Ned and Dan Kelly were on the run, hiding out in the dense bushland in the north east of Victoria. A search party of four policemen - Sergeant Michael Kennedy, and Constables Michael Scanlan, Thomas Lonigan, and Thomas McIntyre - were sent out from Mansfield to find and apprehend the two men who had evaded capture for months.

But not even a day into their mission, the four policemen had no idea how much danger they were already in.