Few figures divide Australians as sharply as Ned Kelly. To some, he is a larrikin folk hero, a defiant battler against a corrupt system. To others, he was a murderer and thief who terrorised the countryside. His last stand at Glenrowan in 1880, clad in homemade iron armour, cemented his place in folklore.
Yet this month, echoes of Kelly’s story resound in Victoria’s alpine region. A massive police manhunt is underway for Dezi Freeman, a 56-year-old man accused of shooting dead two officers in Porepunkah. Like Kelly before him, Freeman has fled into the rugged bushland of north-east Victoria, evading hundreds of police in terrain that offers both sanctuary and danger.
The parallels are hard to ignore. Both stories centre on defiance, armed confrontation, and the challenge of pursuing fugitives in the High Country. But the differences – in context, ideology, and community support - are equally striking.
Kelly’s World: A Struggle with Authority
Ned Kelly’s life (1854–1880) unfolded during a time of deep tension in colonial Victoria. The 1860 Land Act allowed small selectors to lease land, but wealthy squatters and their allies in the police often harassed these struggling families to force defaults. For selectors of Irish descent like the Kellys, this persecution felt personal. ) One of our contributors wrote a magnificent series on Ned Kelly and I will republish these articles should people ask.... let me know.
From his first wrongful arrest to a harsh prison term for receiving a horse he claimed to have bought legitimately, Ned grew increasingly embittered. When police attempted to arrest his brother Dan without a warrant in 1878, the confrontation spiralled into what became known as the Fitzpatrick Affair, leading to his mother’s imprisonment , In exchange for their mother’s freedom, Ned and Dan offer to give themselves up on the various charges the police want them for but they were rejected and the Kelly brothers fled into the bush.
At Stringybark Creek later that year, three policemen were killed in a shootout, sealing the Kelly Gang’s fate as outlaws. Over the next two years, the gang pulled off bold bank robberies at Euroa and Jerilderie, courted sympathy by burning mortgage papers, and taunted the police in a 56-page manifesto known as the Jerilderie Letter.
The story ended at Glenrowan in June 1880, where Kelly, clad in iron armour, faced down a police train in a siege that left his gang dead, the inn in flames, and Ned captured. Hanged in Melbourne that November, his final words were reputedly, “Such is life.”
Freeman’s World: A Modern Manhunt
In August 2025, history seems to rhyme. Dezi Freeman, also known as Desmond Filby, is on the run after allegedly killing Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart, and injuring a third officer, during an attempted arrest. He fled into the bush near Mount Buffalo, prompting a massive police operation involving over 450 officers, helicopters, drones, and armoured vehicles.
There's a manhunt underway in that part of Victoria.The man is wanted for murdering two police officers this week.Have never seen an emergency warning like this. pic.twitter.com/jzoMGYm3pu
— Linden Austin (@kingswood10) August 28, 2025
Over recent years, Freeman has clashed with authority leaders. His rhetoric during the COVID-19 pandemic, railing against “tyranny” and “terrorist thugs,” marked him as a voice of resistance.
Echoes and Contrasts
Defiance Against Authority: Both Kelly and Freeman view themselves as resisting an oppressive system. For Kelly, it was the harassment of Irish selectors by colonial police. For Freeman, it is a modern anti-government creed rooted in frustration over lockdowns, power lines and noisy neighbours.
The Bush as Sanctuary: North-east Victoria’s harsh terrain has played the same role across centuries - a refuge for those fleeing the law. Kelly’s gang relied on bush skills to evade capture; Freeman, described as knowing Mount Buffalo better than police, is believed capable of surviving weeks in the wild.
WATCH: Dramatic police raid on Australian home as manhunt for suspected cop killer closes in: 'Come out with your hands in the air'https://t.co/4wEAsGriWP pic.twitter.com/Wk9Wv4s40R
— Video Forensics (@Video_Forensics) August 29, 2025
Police Pursuit and Public Perception: Both stories centre on massive manhunts. Kelly inspired sympathy among struggling farmers, while Freeman’s flight has sparked fear and grief, especially with the community mourning fallen officers. Whether Freeman gains any broader sympathy remains uncertain.
Weapons of Defiance: Kelly’s iron armour became a symbol of his rebellion. Freeman, by contrast, is said to be heavily armed, prepared for confrontation with modern firearms - a grim 21st-century parallel to Kelly’s defiant armour.
video from 6 years ago
History Rhymes, It Does Not Repeat
Though comparisons between Kelly and Freeman are inevitable, their contexts diverge sharply. Kelly’s rebellion was embedded in communal struggles of selectors and Irish immigrants, while Freeman’s is more individualistic, rooted in fringe ideology. Or is it? Are they really that different?
Kelly could count on networks of sympathisers; Freeman appears far more isolated...... time will no doubt tell.
Yet the broader pattern - an individual pushed or drawn into open defiance of authority, hunted through the Victorian bush - links them across time.
The story of Ned Kelly continues to spark debate more than a century after his death. Whether Freeman’s saga will leave the same kind of legacy remains to be seen. For now, the High Country again bears witness to the timeless tension between authority and rebellion - and leaves us to ask where defiance ends and criminality begins.
Copied -
— ꧁✬ℯ𝒫ℯ𝒶𝓇𝒸ℯ✬꧂ 𝕏 (@ErikaPearce17) August 28, 2025
“I won’t sit quiet while the police and media roll out their ready-made story, because I knew Dezi Freeman. I’m not going to claim he was my best mate, but I knew him well enough to say he was nothing like the villain they’re portraying.
He was a devout Christian, a…
My question is this: Was Kelly a hero and Freeman a villain, or are both men simply mirrors of their times?
And in a modern Australia - as summer heat rises and divisions deepen between rural and urban, migrants and old stock, authority and resistance - we might also ask: are police enforcing unity, or fuelling an “us versus them” divide?
What do you think?
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