The cleric and the bushranger; Perth priest part of historical siege at Glenrowan

30 Nov 2016

By The Record

The remains of the Glenrowan Inn, which Bishop Matthew Gibney bravely entered in an attempt to save members of the Kelly Gang and their hostage from being burned alive, on 28 June, 1880. Photo: Australian News and Information Bureau

“I heard his confession, which I shall not be expected to repeat. As I at first thought he was dying, I anointed him.”

More than 135 years after his death, bushranger Ned Kelly remains as popular a figure as ever.

To some a ruthless criminal, to others a crusader for justice, Ned Kelly was hanged on November 11, 1880, after uttering the now immortal words, “Such is life”.

However, what many people don’t know is that one of Perth’s own bishops played a key role in this famous story.

Perth’s third Bishop, Matthew Gibney, then simply known as Fr Gibney, gave Ned Kelly the Last Rites on 28 June, 1880, during the Kelly Gang’s notorious last stand in the Victorian town of Glenrowan.

Perth’s third Bishop, Matthew Gibney, played a heroic role in the Kelly Gang’s last stand at Glenrowan, while he was serving as Vicar-General of the Diocese of Perth. Photo: FW Niven

He also risked his life in a vain attempt to save the other members of the Kelly Gang, and a local man who was their hostage, from the burning Glenrowan Inn.

The entire account was published on July 29, 1880 in The Record, the very newspaper that Fr Gibney had established six years earlier in his role as Vicar General of the Diocese of Perth.

“I was travelling on the North-Eastern line, having left Melbourne by the first down-train in the morning,” Fr Gibney stated.

“On arriving at Glenrowan station, having heard, while going there, that the Kelly Gang were at Jones’s hotel, I got out of the train, abandoning my intention to proceed further on.

“Consequently my presence at the scene was, so to speak, accidental. I got out at Glenrowan, because I thought I might be of use in my clerical capacity.”

Fr Gibney recalled that he went immediately to attend to the wounded Ned Kelly, who had been brought to the railway station after being shot in the legs by police.

“I don’t think he is dying. He is penitent, and shows a very good disposition. When I asked him to say, ‘Lord Jesus, have mercy on me,’ he said it and added, ‘It’s not today I began to say that’,” he stated.

“I heard his confession, which I shall not be expected to repeat. As I at first thought he was dying, I anointed him.”

Although Fr Gibney’s anointing of Ned Kelly has been reported in various accounts of the siege at Glenrowan, less well known is his valiant effort to save several lives.

The Record Newspaper reported that he joined the crowd outside the Glenrowan Inn, in which Dan Kelly, Joe Byrne and Steve Hart were sheltering, along with a local man, Martin Sherry, who was their hostage.

Ned Kelly, pictured the day before he was hanged in 1880, received the last rites from Bishop Matthew Gibney, after he was wounded during the siege at Glenrowan. Photo: Australian News and Information Bureau

Fr Gibney spoke to the Kellys’ sister, Margaret Skillion, and begged her to go to the inn and ask her brother to surrender.

However, when Mrs Skillion said she would sooner see her brother die than ask him to surrender, the police decided to set fire to the inn, in order to force the outlaws into the open.

With the building going up in flames, Fr Gibney declared his intention to save those inside from suffering a horrible fate, and moved forward.

“There was not a man in the crowd willing to accompany him. Not for £10,000 would any man, we believe, have done so; and this is no wonder, for assuredly not the very highest offer of the kind would have been the least temptation to the brave priest to do as he did, The Record reported.

“Passing through the house, the heat he had to endure was intense, and the smoke blinding, yet he made his way out through an opposite door at the back, and as he emerged safe, the people cheered him loudly.

“Having announced that the outlaws were dead inside, some people ran towards him, and then – but not till then, did the police enter.”

Martin Sherry was found badly wounded and moved away from the burning building, where Fr Gibney anointed him before he passed away.

Joe Byrne was found to have been shot dead by police many hours earlier, while the bodies of Dan Kelly and Steve Hart were discovered in such a way that suggested they had committed suicide.

Reluctant to draw attention to his heroic role in the events, Fr Gibney continued to travel along the East Coast, where he was collecting funds for the Subiaco Boys’ Orphanage.

He later served as Bishop of Perth from 1887 to 1910, when he resigned amid financial difficulties, but – as was made clear at Glenrowan – his bravery, devotion and love for all people could never be questioned.

 

From pages 24 and 25  from Issue 5: ‘Christmas 2016 – Looking forward to the Birth of Christ & Reflecting back on the Year 2016?’ of The Record Magazine