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| Bid for Ned Kelly's head THE State Government is considering an amnesty to secure the return of Ned Kelly's missing skull. Kelly's bones are believed to be among the remains of 32 executed prisoners exhumed from the site of the former Pentridge Prison last month. The prisoners' remains were re-interred at Pentridge after being taken out of graves at the Old Melbourne Gaol when it closed in 1929. Heritage Victoria's senior archaeologist Jeremy Smith yesterday confirmed an amnesty had been proposed by the National Trust. Exhumation field work at the former Pentridge prison was now complete, Mr Smith said. "The last set of the remains has been delivered to the forensic institute and we are now waiting for the analysis," he said. But a source close to the bones dig said an amnesty had been suggested as a way of reuniting the hanged bushranger's skull with the rest of his remains. "This idea is that, if whoever has got it understands there will be no questions asked, they might give it back," the source said. Archaeologists working for Heritage Victoria have completed the exhumations and passed their skeletal findings to the Victorian Institute for Forensic Medicine for tests to identify them. The Sunday Herald Sun understands the archaeologists think Kelly's remains were found without a skull - supporting an often-told story that it was removed in 1929 after his exhumation from the Old Melbourne Gaol. A skull, thought to be Kelly's, with the initials "E.K." attached to it, was stolen from the Old Melbourne Gaol in what appeared to be a university student prank in December, 1978. One of the culprits was rumoured to be a former prime minister's son, yet it is still not known what happened to it. Some observers think the E.K. skull was actually that of Edward Knox, who was also executed at Melbourne Gaol. And in a further twist, a farmer in Western Australia claims he has the controversial E.K. skull buried in a tin can in his backyard. But evidence - at this time - does not prove his claim. |