of Charles Haughey