Benalla Ensign (Vic. : 1938 - 1954), Thursday 8 January 1953, page 2


Ned's Skull is Now Locked Up Ned Kelly's skull is away from the public gaze in a safe at the Australian Institute of Anatomy at Canberra. The curator (Mr. B. P. Stone) said that the skull, missing in the institute for some time, was rediscovered when junk was be-ing cleared from an old safe. It would not be put on display like Phar Lap's heart—the in- stitute's chief talking point for tourists. Phar Lap's heart is displayed because it is much bigger than the heart of an ordinary horse, Mr. Stone said. Ned Kelly's skull was severed from his body after he was hang-ed in 1880. The body was buried in the old Melbourne Gaol, but the skull was kept at the Vic-torian Penal Department until taken to Canberra for research by the first director of the In-stitute of Anatomy (Sir Colin Mackenzie) in 1934.