FOLK hero or just a violent murderer with good PR?

On the 130th anniversary of Ned Kelly's trial for the murder of a policeman at Stringy Bark Creek, the debate still rages about whether the man was the oppressed victim of the establishment or just a rogue killer.

Whichever way you lean, the debate will no doubt continue to rage and may take another 130 years to settle.

Many towns and attractions that depend on Ned Kelly-inspired tourism hope it never will.

The Weekly Times left readers in no doubt as to how it felt about Kelly's fate on November 11, 1880.

"By the time this number of The Weekly Times reaches the hands of our readers, the last of the Kelly gang will have met his well-deserved fate.

"The hangman will have done his work on the vilest malefactor.

"This man Kelly, now gone to his account, was truly as reckless and as cold-blooded an assassin as ever shed human blood."