Editing Ned Kelly (section)

==Trial and execution==
[[File:Ned Kelly in court.jpg|thumb|left|Kelly at Beechworth Court]]
Kelly's committal hearing took place at Beechworth Court in August 1880, with lawyer-[[Member of parliament|MP]] [[David Gaunson]] as his attorney.{{Sfn|Castles|2005|pp=141, 148, 154–166}} He later said he questioned Kelly's mental stability and found him ineffective in justifying the shooting of police, especially by likening them to soldiers.<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/269749273 "A Chat with Gaunson: The Kelly Trial"]. ''Omeo Standard and Mining Gazette''. 4 September 1895. p. 2. Retrieved 22 December 2024.</ref> According to [[Alex Castles]], Kelly believed a guilty verdict was certain, leading Gaunson to focus on his claim that police persecution drove him to bushranging. He interviewed Kelly about this and paraphrased the transcript for ''[[The Age]]''.{{Sfn|Castles|2005|pp=168–170}}{{Sfn|Dawson|2018|p=51}}{{Sfn|Jones|1995|pp=296-297}} Kelly was committed for trial on charges of murdering constables Lonigan and Scanlan. Initially set for Beechworth, the trial was transferred to the Central Criminal Court in Melbourne, primarily to protect jurors from threats by Kelly sympathisers.{{Sfn|Castles|2005|pp=175–177}}

Kelly's trial began on 19 October 1880 before judge Sir [[Redmond Barry]], who had sentenced his mother over the Fitzpatrick incident.{{sfn|Cormick|2014|p=}} The novice barrister Henry Bindon appeared for Kelly with Gaunson serving as counsel.{{Sfn|Castles|2005|p=180}} The trial was adjourned to 28 October and the prosecution chose to proceed only with Lonigan's murder, for which Kelly was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging.{{Sfn|Castles|2005|pp=179, 183, 185}} Barry concluded with the customary words, "May God have mercy on your soul", to which Kelly replied, "I will go a little further than that, and say I will see you there where I go".{{Sfn|Castles|2005|pp=191–94}} Barry was to die of natural causes twelve days after Kelly's execution.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ryan |first=Peter |date=1969 |title=Barry, Sir Redmond (1813–1880) |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barry-sir-redmond-2946 |access-date=13 May 2022 |website=Australian Dictionary of Biography}}</ref>

On 3 November, the [[Cabinet of Victoria|Executive Council of Victoria]] announced that Kelly was to be hanged on 11 November, at the Melbourne Gaol.{{sfn|Kieza|2017|p=460}} In response, thousands turned out at protests in Melbourne demanding a reprieve for Kelly, and a failed petition for clemency attracted over 32,000 signatures.{{sfn|Kieza|2017|pp=461–63}} The press was uniformly scathing: one journalist called the protests "inflammatory, [[sedition|seditious]] and plainly useless";{{sfn|McQuilton|1987|p=}} another, having noted the number of protesters, warned that Victoria was trending towards "a [[socialism|socialistic]] revolt of class against class".<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/900915 "Friday, November 12, 1880"]. ''[[The Courier-Mail|The Brisbane Courier]]'' (Brisbane). 12 November 1880. p. 2. Retrieved 12 April 2021.</ref> Police reinforcements were mobilised to guard the gaol and other government buildings in Melbourne in case of a mob attack.{{sfn|McQuilton|1987|p=}}

[[File:Ned Kelly Gallows.jpg|thumb|Kelly at the gallows]]
The day before his execution, Kelly had his [[commons:File:Ned Kelly in 1880.png|photographic portrait]] taken as a keepsake for his family, and he was granted farewell meetings with relatives. One newspaper reported that his mother's last words to him were, "Mind you die like a Kelly", but Jones and Castles have questioned this.{{sfn|Jones|1995|p=320}}{{Sfn|Castles|2005|pp=213–14}}

The following morning, Kelly prayed and, when passing the gaol's garden on the way to the gallows, commented on the beauty of the flowers, but said little else.{{sfn|Jones|1995|p=321}} He was hanged at 10&nbsp;a.m. His last words were variously reported as "[[:wikt:such is life|Such is life]]"{{sfn|Cormick|2014|p=8}} or "Ah, well, I suppose it has come to this",<ref name="THE EXECUTION OF EDWARD KELLY">{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5982177 |title=The Execution of Edward Kelly |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=12 November 1880 |access-date=3 February 2012 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=10 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200710031548/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5982177 |url-status=live }}</ref> though the latter may have been an interpretation rather than a direct quote.{{Sfn|Dawson|2016|pp=41–42}} According to another account, Kelly intended to make a speech, but "made no audible sound".{{sfn|Cormick|2014|p=8}} A policeman present later said that, just before the cap was drawn over his head, Kelly glanced up at the skylight and muttered something indiscernible.{{Sfn|Dawson|2016|pp=41, 47}}