Historical information

These five images, photographed in 1983, depict locations in Ireland that Ned Kelly's father, John "Red" Kelly may have frequented. John Kelly was born on the 20th of February 1820 and worked as a laborer in Ireland. His parents were named Thomas Kelly and Mary Cody. He had a fresh complexion, large head and reddish coloured hair. John Kelly was sentenced in Tipperary, Ireland for the theft of a pig and received 7 years in Van Diemen's Land (now known as Tasmania). He sailed on the ship "Prince Regent" and arrived in VDL on the 2nd of January 1842 with 11 other convicts. John Kelly completed his sentence and moved to Beveridge in Victoria where he met and married Ellen Quin. The couple had 7 children, one of these is Ned Kelly the Bushranger. He died at the young age 46 in 1866.

County Tipperary is a county located in Ireland in the province of Munster. It was established in the early thirteenth century, shortly after the Norman invasion of Ireland. These photographs, taken by an unidentified photographer, show the streetscape of Tipperary, the remains of a coachyard and stables, a saddlery yard and a fashion shop.

Significance

These images are part of the Burke Museum's Kelly album which are of great use to researchers in the reconstruction of the Kelly story. Images like these, which portray an area which John Kelly resided in his youth, have research potential in reconstructing the conditions and quality of life for the Kelly parent. However, these images are not only important for their connection to the Kelly story but also for what they can provide and reveal for Ireland in the 1980s.

Physical description

A collection of five colour rectangular photographs printed on matte photographic paper

Inscriptions & markings

10269.1 Reverse:
TOWNSEND ST. BANBRIDGE /
CO. DOWN N. IRELAND

10269.1 Reverse:
TOWNSEND ST. BANBRIDGE /
CO. DOWN N. IRELAND

10269.3 Reverse:
REMAINS OF COCHYARD AND STABLES /
BANBRIDGE CO. DOWN /
FREQUENTED BY NED KELLY'S /
FATHER

10269.4 Reverse:
STABLES AND SADDLERY YARD /
THROUGH ENTRANCE FROM /
SHOP. PHOTOGRAPH 3 /

10269.5 Reverse:
ENTRANCE TO STABLES AND /
SADDLERY. FASHION'S SHOP TO LEFT /
OF ENTRANCE WAS THE ORIGINAL /
SADDLERY SHOP. /
BANBRIDGE CO. DOWN /
3

References