Once an insignificant stopping place on the road between Melbourne and Sydney and railway siding on the line between Melbourne and Albury, this small farming community was made famous when, on 27th June 1880, notorious bushranger Ned Kelly was taken captive after a siege and shootout with police.
On the night of 26 June Kelly and his gang rode to Glenrowan. Ned and Steve Hart rounded up labourers and forced them to destroy the railway line near Glenrowan, so that a train carrying police reinforcements from Melbourne would be derailed. In the early hours of 27 June the gang forced townspeople from their homes at gunpoint and took them to the Glenrowan Inn where they waited for the train.
During the night, Ned released the Curnow family, as Mrs Curnow was ill. Thomas, her husband, immediately flagged down the approaching police train with a red scarf, warning them of the planned derailment and thwarting the gang’s plans.
At around 3am on 28 June officers from the train surrounded the Glenrowan Inn. Hearing them outside, the gang realised their original plan had failed. They put on their homemade armour and prepared to fight.
As the gang stepped out of the inn, the massed police opened fire. Stray bullets injured many of the captives inside the building. Eventually, the gang released the women and children hostages.
The siege continued, and Joe Byrne was shot and killed. Having sustained minor injuries, Ned retreated to bushland behind the hotel, intending to circle behind police and wait for an opportune moment to attack. Dan Kelly and Steve Hart continued shooting at troopers from inside the inn, creating a diversion for Ned.
At dawn Ned began shooting, approaching police out of bushland behind their lines while wearing his now-famous armour. After a brief skirmish, officers shot Ned in his unprotected legs. Badly injured, he was captured and taken into town, however the siege continued with Dan and Steve still holding about 30 hostages.
The last hostages were released in the afternoon and, following this, police set fire to the inn to flush out the remaining outlaws. Dan Kelly and Hart died in the last hour of the siege. It is unclear if they were shot by police, or took their own lives to avoid surrendering or being burned alive.
The destruction of the Kelly Gang was widely publicised. Police lashed Joe Byrne’s dead body upright to a door at the Benalla Police Station to allow photographs to be taken by reporters who also took pictures of the burnt remains of Dan Kelly and Steve Hart. Ned’s wounds were treated and he was taken to Melbourne.
Re-creeation of Ned Kelly's Last Stand at the Glenrowan Tourist Centre
Around Glenrowan are a small number of excellent boutique wineries, of which Baileys is the most well known. The Baileys winemaking story began in the 1860s, when Richard Bailey and his young family arrived in Australia. They set up a store in Glenrowan alongside the famous Anne Jones Inn where the Kelly gang siege was to take place. In 1870, Richard and his son Varley proudly produced their first vintage. Prior to his capture whilst hiding out in the nearby Wombat Ranges, Ned Kelly did some contract work at the winery building fences. There is every possibility he helped build the original 1870s winery which still stands.
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