Andrew George Scott (January 8, 1845 - January 20, 1880) was a famous Australian bushranger, known as Captain Moonlite, sometimes spelt "Moonlight".
Captain Moonlite is today an Australian folk figure.. and a queer bushranger.
Scott was born 5 July 1842 in Rathfriland, Ireland, son of Thomas Scott, an Anglican clergyman and Bessie Jeffares. His father's intention was that he join the priesthood, but Scott instead trained to be an engineer, completing his studies in London.
The family moved to New Zealand in 1861, with Scott intending to try his luck in the Otago goldfields. However, the Māori Wars intervened and Scott signed up as an officer and fought at the battle of Orakau where he was wounded in both legs. After a long convalescence Scott was accused of malingering, and court-martialed. He gave his disquiet at the slaughter of women and children during the siege as the source of his objection to returning to service.
In Melbourne, he met Bishop Charles Perry and, in 1868, he was appointed lay reader at Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, with the intention of entering the Anglican priesthood on the completion of his service. He was then sent to the gold mining town of Mount Egerton.
Andrew George Scott (Died 20 January 1880)
Captain Moonlight
Part 1 of 4 - Captain Moonlight from Preacher to bank robber
Irish born Andrew George Scott would have his final wish granted 115 years after his death. Engineer, soldier, trainee priest, and later bank robber. He would find himself in circumstances and a situation out of his control. This would lead him to become one of Australia's most notorious outlaws "Captain Moonlight". It is his relationship with a fellow inmate and later gang member James Nesbitt that would capture the imagination of modern historians.
Part 2 - Scott lives like a gentleman before being charged with bank robbery
Irish born Andrew George Scott would have his final wish granted 115 years after his death. Engineer, soldier, trainee priest, and later bank robber. He would find himself in circumstances and a situation out of his control. This would lead him to become one of Australia's most notorious outlaws "Captain Moonlight". It is his relationship with a fellow inmate and later gang member James Nesbitt that would capture the imagination of modern historians.
Part 3 of 4 - Why he became an outlaw, and in his words "In that desperate hour" it will all go wrong
Irish born Andrew George Scott would have his final wish granted 115 years after his death. Engineer, soldier, trainee priest, and later bank robber. He would find himself in circumstances and a situation out of his control. This would lead him to become one of Australia's most notorious outlaws "Captain Moonlight". It is his relationship with a fellow inmate and later gang member James Nesbitt that would capture the imagination of modern historians.
Part 4 of 4 - His Dying wish is granted
Irish born Andrew George Scott would have his final wish granted 115 years after his death. Engineer, soldier, trainee priest, and later bank robber. He would find himself in circumstances and a situation out of his control. This would lead him to become one of Australia's most notorious outlaws "Captain Moonlight". It is his relationship with a fellow inmate and later gang member James Nesbitt that would capture the imagination of modern historians.
The tale of Captain Moonlite
A queer bushranger
I first learned of Captain Moonlite from the historian Graham Willett. In Secret Histories of Queer Melbourne, a book Willett co-edited, Moonlite features "as the bushranger most likely to qualify as queer"... read on..
Bushranger
On November 18, 1879, a group of bushrangers led by Captain Moonlight, held up the Wantabadgery station (farm), east of Wagga Wagga. They stayed there for three days and held up all the people travelling along the road. They held about 30 people prisoner. One person was able to escape and tell the police. Two groups of police from Wagga Wagga and Gundagai went to the farm. After a lot of shooting, the bushrangers left and the police chased them through the bush. A policeman, Constable Bowen was badly hurt, and died a few days later. Captain Moonlight gave himself up to the police. The police captured the rest of the gang a few days later.
The police charged the bushrangers with the murder of Bowen. In court at Darlinghurst, Sydney, Scott tried to take the blame for the crime. He wanted the lives of his friends saved. Captain Moonlight, and gang member, Rogan, were hanged on January 20, 1880. In a letter from prison, Scott asked to buried next to his friend, James Nesbitt. In 1995 he was reburied at Gundagai next to gang members Gus Wernicke and James Nesbitt. A death mask was made of Scott by Walter McGill. This mask is now in the Justice and Police Museum, New South Wales.kiddle.co
Moonlite: man and myth
"He was what I'd call an accidental bushranger," says Paul Terry, author of In Search For Captain Moonlite. "He wasn't your typical smash-and-grab armed robber, holding up stage carriages. He was a white-collar criminal." australiangeographic.com.au
The Strange Life and Death of Bushranger George Scott
By: Paul Terry
He was the gun-toting man of God who enthralled and appalled the nation for more than a decade. This is the story of the notorious bushranger, Captain Moonlite.
When a masked and cloaked bandit robbed the bank at a small gold town in 1869 he created the legend of Captain Moonlite, the gun-toting man of God who enthralled and appalled the nation for more than a decade.
Real name Andrew George Scott, he is remembered as bushranger, conman, warrior and lunatic. In an 11-year life of crime, he escaped from gaol, took to the road as a prison reformer and fought a pitched gun-battle that made him a household name.
He was a man who loved, and was loved unreservedly in return - but more than a century passed before his dying wish to be buried with his soul mate was granted. Charming, articulate and intelligent, this flawed genius was also a thief, a liar and a chameleon whose true story has been lost to myth and misinformation. Yet when he led a pathetic band of misfits to their doom he stood tall at last and proved he was worthy to be their captain.
In Search of Captain Moonlite looks for the man behind the legend. It uses little-seen histories, a remarkable cache of rare documents and the records of his time to rewrite the story of a man who was not what he seemed.
In the end, it challenges history's verdict and finds a truth that's even more spectacular than the fiction.
About the Author
Paul Terry is a producer with 7 Prime, and has worked as a journalist in radio, television and newspapers in NSW, SA and Tasmania. He was part of the archaeological survey of the Kelly Gang siege site in Glenrowan, and subsequently worked as a producer on the documentary Ned Kelly Uncovered, which aired on ABC TV. He is author of The True Story of Ned Kelly's Last Stand.
Andrew George Scott (January 8, 1845 - January 20, 1880) was a famous Australian bushranger, known as Captain Moonlite, sometimes spelt "Moonlight".
Captain Moonlite is today an Australian folk figure.. and a queer bushranger.
Scott was born 5 July 1842 in Rathfriland, Ireland, son of Thomas Scott, an Anglican clergyman and Bessie Jeffares. His father's intention was that he join the priesthood, but Scott instead trained to be an engineer, completing his studies in London.
The family moved to New Zealand in 1861, with Scott intending to try his luck in the Otago goldfields. However, the Māori Wars intervened and Scott signed up as an officer and fought at the battle of Orakau where he was wounded in both legs. After a long convalescence Scott was accused of malingering, and court-martialed. He gave his disquiet at the slaughter of women and children during the siege as the source of his objection to returning to service.
In Melbourne, he met Bishop Charles Perry and, in 1868, he was appointed lay reader at Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, with the intention of entering the Anglican priesthood on the completion of his service. He was then sent to the gold mining town of Mount Egerton.
Andrew George Scott (Died 20 January 1880)
Captain Moonlight
Part 1 of 4 - Captain Moonlight from Preacher to bank robber
Irish born Andrew George Scott would have his final wish granted 115 years after his death. Engineer, soldier, trainee priest, and later bank robber. He would find himself in circumstances and a situation out of his control. This would lead him to become one of Australia's most notorious outlaws "Captain Moonlight". It is his relationship with a fellow inmate and later gang member James Nesbitt that would capture the imagination of modern historians.
Part 2 - Scott lives like a gentleman before being charged with bank robbery
Irish born Andrew George Scott would have his final wish granted 115 years after his death. Engineer, soldier, trainee priest, and later bank robber. He would find himself in circumstances and a situation out of his control. This would lead him to become one of Australia's most notorious outlaws "Captain Moonlight". It is his relationship with a fellow inmate and later gang member James Nesbitt that would capture the imagination of modern historians.
Part 3 of 4 - Why he became an outlaw, and in his words "In that desperate hour" it will all go wrong
Irish born Andrew George Scott would have his final wish granted 115 years after his death. Engineer, soldier, trainee priest, and later bank robber. He would find himself in circumstances and a situation out of his control. This would lead him to become one of Australia's most notorious outlaws "Captain Moonlight". It is his relationship with a fellow inmate and later gang member James Nesbitt that would capture the imagination of modern historians.
Part 4 of 4 - His Dying wish is granted
Irish born Andrew George Scott would have his final wish granted 115 years after his death. Engineer, soldier, trainee priest, and later bank robber. He would find himself in circumstances and a situation out of his control. This would lead him to become one of Australia's most notorious outlaws "Captain Moonlight". It is his relationship with a fellow inmate and later gang member James Nesbitt that would capture the imagination of modern historians.
The tale of Captain Moonlite
A queer bushranger
I first learned of Captain Moonlite from the historian Graham Willett. In Secret Histories of Queer Melbourne, a book Willett co-edited, Moonlite features "as the bushranger most likely to qualify as queer"... read on..
Bushranger
On November 18, 1879, a group of bushrangers led by Captain Moonlight, held up the Wantabadgery station (farm), east of Wagga Wagga. They stayed there for three days and held up all the people travelling along the road. They held about 30 people prisoner. One person was able to escape and tell the police. Two groups of police from Wagga Wagga and Gundagai went to the farm. After a lot of shooting, the bushrangers left and the police chased them through the bush. A policeman, Constable Bowen was badly hurt, and died a few days later. Captain Moonlight gave himself up to the police. The police captured the rest of the gang a few days later.
The police charged the bushrangers with the murder of Bowen. In court at Darlinghurst, Sydney, Scott tried to take the blame for the crime. He wanted the lives of his friends saved. Captain Moonlight, and gang member, Rogan, were hanged on January 20, 1880. In a letter from prison, Scott asked to buried next to his friend, James Nesbitt. In 1995 he was reburied at Gundagai next to gang members Gus Wernicke and James Nesbitt. A death mask was made of Scott by Walter McGill. This mask is now in the Justice and Police Museum, New South Wales.kiddle.co
Moonlite: man and myth
"He was what I'd call an accidental bushranger," says Paul Terry, author of In Search For Captain Moonlite. "He wasn't your typical smash-and-grab armed robber, holding up stage carriages. He was a white-collar criminal." australiangeographic.com.au
The Strange Life and Death of Bushranger George Scott
By: Paul Terry
He was the gun-toting man of God who enthralled and appalled the nation for more than a decade. This is the story of the notorious bushranger, Captain Moonlite.
When a masked and cloaked bandit robbed the bank at a small gold town in 1869 he created the legend of Captain Moonlite, the gun-toting man of God who enthralled and appalled the nation for more than a decade.
Real name Andrew George Scott, he is remembered as bushranger, conman, warrior and lunatic. In an 11-year life of crime, he escaped from gaol, took to the road as a prison reformer and fought a pitched gun-battle that made him a household name.
He was a man who loved, and was loved unreservedly in return - but more than a century passed before his dying wish to be buried with his soul mate was granted. Charming, articulate and intelligent, this flawed genius was also a thief, a liar and a chameleon whose true story has been lost to myth and misinformation. Yet when he led a pathetic band of misfits to their doom he stood tall at last and proved he was worthy to be their captain.
In Search of Captain Moonlite looks for the man behind the legend. It uses little-seen histories, a remarkable cache of rare documents and the records of his time to rewrite the story of a man who was not what he seemed.
In the end, it challenges history's verdict and finds a truth that's even more spectacular than the fiction.
About the Author
Paul Terry is a producer with 7 Prime, and has worked as a journalist in radio, television and newspapers in NSW, SA and Tasmania. He was part of the archaeological survey of the Kelly Gang siege site in Glenrowan, and subsequently worked as a producer on the documentary Ned Kelly Uncovered, which aired on ABC TV. He is author of The True Story of Ned Kelly's Last Stand.
