Here are 2 collectible, rare, original, Ned Kelly figural silver plated spoons made in Australia by Randa in the 1980’s.
Both are in superb original condition and are highly desirable items for Australian collectors given the theme and the quality of the items.
One depicts Ned Kelly with his carbine and armor possibly at Glenrowan possibly during the police standoff and the second a grim reminder of Ned’s hanging on the gallows at the Old Melbourne Gaol.
Collectors of Australiana vintage retro items and Australian historical memorabilia will be highly enthused by both these items.
Design
Theme: Ned Kelly the bushranger
Item: 2x Vintage Retro Souvenir Spoons
Era: 1980’s
Made by: Randa Australia
Metal: Silver plated nickel
Condition: 2nd hand but fantastically well looked after.
These 2 spoons are approximately 13 cm x 2.5 cm in size.
History
Edward “Ned” Kelly (December 1854 – 11 November 1880) was an Australian bushranger of Irish descent. He was born in the British colony of Victoria as the third of eight children to an Irish convict from County Tipperary and an Australian mother with Irish parentage. His father died after a six-month stint in prison, leaving Kelly, then aged 12, as the eldest male of the household. The Kellys were a poor selector family who saw themselves as downtrodden by the Squattocracy and as victims of police persecution. Arrested in 1870 for associating with bushranger Harry Power, Kelly was eventually convicted of stealing horses and imprisoned for three years. He fled to the bush in 1878 after being indicted for the attempted murder of a police officer at the Kelly family’s home. After he, his brother Dan, and two associates fatally shot three policemen, the Government of Victoria proclaimed them outlaws.
During the remainder of “The Kelly Outbreak”, Kelly and his associates committed armed bank robberies at Euroa and Jerilderie, and fatally shot Aaron Sherritt, a known police informant. In a manifesto letter, Kelly—denouncing the police, the Victorian Government and the British Empire—set down his own account of the events leading up to his outlawry. Threatening dire consequences against those who defied him, he ended with the words, “I am a widow’s son outlawed and my orders must be obeyed.”
When Kelly’s attempt to derail and ambush a police train failed, he and his gang, dressed in homemade suits of metal armour, engaged in a final violent confrontation with the Victoria Police at Glenrowan on 28 June 1880. All were killed except Kelly, who was severely wounded by police fire and captured. Despite significant support for his reprieve, Kelly was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by hanging, which was carried out at the Old Melbourne Gaol. His final words are famously reported to have been, “such is life”.
