NED KELLY UNCOVERED, THUR, 8.30PM, ABC1

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                                                        TV Guide: Kelly's plot






Tim Martain
Perth Now
Sunday Times
July 07, 2009

DIG reveals secrets of Ned's last stand.

At the corner of Siege St and Beaconsfield Parade in Glenrowan, Victoria, is a vacant block of land.
This unassuming bare patch of land is where Ann Jones' Glenrowan Inn once stood, the building that was the scene of bushranger Ned Kelly's last stand.

This historic site, directly associated with the most famous moments of one of Australia's most iconic figures, is almost completely anonymous in the middle of a town that still celebrates its connection to the infamous outlaw.

Nothing marks it except for a handful of modest signs.

The site has been built over twice since police burnt the hotel to the ground to end the siege in 1880 but now it stands empty and until recently it had not even been touched by archaeologists.
But that changed in May last year.

A team of archaeologists and historians excavated the site to uncover clues about how the gun battle unfolded and the final moments of the three members of the Kelly Gang who died there.

The dig was filmed for TV and British actor, author and presenter, Tony Robinson host of the fascinating documentary Ned Kelly Uncovered.

Robinson, the presenter of archaeology series Time Team said he had wanted to go on a dig in Australia for some time and this project offered the perfect opportunity.

And while he was excited about the significance of the site they would be working on, Robinson said he did harbour grave concerns.

“To be honest, I was a bit worried that we'd find nothing,'' he said.

“Urban sites tend to get cleared, rebuilt and cleared again remarkably quickly. It wouldn't have surprised me if all we'd found under the ground was a smashed up TV and a hubcap off a Holden Commodore.''

But when the top layer of soil was stripped back and the dig got underway, the entire team was surprised by how rich a treasure trove lay beneath and how close to the surface it still was.

They uncovered lead fragments from the bullets and musket balls fired into the hotel by police, spent cartridges and percussion caps from the Kelly Gang's weapons and even a casing from Ned Kelly's own rifle.

“There had been two buildings built on the site after the fire and we weren't sure whether those buildings had completely wiped out any of the previous occupation,'' archaeologist Adam Ford said.

“We thought we'd find foundations of the original inn, evidence of the fire, burnt glass and maybe evidence of the battle if we were really lucky.

“In the end, we found so much more than we expected. We could actually plot where the Kelly boys and the gang members were during the battle.''

The team also conducted experiments, firing historically accurate ammunition at replica Kelly armour and a replica hotel to get an idea of the damage being inflicted.

Through uncovering previously unseen artefacts from the Glenrowan siege, the team also tackles the most enduring question of all surrounding Ned Kelly.

Was he a persecuted hero of the downtrodden, or an overrated, coldblooded killer?

“Outlaws have a romantic quality about them, don't they, because they give themselves permission to do things the rest of us are forbidden from doing,'' Robinson said.

“It's only when you examine them a bit more closely that the complexities of their lives begin to be revealed _ and that story is usually far more interesting.''



NED KELLY UNCOVERED, THUR, 8.30PM, ABC1

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