KELLY Ned (Connection)

Sergeant Michael Kennedy is the maternal grandfather of Pat Down née Barnard.

Pat Down nee Barnard:

"We often went to Tambellup and Mum and Dad knew a lot of people there – Mum had lived on a property named “Winton Park”. Her step-brother Lou Kennedy and her brother Hubert Kennedy farmed there – so her mother and an aunt moved there to help them on the farm. Dad’s family was in England – somehow they knew the family and Dad came out to them from England. I think he was only about 17. Dad later joined the army from Tambellup I think and was in the 10th Light Horse and I believe they left from Albany.

     SERGEANT KENNEDY        #2
 

PAT BARNARD              #1

Before I go on I must fill you in about our mother and how she came to be in Tambellup. She was born in Merino in Victoria. Her father was Irish and was a police sergeant in Merino. His first wife (English) had nine children five of whom died within a few weeks of each other – sadly he had to sign all their death certificates as he was the sergeant in charge. He sent to England for help with his four remaining children as his wife died also; giving birth to a son.

Two of his wife’s cousins came out and he eventually married Caroline our grandmother and had two other children – Hubert and Gertrude (our Mother). Our grandfather later died from wounds received during the Ned Kelly saga. As far as I can recall the whole family are buried in a family grave at Merino. Some years ago we held a family reunion at Merino and the local policeman did our family tree.
 After looking after the family for many years the Kennedy brothers moved to the property at Tambellup and later their mother and our mother moved to W.A. to assist them.
 When Mum lived at “Winton Park” with her brothers and mother, her brothers built a little church at a place called Pindleup’ maybe ‘Pindelup’ which was a small area in the bush. Mum played the organ there. I believe the church still stands and is used for services at times".
 End of piece by Pat Down nee Barnard.

   NED KELLY            #3
 

Police Sergeant Michael Kennedy
 Marble headstone over the grave commemorates Police Sergeant Michael Kennedy, killed in the gun battle with the Kelly Gang at Stringybark Creek in 1878. An inscription was added to the memorial at a later date in memory of his wife Bridget Mary who died in 1924.
 On 26 October 1878, Constable Thomas McIntyre was the only police officer to survive an attack on a police camp at Stringybark Creek in the Wombat Ranges near Mansfield.
 Ned and Dan Kelly, two horse and cattle thieves, aided by friends Steve Hart and Joe Byrne ambushed the police. McIntyre was captured by the Gang while Constables Michael Scanlan and Thomas Lonigan were shot dead. Sergeant Michael Kennedy then fought a lone gun battle against the four murderers until he was wounded and fell to the ground. Defenceless, he was then murdered by Ned Kelly. Several children – the youngest a mere baby – were made fatherless by these brutal killings and the bodies of the dead police were looted by the gang.

Thomas McIntyre escaped and, tormented for the rest of his life over the affair, later wrote this account of what happened. After the shoot-out at Glenrowan, Thomas McIntyre was the only living witness to what had occurred at Stringybark Creek. Unsurprisingly, his version of events differed markedly from that given by Ned Kelly at Kelly’s trial in Melbourne.
 Information from MonumentsAustralia.
 

       SERGEANT KENNEDY'S GRAVE        #4
 

     GNOWANGERUP NED KELLY MEMORIAL        #5
 

     GNOWANGERUP NED KELLY MEMORIAL          #6
 

   JIM KELLY            #7
 

Every endeavour has been made to accurately record the details however if you would like to provide additional images and/or newer information we are pleased to update the details on this site. Please use CONTACT at the top of this page to email us. We appreciate your involvement in recording the history of our area.

References:                 Article:   Information from Monuments Australia.

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Copyright : Gordon Freegard 2024