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The Adventures of Captain Moonlite

The notorious Australian bushranger Captain Moonlite was flamboyant both by name and by nature. But unfortunately for the young men he surrounded himself with, he led most of them to tragic ends.

Born Andrew George Scott to a deeply religious family in Northern Ireland in 1842, the 26-year-old came to Australia in 1868. In Victoria he was appointed lay preacher for the Church of England and sent to Bacchus Marsh to assist the Reverend HW Cooper. The following year he was transferred to his own parish in the gold-mining settlement of Mt Egerton, where he became close friends with the local schoolmaster, James Simpson, and Julius Wilhelm Ludwig Bruun, the manager of the local London Chartered Bank.

One night after dinner, when the bank manager Bruun was returning to the bank where he lived, he was bailed up by a man with a full face mask and a gun. The man held the gun to his head, forced him inside and demanded the contents of the safe. Bruun immediately recognised the voice as that of his friend, the Reverend Scott, who was aware that the bank was holding an unusually large amount of gold at the time.

The robber put the contents of the safe into two bags and then led the now blindfolded manager over to the church, where he told Bruun that he was waiting for his mate. When no one arrived they went on to the schoolhouse, where Bruun was forced to face the wall while the man wrote a short note saying ‘Captain Moonlite has stuck me up and robbed the bank’, signing it ‘Captain Moonlite’. Bruun was then tied up and left in the classroom while the robber made his escape.

The young bank manager freed himself and raised the alarm, accusing the Reverend Andrew Scott of being the man who had committed the crime. Andrew Scott acted dumbfounded and categorically refuted the claims, explaining that he had just arrived from Melbourne, and produced a train ticket to prove his innocence.

The Reverend even went so far as visiting Bruun’s father, demanding that he advise his son to apologise. He was so convincing that the police believed he was innocent and therefore diverted their attention to Bruun, who was duly arrested. They also took into custody the schoolmaster, James Simpson, who was accused of being an accomplice and author of the ‘Moonlite’ letter.

In July 1869, Bruun and Simpson were tried at Ballarat and included among the witnesses for the prosecution was the Reverend Scott, who testified against his former friends. Both men were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. Shortly after the trial, Scott boarded a ship from Melbourne to Fiji, then sailed back to Sydney soon after, owing a large amount of money.

In Sydney, Scott sold an ingot of gold and purchased a yacht with intentions of moving on. But before he could leave, he was arrested for passing bad cheques. On 20 December 1870, he was charged with false pretences and sentenced to 12 months in jail. During this time the former bank manager at Mt Egerton, Julius Bruun, hired a private detective named George Sly to investigate Scott, whom he found in Parramatta Gaol.

Sly also discovered that the ingot of gold Scott sold to the bank in Sydney was of identical weight to one stolen from Mt Egerton. On his release, Scott was arrested and extradited to Victoria to face a re-opening of the Mt Egerton Bank Robbery. Captain Moonlite was charged and found guilty of bank robbery, and sentenced to 10 years.

In jail, Scott formed a relationship with 19-year-old James Nesbitt. Following his release in March 1879, Scott decided to become a bushranger and teamed up with Nesbitt, who would become his constant companion and partner in crime for the rest of their short lives.

A young man named Tom Williams joined them, and when the local Lancefield Bank was robbed the trail led to Scott, Nesbitt and Williams, who were living together in Fitzroy, but there wasn’t enough evidence to charge them. Soon after, a convicted horse thief, 22-year-old Thomas Rogan, and Augustus Warneckie, the 19-year-old son of a prominent Melbourne publican, joined the gang.

Having no money and with no prospects of getting any, Scott walked out of Victoria into New South Wales with his gang and newcomer 22-year-old Graham Bennet. Unemployment was high and Scott and his friends tramped from homestead to homestead, looking for work. Finally Scott and his party reached Wantabadgery Station, 38 kilometres east of Wagga Wagga, where they asked for work. They were told to try again the next day. The men returned and once again asked for work, or in the least something to eat. They were told to clear out.

Scott, now as his alter ego Captain Moonlite, and his young gang returned to Wantabadgery Homestead and stole guns and food, and over three days they bailed up 35 hostages. The following day four constables from Wagga Wagga arrived to see why people hadn’t returned from the station and, having observed the hostage situation, called on the bushrangers to surrender. Scott and his gang opened fire and the troopers drew back and fled back to town for reinforcements.

With the police now gone, the bushrangers decided it was time to leave, and after commandeering all of the horses and guns, Captain Moonlite and his gang left armed to the teeth. As the district was alerted, armed constables came from every direction. In the ensuing running gun battle, which ended near Gundagai and was the longest in Australian outlaw history, Captain Moonlite shot and wounded Constable Edward Webb-Bowen, saw the 19-year-old Augustus Warneckie shot and killed, and cradled his friend and companion, James Nesbitt, in his arms as he died from gunshot wounds.

Captain Moonlite and what was left of his gang were brought before the Gundagai Court and charged with robbery under arms and wounding with intent to murder Constable Webb-Bowen. But when the Constable died the following day, they were charged with murder; they tried in Sydney and were all found guilty. The judge recommended mercy for Williams and Bennet, whose sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. But Captain Moonlite and Thomas Rogan would be executed.

Just before he was hanged at Darlinghurst Gaol, Captain Moonlite’s last wish was that he be buried with his friend James Nesbitt in the Gundagai Cemetery. He pleaded:

I want to rest in the grave of my friend, James Nesbitt. Gratify my last wish if you can. The only thing I long for is the certainty that I may share his grave. When he died my heart was crushed…my fondest hope is to be with him in Eternity. We were one in heart and soul, he died in my arms and I long to join him, where there shall be no more parting. When I think of my dearest Jim, I am driven nearly mad.

Wearing a ring made of Jim Nesbitt’s hair, Captain Moonlite was hanged alongside Thomas Rogan on 20 January 1880 and buried at Sydney’s Rookwood cemetery. One hundred and fifteen years later, in 1995, Captain Moonlite’s wish was granted and his remains were dug up and interned at Gundagai Cemetery, just a few metres from his friend James Nesbitt.

Also nearby are the graves of his friend and gang member, Augustus Warneckie, and the murdered constable Edward Webb-Bowen. For these nostalgic reasons alone it’s worth a trip to Gundagai.