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Ned Kelly history could be changed with SBS documentary

Victorian Premier Ted Ballieu will reveal DNA data about the skull of Ned Kelly ahead of a documentary that will "change recorded history forever."

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The history books on Ned Kelly could be changed forever this week when Victorian Premier Ted Ballieu and Victorian Attorney General Robert Clark reveal scientific data about the skull of the famed bushranger ahead of an SBS documentary.

Ned’s Head will air next Sunday night on SBS as it follows the clues of the skull’s history, culminating in DNA tests by the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine.

The Kelly skull was stolen from its display case at Old Melbourne Gaol in 1978 but in 2009 a WA farmer handed back to the Victorian Government, claiming it to be the same skull.

Was it really the remains of Ned Kelly or another outlaw who was executed?

Earlier this month the Victorian Coroner said that the skull most likely belonged to skeletal remains exhumed from Pit C  at Melbourne’s Pentridge Prison.

But the Victorian Government will make its findings public on Friday, two days before the SBS documentary which claims to have discovered much more than the identity of the mysterious skull.

On the morning of 11 November 1880, legendary Australian outlaw Ned Kelly was hanged at Old  Melbourne Gaol. What happened to the body of one of Australia’s most iconic figures after he died has  been a huge source of controversy and mystery ever since.

In 1978, the supposed skull of Ned Kelly was stolen from its display case at Old Melbourne Gaol and was lost for more than 30 years, until a West Australian farmer handed it into authorities in 2009. A team of forensic scientists at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine (VIFM) were then given the task of identifying it.

Ned’s Head records every step of this investigation, as the team venture on a year-long quest to discover the skull’s true identity. With unique access to the VIFM, they use the latest scientific techniques, combined with historic research, to try and crack the 120 year old case.

After 12 months of investigation the team reach a result, but in their attempt to solve the mystery of Ned’s head, they discover much more than the identity of the mysterious skull.

What they find is set to make headlines and change recorded history forever.

Ned’s Head airs 7:30pm Sunday September 4th on SBS ONE.

8 Responses

  1. Firstly,this particular skull has already had experts examine it who all said it does not match in any way and is in no way Ned’s.Secondly,Ralph you are an ignorant idiot.Thirdly,Ned will not appear in Wild Boys as it is supposedly set in 1860,when he is just a little lad.

  2. @Craig, well it depends on the years that Wild Boys is set and whether the action takes place around the area of Victoria that the Kelly Gang operated in. I’m a bit of a student of the Kelly Gang, so I’d love it if they did make an appearance!

    I can’t imagine what the skull could further reveal about Ned Kelly himself. Maybe it will show that he had some irregularity of the skull caused by something organic (a brain tumour or something?). Maybe the skull belongs to another member of the Kelly family, as his brothers were members of his gang as well. Maybe Ned Kelly wasn’t executed at all- perhaps it belongs to another prisoner who was substituted for him on the gallows at the last minute. OK, my imagination got the better of me and I’m grasping at straws with that one!!

  6. Isn’t it already known that the skull that was in the farmer’s possession was not Ned Kelly’s, and that Kelly’s skull was actually held by the National Trust but was not identified as such?

    I hope this isn’t going to be yet another 10 minutes of material stretched out to 50 and scripted like a 1920’s mystery novel in order to try and keep us guessing.

  7. OMG.

    We’re going to find out he was an Alien bent on capturing humans!

    It makes so much sense!

    Wait, are they only telling us this now to prepare us for a (slightly delayed) Alien invasion intent on avenging their fallen, uh, not-man-but-alien-thing?!

    OMG. Ahhh, eeee, ohnoes.

    Or do I just have my shows confused? omg. 🙁

    😉 Will be interesting, I’m sure!

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