DNA test sought to reveal real Kelly gang

DNA evidence could rewrite Australia's history and prove two members of the infamous Kelly Gang survived the shootout at Glenrowan in Victoria, a historian believes.

Ned Kelly was captured in the shootout 125 years ago and his brother Dan Kelly and fellow gang member Steve Hart were believed to have died in the subsequent fire.

But Queensland historian Paul Tully said the bodies of Kelly and Hart were never formally identified and speculation they survived began when a man walked into a Brisbane newspaper office in 1933 claiming to be the "real Dan Kelly".

Tully said he would ask the Victorian coroner to test DNA at the graves of the two outlaws and the man who claimed to be Dan Kelly.