Check out our hard hitting Documentary about Ned Kelly's last stand in Glenrowan, Victoria. I have to say I was extremely disappointed with Glenrowan - I guess I was expecting something a bit more impressive considering the towns history with the rather famous Kelly Gang - especially considering it is the towns only real claim to fame.
Several telegraph-pole stumps with childishly painted faces on them are scattered randomly around the area of "Siege St", with no labels or other information highlighting who/where/what they are supposed to mean. The only stump-figure with any labeling is the one supposedly marking where poor Ned fell wounded after being shot in the leg & being unable to stand again with all that ridiculously heavy home-made armour on.
The pic below shows the location where the Glenrowan inn once was, with some more stump-men who are possibly meant to be other members of the Kelly gang. The modern houses directly behind & right next door (cropped out of camera shot as they are that close) are both for sale if you want to buy into a historic location.
Just around the corner, in the souvineer shops, you can buy a suit of plastic replica armour, or numerous t-shirts depicting Ned Kelly riding a motorbike - clearly the Harley Davidson was the key to how the Kelly gang got around so quickly in the 1870's...
In stark contrast, we spent the previous two days in Beechworth, which is a very pretty town, full of wonderful historic buildings which are well preserved & displayed. It has far more authentic Kelly gang displays such as the courthouse where Ned Kelly was imprisoned & tried, and the Bourke museum which contains many Kelly gang artifacts.
The town is also full of enticing antique stores & galleries and has worked hard to keep to it's original style, a walk down the main st is like stepping back in time. With an old style chocolate shop, bakeries, milk bars & pubs with sweeping verandahs, we could have easily spent another day or two staying there. A place not to be missed in our opinion.
Find Beechworth and Glenrowan on google maps.
