Glenrowan, Victoria
Encyclopedia
Glenrowan is a small town located in the Wangaratta
Local Government Area of Victoria
, Australia
. It is 184 kilometres north-east of Melbourne
and 14 kilometres from Wangaratta
and located near the Warby Ranges and Mount Glenrowan. At the 2006 census
, Glenrowan had a population of 952.
Ned Kelly
, who made his last stand and was eventually captured there in 1880 after a siege and shootout with police. The local railway station opened in 1874 and closed to passengers in 1981.
. In the township of Glenrowan, off the highway, tourists can rest, walk and examine the famous Kelly siege sites.
The town has an Australian Rules football team competing in the Ovens & King Football League
.
Rural City of Wangaratta
The Rural City of Wangaratta is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia. It is located in the north-eastern part of the state. It has an area of 3,764 square kilometres. In 2001 it had a population of 26,000, of which 8.6% were born overseas...
Local Government Area of Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It is 184 kilometres north-east of Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
and 14 kilometres from Wangaratta
Wangaratta, Victoria
Wangaratta is a cathedral city of almost 17,000 people in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, about from Melbourne along the Hume Highway, with Benalla to the southwest, and Albury-Wodonga to the northeast. It is located at the junction of the Ovens and King rivers which flow from the...
and located near the Warby Ranges and Mount Glenrowan. At the 2006 census
Census in Australia
The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...
, Glenrowan had a population of 952.
History
Glenrowan was named after farmers James and George Rowan who ran farms in the area between 1846 and 1858. The township was settled in the late 1860s, the Post Office opening on 22 February 1870. It is famous for the bushrangerBushranger
Bushrangers, or bush rangers, originally referred to runaway convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities...
Ned Kelly
Ned Kelly
Edward "Ned" Kelly was an Irish Australian bushranger. He is considered by some to be merely a cold-blooded cop killer — others, however, consider him to be a folk hero and symbol of Irish Australian resistance against the Anglo-Australian ruling class.Kelly was born in Victoria to an Irish...
, who made his last stand and was eventually captured there in 1880 after a siege and shootout with police. The local railway station opened in 1874 and closed to passengers in 1981.
The Town today
Glenrowan is a popular rest point for those travelling on the Hume FreewayHume Highway
The Hume Highway/Hume Freeway is one of Australia's major inter-city highways, running for 880 km between Sydney and Melbourne. It is part of the Auslink National Network and is a vital link for road freight to transport goods to and from the two cities as well as serving Albury-Wodonga and...
. In the township of Glenrowan, off the highway, tourists can rest, walk and examine the famous Kelly siege sites.
The town has an Australian Rules football team competing in the Ovens & King Football League
Ovens & King Football League
300px|thumb|right|O&K 2007 Thirds Grand Final between Whorouly and North WangarattaThe Ovens & King Football League is a minor country Australian rules football league based in Northeastern Victoria in the vicinity of Wangaratta and more recently Benalla....
.
Books
Though a very small locality many books on the Kelly Gang's final siege at Glenrown exist. Though many works discuss land selection, social conflict etc, they all have many details, photos, maps, sketches and facts about 1880 Glenrowan, its railway, the two hotels, and planned train derailment.- Kenneally, J. J. The Inner History of the Kelly Gang, 1929 (many reprints available- this was a watershed pro-Kelly work) shows pictures of Glenrowan during the 1880s
- Brown, Max. Australian Son, Georgian House, Melbourne, 1948 (plus subsequent reprints) shows pictures of Glenrowan in the 1940s
- Carey, Peter, True History of the Kelly Gang, Vintage, 2001
- Cave, Colin (ed.) Ned Kelly Man and Myth, Cassel Nth Melbourne, 1963. (an important watershed work in lifting the Kelly story into the academic arena)
- Jones, Ian. Ned Kelly: A Short Life, Lothian, Port Melbourne, 1995. (a comprehensive work including sketches of Glenrowan and the Kelly siege)
- Prior,Tom. et al., A Pictorial History of Bushrangers, Paul Hamlyn, Sydney, 1968. (many photos of Glenrowan in 1880 taken during and after the Kelly siege at the hotel)
- Molitorisz, Sacha. The Romance of Robbery: Australian Bushrangers, Murray David, French Forest, 1998, ISBN1 876411015 (photos and contemporary drawings of Ned Kelly at Glenrowan)
- McQuilton, John. The Kelly Outbreak 1878-1880, Melbourne University Press, 1979. (a watershed academic work which discusses land selection in the vicinity of Glenrowan)
- Phillips, John, The Trial of Ned Kelly, The Law Book Company, Nth Ryde, 1987.
- Clune, Frank. The Kelly Hunters, 1954.
- Osborne, Charles. Ned Kelly, Sphere Books, London, 1970.
- Sadlier, John, Recollections of a Victorian Police Officer, (1913)Penguin Colonial Facsimiles Ringwood, 1973. (autobiography from a Kelly Gang police pursuer and conflicts in the Glenrowan locale)
Fictional novels set around Glenrowan