Paul,

You seem to have a new bible, best of luck.

But characterizing Ned with the likes of Murphy is a tad far fetched.

"...coward, a thief and a murderous outlaw, up there with the likes of Murphy"

Now Ned was not a coward, he did save a boys life at some risk to himself and was a pugilist of some note, he was certainly a thief and on a grand scale, but he was never a murderous outlaw, as he became an outlaw because of the murders.
The police are said to have had the equipment used for strapping bodies to pack horses.

As you say Ned was better informed about the police than they were about him, one wonders why, if he was not held in esteem by the locals?

I wondered about the appellation 'Black Snake' as the common red bellied black is the least venomous of our 10 most venomous snakes and has never, as far as is known, killed anyone (made them very sick, though), this particular snake is actually a useful bloke to have around as he eats other snakes and is usually not aggressive.

Okay, Issy I'm not trying to characterise Ned Kelly as a Murphy or a Milat, he was not that. I don't want to make comparisons, nor do I want to score murderers on some phoney scale, that's not me.

What I brought up was the fantasy about Ned Kelly being some kind of folk hero. That in my view is undeserving. He was party to four murders, two attempted murders, a long, long list of other crimes. He had a detrimental impact on the lives of many law abiding citizens.

As for informers, the family connections were extensive in Kelly country, as was the criminal connections with the Greta Mob. BTW the word larrikin had far worse connotations then, than it has today. A larrikin was a real a-hole in those days.

o sung wu, the police were poorly armed, Sargent Kennedy was fortunate to borrow an old rifle from a doctor friend to take along, as the police expedition had only one rifle, along with the officers service pistols, and limited ammunition. No such thing as target practice, ammunition for such things had to be paid for out of ones own pocket. Ned personally had a shotgun and four pistols, and the rest of the gang were also well armed with a good supply of ammunition. The poor bloody coppers were totally ambushed, they had not even posted a lookout, as they thought the gang was miles away, and there was nothing to worry about, they didn't stand a chance.

Issy, I did enjoy that book, I always like a good story with lots of facts. I'm now reading a book on Australian larrikins and rough nuts, also very interesting.

The way ordinary people were treated by authority in those days (& even now) just for their natural instinct to survive didn't make them criminals morally, only technically.
A few Ned Kellys let loose on the dodgy authorites would actually be of good use these days.

Paul,

The Kelley mob were poorly armed before Stringybark Creek, they were much better armed after they took the police weapons.
That said they probably had little knowledge of firearms otherwise they'd have used their ill-gotten gains to buy some modern firearms.

Such as are available today from the period.

Hi Issy, they were all licenced at the local gun club, past the test and all LOL. Sorry wrong again, the Kelly Gang had raided properties and were well armed. On the point of body bags, or straps or such things to bring in the dead bushrangers, there is absolutely no evidence to support that at all, where is your evidence, a link or two will do. There is no evidence that the police party was given any brief to shoot on sight, then why a small party of four if that was the case

At Glenrowan the police numbered, along with spectators, more than 50. I think the Chief Inspector brought his wife along for the picnic. Now there's another terrible act, it was Kelly's intention to derail the special police train near Glenrowan and kill every last one on board, the bloke was a terrorists!

Ned was the instigator of the murder of police informer Aaron Sherritt as well as the three officers. Kidnapped people and held them hostage, robbed banks and farms. His charge sheet was terrible.

I can't resist, you do it to me! BTW, there was no "Kelley mob" you need to get Spell Check, Grammarly and the Oxford dictionary. That is atrocious, that is terrible, you put and "e" where there should be no "e". I'm mortified, horrified and any other fied you can think of. This will live with you for the rest of your days! Our friendship will never be the same, this could be the beginning of WWIII, I'm going outside and up chuck, I'm that sickened! Anyway have a good day my friend, we'll trade insults again later.

And just to carry the conversation on Ned Kelly's, and the rest of his gangs, body armour was STUPID! and that's a fact.

Paul,

I couldn't care less about the Kellys, it was only your very unfair comparison with Murphy etc., which caught my interest.
As regards weapons, Ned's favourite was a chopped down Enfield carbine that made a very unhandy single shot muzzle loading pistol.

He also had a Colt percussion revolving rifle, a gun decidedly out of date even by that time; I suggest that you read more than one book.

The existing Kelly weapons (with some provenance) are all technically inferior to what was available new at the time.
Ned Kelly guns are like Cobb and Co shotguns, more numerous as the years go bye!!