 Edward " Ned " Kelly , born sometime between June 1854 and June 1855 , was an Irish @-@ Australian bushranger , and was seen by some as merely a cold @-@ blooded killer , while to others he was a folk hero for his defiance of the colonial authorities . As a youth he clashed with the Victoria Police , and after an incident at his home in 1878 , police parties searched for him in the bush . He killed three policemen , and subsequently the colony proclaimed Kelly and his gang wanted outlaws . A final violent confrontation with police took place at Glenrowan on 28 June 1880 . Kelly , dressed in a home @-@ made plate metal armour and helmet , was captured and sent to gaol . He was hanged for murder at the Old Melbourne Gaol in November 1880 . His notoriety affirmed him as a polarising iconic figure in Australian history , folk lore , literature , art and film . He was in cell number 113 at the Old Melbourne Gaol 
