It was Ned Kelly's sense of outrage at the injustices meted upon his mother, Ellen, and his newborn sister, Alice, and his indignation at the continued harassment members of the police force inflicted on his younger, defenceless siblings, which fueled his provocative actions during Ellen's incarceration. He deplored the harshness of her life and the difficulties she had faced.

The Jerilderie Letter, gives the impression of a man ready to explode, and is fiercely angry.  It repeatedly mentions the plight of his mother and his young sisters and brothers.

"My mother has seen better days; she struggled up with a large family and I feel more keenly than I can express the unjust treatment meted out to her, arrested babe at her breast and convicted of a crime of which she was innocent""

Ellen remained in the Old Melbourne Gaol during the entire Kelly uprising and the explosive siege of Glenrowan on the 28^th June 1880. She emerged in 1881 returning to children who barely knew her, her sons, Daniel burned to death in the Glenrowan Inn and Edward hung in the Old Melbourne Gaol on the 11^th November 1880.

During Ellen's years in the Gaol, daughters Maggie and Kate kept the family together, worked the farms, assisted the gang and resisted the authorities.

It was the women left to mourn and suffer the loss of their menfolk, and who were called on to calm the vengeful unrest which settled over the northeast.  The women's roles in the Kelly saga have been long overlooked.