Kate Kelly was born in Beveridge, Victoria, Australia, in a house built by her parents, John "Red" Kelly and Ellen Quinn. Kate was their seventh child. The family moved to Avenel soon after her birth, where another child, Grace, was born. John Kelly died of dropsy when Kate was four years old. Ellen Kelly then moved the family to her sister's house at Greta. One year later, the family moved again, to a two-room hut on their own land at Eleven Mile Creek. Kate helped her mother bring up the family, which included three more children by Ellen's second husband, George King.