Journalist Garry Linnell releases new book on Captain Moonlite

The prudishness of the Victorian era has ended up obscuring a dimension to the life of bushranger Captain Moonlite. But in a new book, journalist Garry Linnell looks at the many sides of this fascinating character, including his great love.

HE WAS one of Australia's most famous bushrangers — an Irish-born criminal whose life ended on the gallows 140 years ago.

And this bushranger was also gay, says journalist and author Garry Linnell.

Linnell, whose new book Moonlite was just released, believes Andrew George Scott, AKA Captain Moonlite, has been overshadowed by Ned Kelly, and that the former is “the most complex and most interesting bushranger we ever had”.

Moonlite was executed in Sydney in 1880 — 10 months earlier than when Kelly, another famous bushranger of Irish descent, met his end in Melbourne.

Captain Moonlite.

Unlike his contemporaries in the bushranging game, Captain Moonlite’s family had started with some wealth before hitting upon hard times and deciding to emigrate to New Zealand. He was educated, and showed his knowledge and charisma in his sermons after becoming a lay preacher in Victoria.

But all of that does not prevent him turning to crime.

Moonlite’s eventual death was the consequence of his gang’s siege at Wantabadgery Station, near Wagga Wagga, in NSW during which a policeman was killed.

And it is the letters he wrote while awaiting his fate that Linnell believes confirms the nature Moonlite’s relationship with James Nesbitt, whom he had met during a stint in Melbourne’s Pentridge prison.

Nesbitt was killed in the station shootout, and Linnell says Moonlite “holds him and cradles him as he dies, and weeps over his body and kisses his face passionately when he finally dies”.

“When you read the letters it’s just astonishing. Even for an era when men would often be quite flowery and write quite passionate letters to each other, this is like two steps beyond,” Linnell says.

“It’s very intense, very passionate and he is quite open in declaring his love for this greatest friend and soulmate of his life.

“So you put all these ingredients in and you’ve got more than your average smelly, dirty, unkempt bushranger who’s been hiding out in the bush for months and been robbing passers by and stage coaches — this guy has so many sides to his character, he is just an incredibly fascinating bloke.”

Moonlite's sexuality has been written and debated before, but Linnell has “no doubt whatsoever”, saying as well as the letters it was hinted about in other contemporary sources from the “prudish” Victorian era.

Linnell says others might ask if it was an important question to answer at all. “It is really important because anyone’s sexuality is very important when you’re trying to capture their personality and motivations.”

Linnell — who has worked for The Bulletin, The Daily Telegraph, Nine Network and Fairfax, and previously written books on Gary Ablett and William Buckley — says he hopes readers walk away with a lump in their throats.

“I hope they understand this is a book about Australia trying to grow up and become a nation in its own right but it is also a story about a man who had his own devils he was fighting but ultimately he was a bloke who fell in love and lost that one person he felt was his soulmate,” he says.

“And also just a better understanding that what a great history we have history in Australia.”

Moonlite, by Garry Linnell (published by Michael Joseph) is out now

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