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Gay Outlaws Andrew & James - A True Love Story
Kerry:
Scott said, “We had no intention of being bushrangers. Misery and hunger produced despair and in one wild hour we proved how much the wretched dare.”
However, this was a sensational event in troubled times, as the notorious Kelly Gang had eluded capture in Victoria and public feeling against bushrangers was running high.
Scott and the other three surviving members of his party – Thomas Rogan, Thomas Williams and Graham Bennett – first faced an inquest in Gundagai in the Court House which still stands in the main street. They were incarcerated in the old Gundagai Gaol which is located directly behind the Court House, surrounded by a high slate wall, and is now a private police residence.
Gundagai Court House
James Nesbitt and fifteen year old Augustus Wernicke were buried in paupers’ graves in Gundagai Cemetery. Wernicke is believed to be Australia’s youngest bushranger.
Scott conducted his own defence in the Gundagai Court and pleaded for the lives of his surviving friends – “I alone commanded and these boys did as I bid them. I am ready to suffer for their sakes and answer for breaking the laws of this country. Let them who stand beside me go free.”
It must have been so traumatic for Scott, having so recently cradled his dearest friend, James Nesbitt, as he died in his arms. It was noticed that his voice broke with emotion on several occasions as he delivered his defence.
The prisoners were committed to Darlinghurst Court House in Sydney, to stand trial for shooting Constable Bowen.
Darlinghurst Court House
Continued . . . . .
Kerry:
This was a sensational event in troubled times and both the newspapers and the government took advantage of it. For the New South Wales government, the Wantabadgery siege was a tailor-made distraction from drought, escalating unemployment and labour strikes. For the press, the hunger for news was insatiable. A barrage of propaganda was written in the papers with the bushrangers, before their trial, described as, “notorious, depraved, bloodthirsty and vicious . . . utterly unprincipled, utterly incapable of reform” and much more. Not once were the words “alleged crimes” mentioned. The portraits of Scott appearing in the press at the time, drawn by newspaper illustrators, represent him as a wild-eyed, frightening figure with over-sized, mutton-chop whiskers, seemingly much older than his tender 35 years.
The Darlinghurst trial contained much conflicting evidence as to who had fired which shots. With the benefit of hindsight, one is tempted to consider the possibility that Constable Bowen may have been a victim of friendly fire. The trial was conducted in an atmosphere of public hysteria with over 2,000 people crowding the courthouse.
The judge, whose brother had previously owned the Wantabadgery property where the siege took place, should have disqualified himself from the trial. He conducted it in a highly emotional manner, finally sentencing all four bushrangers, “. . . to hang by the neck until your bodies be dead.”
After sentencing, in his final address to the jury, Scott said, “I ask that my body be given to my friends. I should like my body to be buried in Gundagai.”
After appeals, the sentences of Williams and Bennett were reduced to “hard labour for life” because they were under 21 years of age. Rogan, who was the most innocent of all the bushrangers, was to hang with Scott. By every account, he did not fire a shot. He hid under a bed during the siege and was found there the next morning. However, as he was 21 years of age, he too had to pay the ultimate penalty.
An estimated crowd of 4,000 gathered for the hanging at Darlinghurst Gaol, located behind the courthouse. Some spectators scaled trees and stood on the highest roof tops, but nothing could be seen or heard by the public.
Andrew Scott went to his death wearing on his finger a ring made from a plaited lock of James Nesbitt’s hair.
The execution of Andrew Scott & Thomas Rogan at Darlinghurst Gaol on January 20, 1880
Continued . . . . .
Kerry:
Following his execution, Andrew Scott’s body was released to his friends, as he had requested. However, the good citizens of Gundagai were outraged at the thought of a bushranger being buried in their town’s cemetery, so he was buried in the Anglican section of Sydney’s Rookwood Cemetery instead. Rogan was buried in the Catholic section of the same cemetery.
In 1993, Gundagai residents Samantha Asimus and Christine Ferguson read Scott’s eloquent and moving speeches to the Gundagai and Darlinghurst courts, which are displayed at the Gundagai museum. The two women were particularly inspired by Scott’s letters. It soon became evident to them that there was more than just friendship alone in his relationship with James Nesbitt. As a consequence, they resolved to grant Andrew Scott’s final wish and have him laid to rest beside his beloved in Gundagai Cemetery.
Eighteen months later, after battling bureaucracy and cutting through much red tape, the remains of Andrew George Scott, Captain Moonlite, were exhumed from Rookwood Cemetery and laid to final rest in Gundagai Cemetery, granting his last wish.
Gundagai Cemetery
On his 35th and final birthday, on January 8, 1880, Andrew Scott described his tombstone: “As to a monumental stone, a rough unhewn rock would be most fit, one that skilled hands could have made into something better. It will be like those it marks as kindness and charity could have shaped us to better ends.”
Andrew Scott’s final resting place in Gundagai Cemetery
The humble pink field flowers and Australian wattle are my own small tribute
These words now mark the final resting place of Andrew George Scott, Captain Moonlite – close by his mates in an old bush cemetery, under the shade of an Australian eucalyptus tree.
May they rest in peace and their lives be judged fairly.
The view from Andrew Scott’s grave in Gundagai Cemetery
(headstone in left foreground)
retropian:
This is such a sad story. Has anybody novelized it? I would read a novel of their story, sad as it is. It'd make a great movie too. Just don't let Baz Lurhman(sp?) direct.
Kerry:
--- Quote from: retropian on September 11, 2009, 11:14:52 am ---This is such a sad story. Has anybody novelized it? I would read a novel of their story, sad as it is. It'd make a great movie too. Just don't let Baz Lurhman(sp?) direct.
--- End quote ---
I agree. It would make an absolutely fabo movie, albeit a tragic one.
Novel by Annie Proulx :D
Screenplay by Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana :D
Directed by Ang Lee :D
Starring ??? :'(
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