Murray River Region Feature

The English have Robin Hood, the Americans Jesse James. Australians have Ned Kelly, a working-class youth whose struggles against police injustice and governmental indifference captured the country's heart. The best way to learn about the local legend is to visit the town of Beechworth, where a Ned Kelly Guided Walking Tour (A$10) departs from the visitor information center every day at 1:15 pm. You'll see the courthouse where he was tried and the jail where he was imprisoned during his many scrapes with the law. The Burke Museum displays one of his death masks, made shortly after he was hanged at Melbourne Gaol. If you long to hear more, visit Glenrowan (40 km [25 mi], southwest of Beechworth), the scene of his famous "last stand." It was here that Kelly, dressed in his legendary iron armor, walked alone down the main street fending off police bullets. He was shot in the leg and arrested. A huge statue, and a sound-and-light show that has received rather mixed reviews and is said to be "quite loud," commemorate Australia's most infamous outlaw.