Stringybark Creek is a small creek in the

Wombat Ranges Wombats are short-legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupials that are native to Australia. They are about in length with small, stubby tails and weigh between . All three of the extant species are members of the family Vombatidae. They are a ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia. It is famous for the place where three policemen were murdered on the 28 of October 1878. The

policemen A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

, Sergeant Michael Kennedy,

Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

Thomas Lonigan, and Constable Michael Scanlan were searching the forest for the Kelly brothers, Ned and Dan Kelly. They were wanted for the

attempted murder Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions. Canada Section 239 of the ''Criminal Code'' makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seven ...

of another policeman, Constable Fitzpatrick. The creek is in the Toombullup State Forest, 50km from

Benalla Benalla is a small city located on the Broken River gateway to the High Country north-eastern region of Victoria, Australia, about north east of the state capital Melbourne. At the the population was 10,822. It is the administrative cen ...

and 36km from

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market t ...

. The area has been developed for visitors and includes picnic area, camping, toilets and walking tracks. A memorial stone was put in place in 2001. It is near the remains of the hut. A tree near the site of two of the murders (Lonigan and Scanlan), the Police/ Kelly Tree, was scarped by a farmer in the 1930s. He carved the names of the three murdered police into it as a memorial. It has had a small copy of Ned Kelly's helmet attached to it. This caused great upset to the families of the murdered policemen. The other murder site (Kennedy's) is approximately 400–500 metres north west. It is across the Stringybark Creek Road.

The murders

A group of three policemen from Mansfield set out to search for the Kelly brothers who they thought were hiding in

the bush "The bush" is a term mostly used in the English vernacular of Australia and New Zealand where it is largely synonymous with ''backwoods'' or '' hinterland'', referring to a natural undeveloped area. The fauna and flora contained within this ...

near Mansfield. They set up camp at Stringbark Creek on 25 October 1878, not knowing that the Kellys were living in a small hut on Bullock Creek, less than 1km away. The next day Kennedy and Scanlan went to search the nearby forest, while Lonigan and Constable Thomas McIntyre stayed at the campsite. The Kellys heard noises from the police camp and went to investigate. Ned Kelly decided to try and capture the policemen and take their guns, horses and food. He called on the two policemen to give themselves up. McIntyre raised his hands, but Lonigan attempted to run and reached for his gun. Ned Kelly shot him in the eye. The bushrangers then waited for Kennedy and Scanlan to return. When they rode into the camp, McIntyre warned them that the Kelly brothers were there, and to give themselves up. Scanlan went to unsling his rifle and was shot dead immediately. Kennedy jumped off his horse, and while shooting at the Kellys ran into the bush. Ned and Dan Kelly chased after him, shooting him twice as they hunted him for over 800 yards. Kennedy surrendered. Kelly walked up to him and shot him again in the chest and killed him. During the earlier shooting at Scanlan and Kennedy, McIntrye was able to get onto Kennedy's horse and escaped. He reached Mansfield on the next day to report the deaths. Ned Kelly, Dan Kelly,

Joe Byrne Joseph Byrne (21 November 1856 – 28 June 1880) was an Australian bushranger of Irish descent. A friend of Ned Kelly, he was a member of the " Kelly Gang" who were declared outlaws after the murder of three policemen at Stringybark Creek. De ...

and

Steve Hart Stephen Hart (13 February 1859 – 28 June 1880) was an Australian bushranger, a member of the Kelly Gang. History Hart was born in Wangaratta to Irish immigrant parents Richard and Bridget Hart (née Young). He was their second son. His fa ...

were made

outlaw An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so that anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them ...

s, and a large

reward Reward may refer to: Places * Reward (Shelltown, Maryland), a historic home in Shelltown Maryland * Reward, California (disambiguation) * Reward-Tilden's Farm, a historic home in Chestertown Maryland Arts, entertainment, and media * "Reward ...

was offered for their capture, either dead or alive. The three murdered policemen were taken to Mansfield and buried in the

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a bu ...

. A large memorial, funded by public donations, was built in the main street of Mansfield.

In song and poem

In 1879, G. Wilson Hall printed a book in Mansfield called ''The Kelly Gang, Outlaws of the Wombat Ranges''. It included a song called "Stringybark Creek" which is believed to have been written by Joe Byrne. It described in verse the story of what had happened. The first verse is:
''A sergeant and three constables''
''Rode Out from Mansfield town,''
''Near the end of last October''
''For to hunt the Kellys down.''
''So they travelled to the Wombat''
''And they thought it quite a lark,''
''And they camped upon the borders''
''Of a creek called Stringbark.'' The song has been recorded many times, including the Australian folk-rock band the

Bushwackers Bushwhacking was a form of guerrilla warfare common during the American Revolutionary War, War of 1812, American Civil War and other conflicts in which there were large areas of contested land and few governmental resources to control these tra ...

on their 1979

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, ''Bushfire''.

Waylon Jennings Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music. Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...

recorded

Shel Silverstein Sheldon Allan Silverstein (; September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999) was an American writer, poet, cartoonist, singer / songwriter, musician, and playwright. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Silverstein briefly attended university before ...

's song ''Lonigan's Widow'' for the 1970 film

Ned Kelly Edward Kelly (December 1854 – 11 November 1880) was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout wi ...

References

{{Authority control Rivers of Victoria (Australia) Murray-Darling basin Goulburn Broken catchment Rivers of Hume (region) Victoria (Australia) state forests Australian outlaws Bushrangers