Thursday 10 November 2011

Australian outlaw Ned Kelly's family to hold burial

Australian officials have said they will return the remains of Ned Kelly to his descendants for burial, 130 years after he was hanged for murder.
The headless remains of the outlaw were identified last week through DNA tests.
Anthony Griffiths, the great grandson of Kelly's younger sister Grace, said it was his expressed wish to be buried on consecrated ground near his family.
But after his execution his body was dumped into a mass grave in jail, and later taken to another mass grave.
"We're looking at a private family service so he can have a dignified burial," Mr Griffiths told local media.
He said there would probably be a public memorial too.
Ned Kelly was seen by many as a cold-blooded killer and others as a folk hero of Irish-Australian resistance.
The bushranger killed three policemen before being captured in Victoria state in 1880 and was hanged for murder at Old Melbourne Jail in November of the same year.
But his body went missing after it was thrown into a mass grave. The bodies in the grave were transferred from the prison to Pentridge Prison in 1929 and then exhumed again in 2009.
The exploits of Kelly and his gang have been the subject of numerous films and television series, including a portrayal by Rolling Stone Mick Jagger in a 1970 film.

taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15649771

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