Australian outlaw Ned Kelly's skull recovered

Ned Kelly. Photo / Supplied

The skull of notorious Australian outlaw Ned Kelly has been uncovered at a former Melbourne prison site.

Authorities today confirmed remains found at the Pentridge Prison site were that of the infamous Irish-Australian bushranger.

A DNA sample from Melbourne school teacher Leigh Olver - the great grandson of Kelly's sister Ellen - confirmed the identification, ABC news reported.

Scientists from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine had to sift through the remains of 33 other people who had been buried with Kelly in a mass grave to find his remains.

Attorney-General Robert Clark said called their 20-month effort to identify Kelly a "remarkable" achievement.

"To think a group of scientists could identify the body of a man who was executed more than 130 years ago, moved and buried in a haphazard fashion among 33 other prisoners, most of whom are not identified, is amazing," he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Kelly rose to notoriety after he killed three policemen in 1878.

He was captured and hanged in 1880 after he dressed in home-made plate metal armour for a final confrontation with police.

His remains had been transferred to Pentridge Prison from the Old Melbourne Gaol in 1929.