Ned Kelly's remains found

The body of Ned Kelly has been identified, more than 130 years after he was executed. But the decision to display the skeleton is dividing public opinion, Kumi Taguchi reports.

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The body of Ned Kelly has been identified, more than 130 years after he was executed, and the decision to display the skeleton is dividing public opinion.

The DNA of one of the bushranger's descendents confirmed the identification.

The investigation was sparked when a skull was handed into to a forensic laboratory in 2009.

A skull, which had been handed in to the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine by farmer Tom Baxter, was believed to belong to Kelly and became known as the Baxter skull.

It sparked an investigation that was to change recorded history.

When Ned Kelly was executed in 1880, his body was put in a wooden coffin and thrown into a mass grave.

The remains were moved to another prison in 1929, and exhumed 80 years later, when the Baxter skull investigation was opened.

But to identify the skull and skeleton remains, a DNA match was needed.

"It was pretty hard-hitting to think that myself could play a part in putting this together for history," said Leigh Olver, the great grandson of Kelly's sister, Ellen.

After nearly two years of extensive scientific tests, the matches and non-matches were revealed.

The head wasn't Ned's, but the near-full skeleton found in the coffin was.

"It gave us quite a degree of satisfaction but also opened another mystery in the sense that we still have the Baxter skull that's plainly not Ned's," Forensic Odontologist Richard Bassed told SBS.

"It belongs to an executed prisoner and it'd be really nice to determine who that is".

The Victorian government is considering putting Ned's skeleton on public display, a move one relative has called "macabre and disgusting".

Those in charge of the investigation said they will talk with descendants but believe that the story of Ned Kelly belongs to the history of the country.

The man in the tin hat is still dividing opinion over a century after his death.


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2 min read

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By Kumi Taguchi

Source: SBS


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