About Jerilderie
Jerilderie, which is located on the Newell Highway in the heart of the Riverina, is famous for its connections with Ned Kelly. It is reputedly the only town in New South Wales where Ned Kelly and his gang robbed the local bank and Ned’s famous defence of his lifestyle and explanation for why he became a bushranger is known as the Jerilderie Letter because it was during the robbery that he handed it over hoping that it would be published. (sourced from the Aussie Towns website – click for more).
Getting there
Jerilderie is a 323km trip (route map) from our home in Melbourne. Up the Hume Fwy, taking the Shepparton turn-off thru to Tocumwal and then the Newell Hwy to Jerilderie.
It’s so good to be back on the road again, heading north away from the cold of Melbourne. The 1st morning in Jerilderie was only 2 degrees, so we really didn’t escape the cold too much š¤£
Accommodation
We arrived at the Jerilderie Motel & Caravan Park late in the arvo. It’s a really nice park with plenty of room. The caravan park is in town so it’s an easy walk into check it out (maplink). We had two nights here before moving on to Griffith.
Around Jerilderie
One thing we didn’t know about Jerilderie was…
Ned Kelly came to Jerilderie in 1879 – with a bounty on his head, he could be shot on sight by anyone. Yet Ned boldly relieved the Bank of Ā£2000, chopped down the telegraph poles, locked the police in their own cells, booked up the cost of shoeing his horses to the police. He held more than 30 hostages while shouting the bar and burned the mortgages held in the bank’s safe – all in three days
No person aware of Ned Kelly’s presence in Jerilderie took advantage of the AUD260,000 reward for his capture or made an attempt on his assassination. The main purpose of Ned Kelly’s visit to Jerilderie was to have his 40 page manifesto published – now known as The Jerilderie Letter. The document didn’t surface until 100 years after the event.
Found on the visitnsw.com website
Summing upā¦
- Accommodation – Jerilderie Motel & Caravan Park (03)Ā 5886Ā 1366
- Cost per night –Ā $35.00 (@ 17-Jul-2022)
- Stayed for – 2 nights
- Facilities –Ā fairly modern and very clean
- CP Location – 121Ā JerilderieĀ St Jerilderie
- Our rating/score – 8/10 – well maintained park
- Was it a nice town to visit? – not a bad town, a good stop-over spot
- Activities & places of interest – not much – Ned Kelly story was interesting
- Tourist info centre? – 63Ā JerilderieĀ St, Jerilderie – 0448Ā 878Ā 597
- Would we return? – only as a stop-over spot & may free camp next time (great spot near the lake)
- We rate the town – 7/10
- Overall thoughts – Pleasant enough town to visit and the caravan park was good. Went to the pub for dinner on the Saturday night and that was a bit of a disappointment – took nearly 2 hours to get our meals š .