Andrew George Scott (1842 - 1880)

Biography

Andrew Scott was born in Ireland.

Andrew Scott was an Australian Bushranger

Early years

Andrew George Scott was born at Rathfriland, County Down, Ireland, and baptized on 5 July 1842, son of Thomas Scott, Anglican clergyman, and his wife Bessie, née Jeffares Scott. His father wanted him to join the priesthood, but Scott instead trained to be an engineer. On 22 November 1861 Scott, his parents and brother Thomas arrived at Auckland, New Zealand, on the Black Eagle. Andrew taught school for a while but in February 1864 was commissioned in the Waikato Militia. Later he transferred to the Auckland Volunteer Engineers Corps.

In Australia

Scott arrived in Sydney in April 1868. He went to Melbourne, met Bishop Perry and in July was appointed stipendiary lay reader of the Church of Holy Trinity, Bacchus Marsh. In November he advertised that he intended to set up as a consultant surveyor and engineer in addition to his clerical duties. However in March 1869 he was sent as lay reader to Egerton near Ballarat, where he made friends with James Simpson, the local schoolmaster, and L. J. Bruun, agent for the town's branch of the London Chartered Bank. As Bruun was returning to the bank late on 8 May, Scott, disguised in mask and cloak, attacked him and forced him to hand over the contents of the safe. He made Bruun write a note certifying his resistance to the robbery; Scott signed it himself with the deliberately misspelt 'Captain Moonlite'. Both Bruun and Simpson were charged with robbery but were acquitted. Scott soon left for Sydney.

Bushranging years

At the end of 1870 Scott began passing bad cheques while he was in Sydney. He fraudulently bought the yacht, Why-Not, arranged for a skipper and a young lady to accompany him, but was arrested by water police as he tried to leave for Fiji. On 20 December he was given twelve months in Maitland gaol, some of which he spent in Parramatta Lunatic Asylum, feigning madness. When he was released in April 1872 he was charged with the Egerton gold robbery. While on remand he escaped from Ballarat gaol but was soon recaptured, and on 24 July he appeared before Sir Edmund Barry at the Ballarat Circuit Court. Scott received ten years hard labour and one year for escaping despite some evidence against him. Scott claimed innocence until the day he died.

Scott was released after serving only two-thirds of his sentence of 10 years, and was released from HM Prison Pentridge in March 1879. After his release Scott met up with James Nesbitt, a young man whom he had met in prison. Scott assembled a gang of young men, with Nesbitt as his second in command and the others being

• Thomas Rogan (22 yrs)
• Thomas Williams (19 yrs)
• Gus Wernicke (15 yrs)
• Graham Bennet (18 yrs)

The Moonlighters

Graham Bennet,Thomas Rogan, Capt Moonlite, James Nesbitt and Thomas Williams

The gang began their careers as bushrangers near Mansfield, in Victoria. The gang were often mistaken for The Kelly Gang and took advantage of this to receive food and to seize guns and ammunition from people in the area. Scott and his gang left Victoria at the end of 1879. It was in the southern district of the New South Wales that they became full time Bushrangers. Scott’s gang held up the Wantabadgery Station near Wagga Wagga on 15 November 1879. After being refused work, shelter and food they terrorised the staff and the family of Claude McDonald, the station owner. Scott also robbed the Australian Arms Hotel of alcohol and by this time had 25 prisoners.

Thomas Williams, James Nesbitt and Graham Bennett

The gang stayed in the farmhouse of Edmund McGlede until surrounded by police reinforcements. Nesbitt was shot and killed. When Scott saw Nesbitt shot down, McGlede took the opportunity to disarm the gang leader. With the other members wounded, or captured, Rogan managed to escape but was found next day under a bed in McGlede's house. According to newspaper reports at the time, Scott openly wept at the loss of his dearest and closest companion. ^[1].During the trial Scott claimed all guilt, however both Scott and Rogan were given death sentences.

Scott and ^[2]Rogan were hanged together in Sydney at Darlinghurst gaol at 8 o'clock on 20 January 1880. While awaiting his hanging Scott wrote a series of letters which were discovered by historian Garry Wotherspoon. Scott died wearing a ring woven from a lock of Nesbitt's hair on his finger and his final request was to be buried in the same grave as his constant companion. My dying wish is to be buried beside my beloved James Nesbitt, the man with whom I was united by every tie which could bind human friendship. We were one in hopes, in heart and soul and this unity lasted until he died in my arms. His request was not granted by the authorities of the time, but his remains were exhumed from Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney and re-interred at Gundagai next to Nesbitt's grave in January 1995.

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Sources

1. ↑ The Sunday Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1903 - 1910) p.11; 5th November, 1905 Article MOONLITE AND HIS GANG. THE WANTABADGERY BUSHRANGER AND HIS TRIAL
2. ↑ Kerang Times and Swan Hill Gazette (Vic. : 1877 - 1889) p.4; 23rd January, 1880 Article EXECUTION OF THE BUSHRANGERS.

See Also:

• Wikidata: Item Q5036742
• NSW BDM death of SCOTT, ANDREW G, Reg. No. 157/1880, showing AGE 37 YEARS, and DIED DARLINGHURST, registered at SYDNEY

• The Australian Star (Sydney, NSW : 1887 - 1909) p.3; 16th February, 1909 Article THE MOONLITE GANG. The Story of its Destruction, Recalled. A DESPERATE, BUT SHORT LIVED CREW.

• Trove Digitised Newspapers Photo of the Moonliters out of copyright

• The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954) p.7; 23rd September, 1922. Article The Preacher and the Bushranger

• Truth (Sydney, NSW : 1894 - 1954) p.28; 5th May, 1935 Article Bushrangers — Noted and Notorious 'CAPT. MOONLITE,' HIGHWAYMAN Lay Preacher Who Went To the Gallows

• Independent (Footscray, Vic. : 1883 - 1922) p.3; 20th December, 1890 Article A TRUE NARRATIVE. THE LIFE AND CAREER OF ALEXANDER CHARLES SCOTT, (Alias Captain Moonlight.) One of the Australian Bushrangers.

• A Pictorial History of Bushrangers, 1966 Landsdowne Press, Melbourne. Paul Hamlyn revised edition 1970. H. Nunn, Bill Wannan and Tom Prior.

• Moonlite's Grave (Visit Gundagai, https://www.visitgundagai.com.au/discovergundagai/moonlites-grave : accessed 10 Jun 2021)

• Captain Moonlite Wikipedia

ALSO:

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/256668926/andrew-george-scott

• Scott, Andrew George (1842–1880)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/scott-andrew-george-4546/text7451, published first in hardcopy 1976, accessed online 10 May 2019. This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 6, (MUP), 1976

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