Editing Ned Kelly (section)

==Stringybark Creek police murders==
{{multiple image|perrow = 3|total_width=300
| image1 = Bushranger Dan Kelly.jpg |width1=157|height1=
| image2 = SteveHart.jpg |width2=143|height2=
| image3 = Joe Byrne the 19th-century outlaw.jpg |width3=177|height3=
| footer = Greta Mob members [[Dan Kelly (bushranger)|Dan Kelly]] (left), [[Steve Hart]] (centre) and [[Joe Byrne (bushranger)|Joe Byrne]] (right) took to bushranging with Ned Kelly after the Fitzpatrick incident.
}}
After the Fitzpatrick incident, Ned and Dan escaped into the bush and were joined by Greta Mob members Joe Byrne and Steve Hart. Hiding out at Bullock Creek in the Wombat Ranges, they earned money sluicing gold and distilling whisky, and were supplied with provisions and information by sympathisers.{{Sfn|Corfield|2003|pp=460–61}}

The police were tipped off about the gang's whereabouts and, on 25 October 1878, two mounted police parties were sent to capture them. One party, consisting of Sergeant Michael Kennedy and constables Michael Scanlan, Thomas Lonigan and Thomas McIntyre camped overnight at an abandoned mining site at [[Stringybark Creek]], Toombullup, 36 km north of [[Mansfield, Victoria|Mansfield]].{{Sfn|Kieza|2017|pp=259–60}} Unbeknownst to them, the gang's hideout was only 2.5 km away{{Sfn|Morrissey|2015|p=76}} and Ned had observed their tracks.{{Sfn|Kieza|2017|pp=259–60}}

[[File:Mansfield-police-photomontage.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Clockwise from top left: Constable Lonigan, Sergeant Kennedy, Constable McIntyre and Constable Scanlan]]
The following day at about 5 p.m., while Kennedy and Scanlan were out scouting, the gang bailed up McIntyre and Lonigan at the camp.{{Sfn|Macfarlane|2012|pp=70–73}} McIntyre was then unarmed and surrendered. Lonigan made a motion to draw his revolver and ran for the cover of a log. Ned immediately shot Lonigan, killing him.{{sfn|Jones|1995|p=364}}{{Sfn|Macfarlane|2012|pp=70–73}} Ned said he did not begrudge his death, calling him the "meanest man that I had any account against".{{Sfn|FitzSimons|2013|p=191}}

The gang questioned McIntyre and took his and Lonigan's firearms.{{Sfn|Macfarlane|2012|pp=70–73}} Hoping to convince Ned to spare Kennedy and Scanlan, McIntyre informed him that they too were Irish Catholics. Ned replied, "I will let them see what one native [Australian-born colonial] can do."{{Sfn|McQuilton|1987|p=}}{{Page needed|date=December 2024}} At about 5.30 p.m., the gang heard them approaching and hid. Ned advised McIntyre to tell them to surrender. As the constable did so, the gang ordered them to bail up. Kennedy reached for his revolver, whereupon the gang fired. Scanlan dismounted and, according to McIntyre, was shot while trying to unsling his rifle. Ned maintained that Scanlan fired and was trying to fire again when he fatally shot him.{{Sfn|Macfarlane|2012|pp=70–73}}{{sfn|Jones|1995|p=136}}

[[File:Stringybark_attack.jpg|thumb|The gang prepares to open fire as Kennedy and Scanlan arrive. Lonigan's body lies in the foreground.]]
According to McIntyre, the gang continued firing at Kennedy as he dismounted and tried to surrender. Ned later stated that Kennedy hid behind a tree and fired back, then fled into the bush. Ned and Dan pursued and exchanged gunfire with the sergeant for over 1 km before Ned shot him in the right side.{{Sfn|Morrissey|2015|p=87}} According to Ned, Kennedy then turned to face him and Ned shot him in the chest with his shotgun, not realising that Kennedy had dropped his revolver and was trying to surrender.{{Sfn|Macfarlane|2012|pp=70–73}}

Amidst the shootout, McIntyre, still unarmed, escaped on Kennedy's horse.{{Sfn|Macfarlane|2012|pp=70–73}} He reached Mansfield the following day and a search party was quickly dispatched and found the bodies of Lonigan and Scanlan. Kennedy's body was found two days later.{{Sfn|Corfield|2003|p=462}}{{Sfn|Macfarlane|2012|pp=76–77}}

In his accounts of the shootout, Ned justified the killings as acts of self-defence, citing reports of policemen boasting that they would shoot him on sight, the cache of weapons and ammunition that the police carried, and their failure to surrender as evidence of their intention to kill him.{{Sfn|Morrissey|2015|pp=216–28}} McIntyre stated that the police party's intention was to arrest him, that they were not excessively armed, and that it was the gang who were the aggressors.{{sfn|Jones|1995|pp=132, 134}}{{Sfn|Morrissey|2015|p=69}} Jones, Morrissey and others have questioned aspects of both versions of events.{{sfn|Jones|1995|pp=132–33}}{{Sfn|Morrissey|2015|pp=216–28}}

===Outlawed under the ''Felons Apprehension Act''===
[[File:Outlaw_Proclamation_Kellys.png|thumb|upright|Proclamation by Governor [[George Bowen]] declaring Ned and Dan outlaws]]
On 28 October, the Victorian government announced a reward of £800 for the arrest of the gang; it was soon increased to £2,000. Three days later, the [[Parliament of Victoria]] passed the ''Felons Apprehension Act'', which came into effect on 1 November. The bushrangers were given until 12 November to surrender. On 15 November, having remained at large, they were officially outlawed. As a result, anyone who encountered them armed, or had a reasonable suspicion that they were armed, could kill them without consequence. The act also penalised anyone who gave "any aid, shelter or sustenance" to the outlaws or withheld information, or gave false information, to the authorities. Punishment was imprisonment with or without hard labour for up to 15 years.{{sfn|Jones|1995|pp=144, 146, 159–60}}

The Victorian act was based on the 1865 ''Felons Apprehension Act'', passed by the [[Parliament of New South Wales]] to reign in bushrangers such as the [[Gardiner–Hall gang]] and [[Daniel Morgan (bushranger)|Dan Morgan]]. In response to the Kelly gang, the New South Wales parliament re-enacted their legislation as the ''Felons Apprehension Act 1879''.<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal|last=Eburn|first=Michael|date=2005|title=Outlawry in Colonial Australia, the Felons Apprehension Acts 1865–1899|url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ANZLawHisteJl/2005/6.pdf|journal=ANZLH e-Journal|volume=25|pages=80–93}}</ref>