Ned Kelly’s brother was believed dead in 1880 – until 53 years later this man claimed he was Dan Kelly
It was always believed bushranger Dan Kelly died in the 1880 police shootout at Glenrowan. That was until an ageing bushman turned up in Brisbane 53 years later with an incredible story.
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It was always believed 19-year-old bushranger Dan Kelly died in the infamous Glenrowan police shootout in 1880.
That was until 53 years later when an ageing bushman walked into a Brisbane newspaper office with an incredible tale.
The man claimed that he was the real Dan Kelly, the younger brother of Australia’s most notorious bushranger, Ned Kelly.
His amazing “confession” was splashed across the front page of the Truth newspaper.
It was headlined, “When the Kelly Gang rode out”, “I am Dan Kelly, declares aged bushman” and “Thrilling confession of days when hold up terror reigned”.
The mystery man, known as James Ryan, is the subject of the latest episode of the free In Black and White podcast on some of Australia’s forgotten characters, available today.
The story is told by Chris Adams in the Queensland’s Great South West edition of the Grave Tales series of books.
“He walked into the office in 1933 and said, ‘I’m Dan Kelly. I didn’t die at Glenrowan’, Adams says.
“‘I escaped. I then watched my brother Ned get shot down and taken away and I’ve survived ever since then.’”
The man claimed that after police set Ann Jones’ hotel on fire after the shootout with the Kelly Gang in Glenrowan on June 28, 1880, he managed to escape.
“While it was believed that he and Steve Hart were burnt and died in the fire, along with Joe Byrne who’d already been shot by the police, and Ned was captured, he said instead he actually escaped,” Adams says.
“He got out and found a place where he could hide in the bush, and watched Ned being shot in his exposed parts, the parts that weren’t covered by armour, and then taken away by police.”
The story caused a great deal of public interest, and so James Ryan took his extraordinary tale on the road.
“He figured there was a quid to be made out of it as well, and he set up a tent at what the locals in Brisbane call the Ekka, the agricultural show,” Adams says.
“And he charged people to come and listen to his stories of the Kelly Gang, including the robberies at Jerilderie and the shooting at Stringybark Creek.
“They were fascinating stories, and he said no-one who came to hear him talk at his exhibition tent could positively disprove what he was staying,” Adams says.
As part of his talks, Ryan would reveal bad burns on his back in a bid to prove his story.
Adams says Ryan was run over and killed by a coal train in Ipswich in 1948, and an inquiry then tried to resolve whether he really was Dan Kelly.
“It was fairly fruitless,” Adams says. “All the police could say on the matter was that the old man had never been able to produce anything to substantiate his claim that he was Dan Kelly.”
— Listen to previous episodes with Chris Adams from Grave Tales including the surprise twist behind the story of Whelan the Wrecker, the man who may have been Australia’s first serial killer and the story of Charles Brownlow, the man behind the medal.
Subscribe to the free podcast on Australia’s forgotten characters on iTunes here or Spotify here or on your favourite platform.
Buy the Grave Tales books in book shops or at gravetales.com.au.
And check out In Black & White in the Herald Sun newspaper Monday to Friday to see more stories from Victoria’s past.
inblackandwhite@heraldsun.com.au