Record series
Kelly Historical Collection Part 6: Penal and Gaols Branch
VPRS 19472
1873 - 1874
Open
North Melbourne
Agencies
This record series was created by:
Agencies responsible for this record series: Corrections Victoria ( VA 4819 ): 2003 - present
Date Range
Series date range: 1873 - 1874
Series in custody:
1873 - 1874
Contents in custody:
1873 - 1874
Function / Content
This series consists of documents relating to the Bushranger Edward 'Ned' Kelly's imprisonment. The series contains documents pertaining to his first stint served in various penal establishments following his conviction on 2 August 1871 for receiving a stolen horse.There are five documents contained in this series:
- a memo dated 23 June 1873 by Pentridge Gaol Superintendent Gardiner to the Acting Superintendent of the Hulk 'Sacramento' noted that Kelly should be 'kept well under observation' as directed by the Inspector General for Penal Establishments
- 3 medical certificates dated 17 September 1873 and 12 and 13 January 1874 sent to the Inspector General from either the 'Sacremento' or the Penal Establishment in Williamstown, and
- a prisoner record sheet for Kelly (Registered no. 10926). This is a sheet which might have followed Kelly as he passed between various penal establishments and contains much the same information as contained in his entry within VPRS 515 Central Register of Male Prisoners. There is no photograph of Kelly attached to this sheet.
These records were transferred to PROV from private hands in March 2023. The previous owner was given the records after these had been found at Pentridge Prison.
Recordkeeping system
This is an accumulative series that consists solely of file based records created or maintained by the Penal and Gaols Branch of the Chief Secretary's Department. The existence of other file based documents of this provenance is unknown.The records were handed to the previous owner as individual documents. An examination of the pin holes in the documents make clear the medical certificates were pinned together, possibly to the memo. The prisoner record sheet also contains holes that suggest other documents were attached to it but these have presumably not survived.
The previous owner ensured that conservation action was undertaken on the records whilst these were in their custody. All documents have been placed in archivally sound packaging material that has been retained by PROV. The three medical certificates, although individually packaged have been retained as one item and this arrangement has also been retained by PROV.
