Armour of the Kelly gang

In 1879, Australian bushranger and outlaw Ned Kelly devised a plan to create bulletproof armour and wear it during shootouts with the police. He and other members of the Kelly gang—Joe Byrne, Steve Hart, and brother Dan Kelly—had their own armour suits and helmets crafted from plough mouldboards, either donated by sympathisers or stolen from farms. The boards were heated and then beaten into shape over the course of several months, most likely in a crude bush forge and possibly with the assistance of blacksmiths. While the suits successfully repelled bullets, their heavy weight made them cumbersome to wear, and the gang debated their utility.

The gang found use for the armour as part of a plan to derail and ambush a police train in June 1880 at Glenrowan. After the plan failed, the gang, having taken hostages in a local hotel, wore the armour during a final shootout with the police. Byrne died from a stray bullet that hit his groin through a small gap in the armour, and in an attempt to rescue Dan and Hart, Ned donned his suit during a fifteen-minute exchange of gunfire with the police. Although the armour protected his head and torso, he received several bullet wounds to the hands and legs, causing significant blood loss and resulting in his capture. Hart and Dan died during the final stages of the siege, possibly in a suicide pact. After making sufficient recovery from his wounds, Ned was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by hanging.

News reports of the armour caused a sensation throughout Australia and much of the world. It has become a widely recognisable image and icon, inspiring many cultural depictions and cementing Ned Kelly as one of Australia's most well-known historical figures. The suits of armour ended up in both private and public hands; Ned Kelly's, for instance, is held by the State Library of Victoria. However, within days of the Kelly gang's demise, the armour started to become mismatched, and there was confusion over which pieces belonged to which suit. It was not until the early 21st century, after extensive research, that owners reached an agreement to swap the necessary pieces to restore the original suits.