'I owe Ned my life'

Jenny Fruend thanks Ned Kelly for saving the life of her Great Grandfather Richard Shelton when the seven-year-old boy almost drowned.

Max Fleet

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THE recent identification of Ned Kelly’s bones have prompted a Bundaberg local to reveal her connection to the famous Australian bushranger.

History tells us the outlaw killed police officers and stole money from landowners and banks, but Jenny Fruend said he was also responsible for saving lives.

Mrs Fruend is the great-granddaughter of Richard Shelton, who it is claimed at age seven was on his way to school in Avenel, Victoria, when the wind caught his hat and it was blown in a local creek.

She said Richard went to retrieve the hat, but slipped and would have drowned if not for an 11-year-old boy who came to his rescue.

That boy was said to be the young Ned Kelly.

“Richard was on his way to school and fell in the local creek, he couldn’t swim,” Mrs Fruend said.

“But along came Ned who was on his way to school too and he saved Richard – pulled him out and saved him.”

Mrs Fruend said the Sheltons were a prominent Avenel family of the time and, when word reached Richard’s father, he wanted to reward his son’s rescuer.

At a school ceremony, he presented the boy with a green sash to say thank you.

Mrs Fruend claimed the same green sash was found on Kelly after he was shot at Glenrowan, and that his treating doctor took it before it was eventually returned to Benalla.

“Many years later that doctor’s daughter returned it to the Benalla museum, where it belonged,” she said.

The sash must have been one of Ned Kelly’s most treasured possessions for him to still have it years after recieving it as an 11-year-old.

Mrs Fruend said the Kelly family and the Sheltons were both living in Avenel at the time of the incident and that her family treasured their part in Australian history.

She said the story was passed from one generation to the next and the tradition would always continue.

“My mother, Lynette McLelland, passed the story to me – she was Lynette Shelton before that – she is actually buried here in Bundaberg,” Mrs Fruend said.

Husband John, an Australian history buff, agreed it was great to be involved in something so important.

“When I found out if it wasn’t for Ned Kelly she (Jenny) wouldn’t be here, that was when I got into it,” he said.

Mr Fruend said he had a lot of books and memorabilia relating to the bushranger.