No DNA Tests for Bodies Buried Century Ago: Kelly Gang Mystery Remains Unsolved
Ipswich, Brisbane (Australia):
A Queensland historian says the truth of what really happened to the Kelly Gang remains unsolved after the Victorian coroner ruled out DNA tests for two bodies buried 125 years ago.
Paul Tully, a city councillor at Ipswich, west of Brisbane, wants an inquest to determine if the charred bodies taken from the Glenrowan hotel fire, in north-eastern Victoria, in 1880 really belonged to gang members Dan Kelly and Steve Hart.
Cr Tully says there has long been speculation the real Dan Kelly survived the hotel fire and fled to Queensland and could be buried in a local Ipswich cemetery. He says medical advice has ruled DNA taken from bodies more than a century old would not be "scientifically productive".
"In the United States in 1995 the body of the American outlaw Jesse James was exhumed after 113 years and they did get DNA material, so I guess the possibility always exists in the future that more sophisticated DNA testing on burnt bodies which have been buried for over 100 years might be productive," he said.
Sept 27, 2005
ABC Online, Australia
About Kelly Gang
Ipswich, Brisbane (Australia):
A Queensland historian says the truth of what really happened to the Kelly Gang remains unsolved after the Victorian coroner ruled out DNA tests for two bodies buried 125 years ago.
Paul Tully, a city councillor at Ipswich, west of Brisbane, wants an inquest to determine if the charred bodies taken from the Glenrowan hotel fire, in north-eastern Victoria, in 1880 really belonged to gang members Dan Kelly and Steve Hart.
Cr Tully says there has long been speculation the real Dan Kelly survived the hotel fire and fled to Queensland and could be buried in a local Ipswich cemetery. He says medical advice has ruled DNA taken from bodies more than a century old would not be "scientifically productive".
"In the United States in 1995 the body of the American outlaw Jesse James was exhumed after 113 years and they did get DNA material, so I guess the possibility always exists in the future that more sophisticated DNA testing on burnt bodies which have been buried for over 100 years might be productive," he said.
Sept 27, 2005
ABC Online, Australia
About Kelly Gang
