STRINGYBARK CREEK

At a Glance

In late 1878, Ned and Dan Kelly, with friends Joe Byrne, Steve Hart and Tom Lloyd junior, had been hiding in a rugged section of the ranges above Mansfield for several months, with warrants for the arrest of the brothers outstanding from the Fitzpatrick incident at Greta.

Led by Sergeant Michael Kennedy, a party of four policemen left Mansfield on 25 October towards Stringybark Creek in the Wombat, part of a broader police operation aimed at capturing the Kelly brothers.

Discovering the police camp the following day, the Kelly brothers, Byrne and Hart ambushed and shot three of the four policemen – Kennedy, Lonigan and Scanlan – with the fourth, McIntyre, escaping back to Mansfield the following day to sound the alarm.

Within weeks the four were declared outlaws under an act passed by the Victorian parliament.

Historic Site

A memorial to the policemen murdered at Stringybark Creek was unveiled in 2018

Victoria Police produced a podcast, A Shout from the Long Grass that tells the story of the Stringybark Creek massacre. The narrative has been developed from historical sources; they are: Reminiscences of a Victorian Mounted Constable: A Narrative of the Kelly Gang and Other Bushrangers by Thomas McIntyre; evidence from the 1881 Royal Commission on the Police Force in Victoria; historical guidance from the Victoria Police Museum; and content produced as part of the Stringybark Creek Memorial Site.