Archaeologists discover outlaw Kelly's remains in Australia

Wellington, March 10 : An 80-year-old mystery has been solved with the discovery of the remains of Ned Kelly, Australia's most notorious outlaw, at the former Pentridge Prison site in Australia.

Kelly was hanged at Melbourne Gaol on November 11, 1880. His notorious crimes included murder.

According to a report in the New Zealand Herald, the grave site of Kelly was unearthed after historians and archaeologists found a Department of Justice document that contained a vital clue.

Bone hunters found an unknown mass grave where the remains of Kelly and other executed prisoners, removed from the Old Melbourne Gaol in 1929, were interred at Pentridge.

According to Planning Minister Justin Madden, "Heritage Victoria has co-ordinated extensive archeological and historical investigations, which began in December 2006 after the possibility of multiple burial areas at the former prison site came to light."

The bones are believed to belong to five prisoners and have been sent to the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine at Southbank in Melbourne.

"We have still some testing to do, but it's pretty clear we have found them," said Heritage Victoria senior archeologist Jeremy Smith.

But, according to Smith, identifying the individuals might prove difficult because of advanced decomposition and the mingling of remains.

"Ned Kelly's remains were not handled with a great degree of care," he said.

The mass grave was found near the former F Division of Pentridge.

ANI