The Siege of Glenrowan: Ned Kelly's Last Stand

 

On Monday 28th June 1880 one of the more famous events in Australian history took place - it was the siege of Glenrowan - also known as Ned Kelly's last stand. This event continues to be discussed in detail over many platforms, but surprisingly little information is available about the weather on that day. This is an attempt to reconstruct those long-ago meteorological conditions.

The Back Story

On the early morning of Monday 28th June 1880 a party of police confronted the Australian outlaw Ned Kelly and his gang, who were holed up in the Glenrowan Inn, located in northeastern Victoria.

Just before dawn police opened fire on the gang as they stepped out onto the veranda of the Inn and the two groups exchanged gunfire for an extended period. The events that followed are now part of Australian folklore, with Ned emerging from the half light of the dawn dressed in armour plate and attacking the police.

Ned Kelly, in full armour, attacks the police (Wikipedia Commons)

He was eventually captured and the other gang members (Dan Kelly, Steve Hart and Joe Byrne) were killed.

One feature of the siege is seldom discussed - that of the weather. However by using available resources from the Bureau of Meteorology data base, contemporary photography, lunar tables and existing newspaper reports we can construct a reasonable estimate of the weather conditions on the morning of 28th June 1880. 

Available weather data

Rainfall:

Glenrowan lies between two much larger rural settlements - recognised as cities today - but much smaller back in 1880. Wangaratta is about 14 km to the northeast of Glenrowan, and Benalla 30 km to the southwest.

Weather observations did not commence at Benalla until 1882 - some two years after the siege. But fortunately records go back to 1868 at Wangaratta, with daily rainfall totals recorded all through until 1987 - a virtually unbroken period close to 120 years. This covered all of 1880, including of course, the day of the siege.

Temperature:

Temperatures are a more difficult issue. Rainfall data was taken from many rural locations during the 19th Century but temperature data is less common. The reasons for this are various but basically thermometers were harder to come by and more expensive to purchase than the simple rain gauge.

As far as the Glenrowan siege is concerned no temperature data was available in the immediate area but some ideas can be obtained from contemporary newspaper reports. The event was big news and reporters from major newspapers were sent to Glenrowan in the early morning of June 28. They rode on a special train that carried a police contingent tasked with confronting and subduing the gang.   

The reporters were Joseph Melvin of the Argus, George Allen of the Melbourne Daily Telegraph, John McWhirter of The Age and Francis Carrington of the Australasian Sketcher. They boarded the police train at Spencer Street Station late on Sunday night, 27th June 1880.

Newspaper Reports:

Francis Carrington later recalled that "the great speed we were going at caused the carriage to oscillate very violently. The night was intensely cold".

John McWhirter of the Age also described the scene: "The night was a splendid one, the moon shining with unusual brightness whilst the sharp frosty air caused the slightest noise in the forest beyond to be distinctly heard".

An article also appeared in the Freeman's Journal, Saturday 3rd July 1880- likely written by one of the reporters on the police train: "The night was clear and cold, the sky being almost unclouded. It was a pleasant night despite the sharpness of the temperature for the air was crisp and bracing and the sky was thickly studded with myriads of stars".

Upon reaching Benalla railway station the reporter again remarked on the night sky: "A fine large station but dimly lighted by gas. That mattered little though for by this time the moon was up, silvering with her radiance the earth and the heavens and casting a halo of glory upon the rugged and mountainous "Kelly country" - the peaks and spurs of which reared themselves ahead of us - standing out in bold relief against the cloudless sky".

These reports clearly  indicate that the early morning of 28th June was clear and cold, with local frosts likely around the Glenrowan area. Lunar tables indicate that the moon was in the "waning gibbous" phase - the first phase after full moon.

Francis Carrington also produced this sketch showing the reporters huddled together in the train carriage - again hinting at the very cold temperatures of the early morning, 28th June 1880. (State Library of Victoria)

Bureau of Meteorology rainfall data:

The daily rainfall record for Wangaratta for June 1880 reveals a wet spell before the siege. In the 24 hours ending at 9 am on 25th June 26.9 mm was recorded followed by 13.2 mm the next day. This was on top of 105.8 mm in April and 44.2 mm in May, meaning that it was likely that conditions in the bush in the surrounding area, including Glenrowan, were wet under foot on the morning of the siege.

Also, in "A Guide to Australian Bushranging - the Siege of Glenrowan Part 2", the author mentions that "Shortly after heading into the bush Ned passed out near a fallen tree. It is uncertain how long he was unconscious for but when he came to he crawled into the bush leaving his carbine and skull cap behind in the mud". 

This would indicate that there were likely puddles and mud areas around the Glenrowan Inn, due mainly to the rain event of the previous week.

Wind

There were no formal wind recordings taken from the immediate area. However during the early afternoon the Glenrowan Inn was set on fire to displace any gang members that may have still been inside. Photographs of the burning Inn were taken and the line taken by the pall of smoke gives us some idea on the wind direction at the time.

Looking at the two images (click to enlarge) it would appear that the wind was from the west/southwest - a common wind direction for Victoria during the winter months. 

Visibility

There are several newspaper references to "mist" around the Glenrowan area in the early hours of of 28th June, mostly around the time that Ned Kelly, in full armour, attacked the police from outside the Inn. 

A retrospective article in the Ararat Advertiser of 26th February 1914 recalled that "...when on the tragic morning Kelly loomed out of the mist in his armour and bullets began to fly..." 

In summary:

The weather conditions during the famous siege of Glenrowan that occurred from the early hours of 28th June 1880 until well into the afternoon have been reconstructed using data from the Bureau of Meteorology, contemporary photography, the lunar calendar and newspaper reports from the time.

From this information it is hypothesised that the pre-dawn conditions were clear, cold and frosty, with the ground wet underfoot as a result of quite substantial rain  over the previous week. Some morning mist also lay across the area. As the day progressed some cloud moved across but no rain fell.

Wind during the afternoon was likely from the west to southwest as deduced from the direction of the smoke plume produced when the Glenrowan Inn was set on fire by the police.