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until he had taken cover behind a log, and he raised his head to shoot him. Ned admitted that he had shot Kennedy as he tried to surrender. He had thought he was turning to shoot him with his revolver. When Ned knelt at the side of the dying policeman, he saw that he had been mistaken. What he thought was a revolver in his hand was in fact a clot of blood which had run down his arm from his first wound. Ned said he shot Kennedy again as an act of mercy because the dying man was in so much pain. McIntyre said Ned shot a wounded man who was pleading for his life.
    Whatever the circumstances, the result was the same. Three policemen were dead. Two women were widows. Nine children were fatherless. Ned had previously been wanted for the attempted killing of Fitzpatrick and horse theft. Now he was wanted for murder.
    “I called on them to throw up their hands. Scanlon slewed his horse round to gallop away, but turned again, and as quick as thought, fired at me with the rifle, and was in the act of firing again when I shot him.”
    Ned’s version of the gunfight at Stringybark Creek, Cameron Letter
    Outlawed
    “This cannot be called wilful murder, for I was compelled to shoot them in my own defence, or lie down like a cur and die.”
    Ned defends his actions, Cameron Letter
    Early the next morning, the Kelly Gang left the place where they had been hiding for the last six months. They probably thought that McIntyre had already raised the alarm and search parties would be out in force, but that wasn’t the case. It wasn’t until Monday morning that word reached Melbourne and plans for a major manhunt got under way.
    Once the police authorities heard of the deaths, things started to move faster. In three weeks a special act of parliament had been hurriedly passed. Known as the Felons Apprehension Act, it declared that Ned Kelly, Dan Kelly and two other men whose names weren’t known were outlaws and that anyone who came across them was entitled to kill them without question. The reward for their capture—dead or alive—had been raised to £2000—£500 for each outlaw.
    If Ned had thought that killing the police search party would ease their situation, he had been wrong. Before, two parties of police had been after them—no more than eight men. Now the entire police force of Victoria was after them with a vengeance and any ordinary citizen could shoot them on sight.
    The sawn-off shotgun used by Ned Kelly at Stringybark Creek was given to the Melbourne Museum of Applied Science. In the 1950s, someone decided it wasn’t worth keeping and threw it out.

    Men at the site of the Stringybark Creek shoot-out a week after the event.

6. Blunderers, Fools and Cowards
    What if you were there...
    This is my chance to become a hero. I’ll be remembered as one of the men who captured Ned Kelly. At least, I hope so. We haven’t captured him yet. I’m not sure who’s supposed to be in charge here, Superintendent Nicolson or Superintendent Sadleir. I don’t think they know either. If we caught the gang, I bet they’d both be shouting that they’d masterminded the whole thing. As we haven’t caught sight of any outlaws yet, they’re both hanging back and trying to get the other one to make all the decisions.
    Superintendent Sadleir brought two native trackers with him. I’ve heard it said that they can track a rabbit in pouring rain and a fog. I don’t doubt it. This morning they said they could see horse tracks. I thought they were making it up. I couldn’t see anything more than the natural patterns of the earth. We followed them for three hours. I was sure that we were being led on a wild goose chase. Then an hour-and-a-half later they got very excited. They were jabbering away to each other in their strange native language, so none of us had the least idea what they were talking about. Then the old tracker, Doctor, they call him, said to Mr Sadleir that they’d found fresher tracks.
    They were fresh enough that even I could