A decent burial !

Crime and punishment have greatly changed since 1788 when the first fleet dropped anchor in Australian waters.   The law in Australia then was simply an extension of English law - and that was heavy on revenge.

Execution was the outcome for many crimes other than murder - and perhaps the ultimate penalty was that handed down to William Wallace, the man who tried to bring independence to Scotland.   He was " Hung, drawn and quartered " - with the extremities of his body buried in unmarked graves in the four corners of merry olde England.

That extreme punishment was never carried out in Australia, but the standard fate of those executed under the law was to be buried in an unmarked grave - within the grounds of the place of execution.   Such was the fate of legendary bandit - Ned Kelly.

Kelly fought a battle clad in armour at Glenrowan.  He faced many charges - including the murder of three Victorian police officers - and he was dispatched by the hangman in Melbourne gaol in 1880.   His body was buried in an unmarked grave in the gaol grounds, where it remained until the gaol closed and it was removed - to be reburied in Pentridge.

Since then this country has removed the death penalty from the statute books.  The harshest remaining penalty is " life - never to be released " - and prisoners who die in custody are returned to their families for civil burial.

Ned Kelly was perhaps our most famous outlaw.   Many books have been written about him and he has been the subject of films - and once again he is making headlines.

Kelly's body has been retrieved from that unmarked grave and DNA sampling has confirmed it is authentic.     A hundred and thirty one years later - it will be returned to his family for burial, probably at the village of Greta, where the local cemetery holds many of his clan.

This has raised a complaint from relatives of the slain policemen.    They fear that because of the hero status that has surrounded Ned Kelly in recent years the new funeral and burial will become a media event - and that the crime of murdering police who were applying the law - will be forgotten.

They do have a point - but times have changed and in today's more enlightened age - even the worst criminals are entitled to a decent burial !