28 June 1880

The Siege of Glenrowan results in the deaths of Steve Hart, Joe Byrne and Dan Kelly. Martin Cherry, a hostage in the Ann Jones Inn is mortally wounded. Ned Kelly is seriously hurt and is ultimately captured, he is sent to Benalla by train in a portable cell.

Ned, Steve Hart and a group of navvies were digging up the rails of the Beechworth railway line near Glenrowan in a daring plot devised to derail the police special train despatched from Melbourne.

The navvies and anyone else privy to what they had seen were escorted to Anne Jones' Inn in Glenrowan where the two were joined by Byrne and Dan Kelly. A night of merriment ensued with drinks, dancing and laughter.

The train unbeknown to the gang would never be derailed. Thomas Curnow had managed to deceive the gang and made it outside of the Inn to warn of the impending disaster due to happen on that fateful Sunday night with a candle and red scarf. The police train has been preceded by a locomotive and Thomas Curnow, the local schoolmaster had saved their lives. The train behind the locomotive was carrying a special detachment of police who had been despatched to hunt down the killers of Sherritt and it was this train the Kelly gang had hoped to derail, but the whistles of the locomotive Curnow had stopped alerted the police train and also the Kelly Gang. They now knew their plan to derail that train had failed and further a field in Benalla the police also knew.

Early on the morning of the siege the locomotive and the police train slowly entered Glenrowan station. Constable Bracken had somehow managed to escape the Inn and notify Superintendent Hare that the Gang were inside and they were wearing armour thwarting the Kelly Gangs surprise attack.

Hare advanced and was met with gunfire, a bullet shattered his wrist and he withdrew from the siege. The policemen held their ground and fired at the Inn, the bullets ricocheted off the Kelly Gang's armour.

Ned was hit twice, once in his left forearm and one bullet finding its way into his elbow. Another shot carved its way into his foot from his big toe to his heel and a final shot ended up in his thumb. Ned limped his way back to the Inn which by now was under heavy fire from the police. The rest of the gang were inside having retreated. The hostages huddled on the floor amongst shattered glass and splintered wood tried their best to avoid being hit by the bullets which by now were whining through the air from all angles. Ned tried to draw the police fire away from the Inn by making his way to the horses tethered a few hundred yards behind the Inn, his armour was so heavy he was unable to make it. He stumbled, bleeding heavily into the bush and removed his helmet. After struggling to remove his armour he relented, let go his horse and placed his helmet back on his head.

Hiding within the bush and losing blood Ned observed the melee, pistol in hand at the ready. Bracken raced to Wangaratta for reinforcements. The police continued to pound the Inn with bullets wounding children inside. The police held their fire long enough for some women and children to escape the bloodshed.


Shots were exchanged throughout the night, early the next morning a bullet to the groin fatally wounded Joe Byrne and he died within minutes, allegedly he was hit whilst raising his glass of whisky with Dan and Steve. Some reports suggest that Joe Byrne and Steve Hart swallowed poison from vials found at the site although this information has no basis in fact.

The police having made their way from Benalla and Wangaratta shot the gang's horses to prevent any escape and encouraged the gang to release the hostages. Several of the hostages were injured seriously when they tried to flee. Some due to police ineptitude bordering on blindness so it would seem.

Ned, having been unconscious in the bush for several hours awoke and donning his armour returned to the siege unbeknown to him that several of his best friends had succumbed to police bullets. He advanced pistol blazing taunting the police, Sergeant Steele opened fire on Ned's legs and brought him down. Jesse Dowsett, a railway guard grabbed his pistol and Constable Kelly of Benalla removed his helmet.

Once his armour had been removed the damage that Ned had suffered became apparent, he had been hit roughly 28 times. The police continued their assault on the Inn wounding a railway navvie Martin Cherry. The police decided to set fire to the Inn to flush out any of the gang still alive, the hostages had managed to flee but the police were unawares (perhaps) that the wounded Martin Cherry lay inside unable to move.

Only the courageous efforts of the town priest saved the wounded Martin Cherry, he noticed he was still alive and rallied the police to assist removing him, sadly for Martin Cherry he died from his wounds. Joe Byrne's body was also removed but that of Steve Hart and Dan Kelly were cremated in the fire that ensued. It is believed that Dan and Steve may have taken poison and died from that rather from gunshot wounds. The priest had found them lying side by side inside the Inn.

The Siege of Glenrowan ended at 3:30PM some 12 and a half hours after the first volleys were fired.

Ned Kelly was the sole survivor of the gang, but only for a short while. He was sent to Melbourne by train in a portable cell. A huge crowd greeted Kelly at Spencer Street to view the wounded Kelly escorted aloft from the train on a stretcher.

17 July 1876
Thomas Curnow, the man who stopped the special train at the Siege of Glenrowan begins teaching at Glenrowan school.

22 March 1880
Plough mould boards are stolen from a farmer at Glenrowan.

27 June 1880
The railway tracks approaching the station at Glenrowan are uplifted by Steve Hart and Ned Kelly. The pair recruited local navvies to help them. The goal, to derail the special train with police reinforcements on board.

28 June 1880
Thomas Curnow, the local schoolteacher, alerts the engine driver of the special train forwarning him of the missing rails and the Kelly Gang at the Ann Jones Inn that their plan had failed.

28 June 1880
The Siege of Glenrowan results in the deaths of Steve Hart, Joe Byrne and Dan Kelly. Martin Cherry, a hostage in the Ann Jones Inn is mortally wounded. Ned Kelly is seriously hurt and is ultimately captured, he is sent to Benalla by train in a portable cell.

10 November 1880
Ann Jones is arrested for harbouring an outlawed Ned Kelly at her Glenrowan Inn.

1. Ann Jones' Glenrowan Inn

2. Site of Ned Kelly's capture

3. Glenrowan Station

4. McDonnell's Hotel

The Ned Kelly Trail - Glenrowan

The Ned Kelly Trail Stop 5

Glenrowan is where the Kelly Outbreak finally came to a bitter end.

Although none of the original buildings remain in Glenrowan there are a number sites worth noting. There is a replica of the station building and a collection of wooden pole people representing the places where people stood during the siege.

A sign marks the spot where Ann Jones' Glenrowan Inn stood and a number of plaques that indicate the site of the station master's house and where Ned Kelly was finally shot and captured.

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