Forensic experts identify Ned Kelly’s remains

Attorney-General Robert Clark today announced that doctors and scientists at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine have identified the body of Ned Kelly.

A DNA sample taken from Melbourne school teacher Leigh Olver, who is Ned’s sister Ellen’s great grandson, has confirmed the remains are that of Ned Kelly.

An exhaustive historical, forensic medical and forensic scientific exercise, employing the expertise of historians, pathologists, anthropologists, odontologists, radiologists, and ballistics and DNA experts, has identified the bushranger’s remains among those transferred from the Old Melbourne Gaol to Pentridge Prison in 1929 and then exhumed again in 2009.

The presence of the remains at Pentridge had been long rumoured but never confirmed.

The project required examination of the remains of 34 individuals in total, many of which were co-mingled and incomplete, making the successful identification even more remarkable.

The project involved collaboration with the ancient DNA laboratory EAAF in Argentina, members of which have worked with the VIFM on other forensic projects internationally.

Mr Clark said he was enormously impressed with the efforts of the forensic team.

“This is an extraordinary achievement by our forensic team here in Victoria,” Mr Clark said.

“To think a group of scientists could identify the body of a man who was executed more than 130 years ago, moved and buried in a haphazard fashion among 33 other prisoners, most of whom are not identified, is amazing.”

The investigation began when a skull believed to belong to Ned Kelly was handed in to the VIFM on November 11, 2009 by Mr Tom Baxter. The skull had been taken from the Old Melbourne Gaol in December 1978 where it had been on display next to the death mask of Ned Kelly. The ink inscription “E. Kelly” was written on the side.

The Victorian Government asked Professor Stephen Cordner and his team of forensic experts to try and identify the skull.

While the skull investigation was underway, the team turned its expertise to trying to identify Ned Kelly’s remains from among the remains exhumed from Pentridge in 2009 that are currently being held at the Institute on behalf of Heritage Victoria.

Through a series of CT scanning, X rays, pathology, odontology and anthropology expertise plus extensive historical research and DNA analysis, the team was able to confirm that this skeleton belonged to Ned Kelly.

The identification was completed when a DNA sample taken from Mr Olver was compared to a DNA sample taken from remains. Ned Kelly’s remains turned out to be an almost complete skeleton found buried in a wooden axe box, although most of the skull was missing.

The skull handed in by Mr Baxter was found not to be that of Ned Kelly, and investigations seeking to identify that skull are continuing.

The 20 month investigation has involved several Victorian Government agencies including Heritage Victoria, the Coroners Court of Victoria and the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, with the assistance of the National Trust and the Old Melbourne Gaol, the University of Melbourne, the EAAF Laboratory in Argentina, the Argentine Ambassador, the Benalla Pioneer and Costume Museum, the Police Museum, the Victorian State Library, the Public Records Office and many others.

Consultations will commence shortly with Ned Kelly’s family and other parties involved, regarding the appropriate future resting place for Ned Kelly’s remains.