AS the clock struck 10 o’clock on November 11, 1880, the life of a man who was to become one of Australia’s most important historical figures ended on the infamous gallows at Melbourne Gaol.
When Ned Kelly stepped on to the gallows back then, who would have thought that his memory would still be living on 125 years later?
Back in 1980 when we remembered the 100-year anniversary, the memory of the last execution that occurred in Australia, that of Ronald Ryan in 1967, was clear in people’s minds.
At that time, we were convinced that we had seen the last of capital punishment. This is certainly true within Australian jurisdictions.
But this very day Australia faces the prospects of one of its citizens being executed on the gallows of Changhi Prison in Singapore, Van Tuong Nguyen, a former student of St Ignatius School in Richmond, where I am currently the parish priest.
Ned Kelly, Ronald Ryan and Van Tuong Nguyen, what might they have in common?
It appears that throughout the world today, those who are executed generally share a common characteristic.
They represent the minority groups or the oppressed in their culture or their society.
This is certainly true of the United States where African Americans make up 42 per cent of death row inmates, while making up only 12 per cent of the general population.
Black and white Americans were the victims of murder in almost equal numbers, yet 80 per cent of those executed since 1977 were convicted of murders involving white victims.
Last year, there were almost 4000 executions in 25 countries. Nine out of every 10 of those executions took place in China.
My thoughts at the moment are with Van Tuong Nguyen.
On a population basis, Singapore has the fourth highest rate of executions per year of any country in the world, after Kuwait, China and Iran.
It seems so irrational, so wrong, so unjustto me for any country in the world to think that by taking the life of a citizen they are upholding the value of human life and protecting civilised principles and beliefs.
When Ned Kelly faced the gallows 125 years ago he knew that he was a member of an oppressed class who had been mistreated by the representatives of the criminal justice system in his day.
The nature and duration of his trial made it clear that he was not adequately defended.
The authorities at the time thought that the memory of Ned Kelly could be dealt with by the noose of the gallows. But they were wrong!
The memory of Ned Kelly lived on because, in my view, his trial and his execution represented a miscarriage of justice and because the treatment that his family received at the hands of the law represented the oppression of the Irish community of which he was a part.
That’s why we gather in this place today, 125 years after the executioner did the deed.
This is the place of Ned Kelly’s execution. It was the place in which his body was buried at the time.
But we know that in 1929 the remains of those buried here were disturbed, during the excavations preparing the construction of the Working Men’s College, now RMIT University.
Soon afterwards, the remains of all those executed at Melbourne Gaol were removed to the grounds of Pentridge Prison.
For the last 11 years, I have been attempting to ensure that there is a memorial placed above the current grave site of Ned Kelly at the former Pentridge Prison site.
Unfortunately, despite promises and various announcements over the years, the State Government sold the site to commercial redevelopers.
One of the conditions of sale was that the site be recognised as of immense historical significance and as sacred ground, but neither the State Government authorities nor the City of Moreland have made any progress in ensuring that these conditions were met.
The present grave site of Ned Kelly today remains neglected, locked behind a cyclone wire fence, overgrown and untended, while the commercial developers put their resources into housing construction and the seeking of commercial gains.
It is time for the Victorian Government and the City of Moreland to take the necessary steps to ensure that this burial place is acknowledged and that a memorial to all those buried in that place is erected, including that of Ned Kelly.
Jesuit Father Peter Norden is parish priest of Richmond in Melbourne. This is an edited text of a speech he gave in Melbourne on November 11 at a ceremony to mark the 125th anniversary of the hanging of Ned Kelly.
