Spotlight: The Executed Wantabadgery Bushrangers (1880)

Andrew George Scott, alias Captain Moonlite, who expiated his last crime in Darlinghurst Gaol on Tuesday, January 20, was born in the north of Ireland in or about the year 1843, and was consequently 37 years of age. He had the usual “highly respectable parentage,” his father being a clergyman of the Church of England, who now holds a tenure in the District of Coromandel, in the north of New Zealand. The family came to Auckland some years ago, when Andrew George was quite young. Though we are not, as we expected to be, in possession of an autobiography of the executed criminal, written for one of our contributors, and withheld from him by the prison authorities of New South Wales, we are able from information supplied us by that gentleman to give the salient points in Scott’s career.

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Spotlight: Execution of Sam Poo (1866)

The convict Sam Poo, who at the last assizes was convicted of the murder of Constable Ward; suffered the extreme penalty of the law within the precincts of the gaol; In the absence of any of his countrymen outside the prison walls three Chinese prisoners, who are at present confined in Bathurst gaol, were brought out to see the end of Sam Poo; there were also about a dozen other persons present, besides the police and the officers of the gaol.

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Spotlight: The Execution Of The Clarke Brothers As It Was Reported

Mount Alexander Mail (Vic. : 1854 – 1917), Wednesday 26 June 1867, page 3 LATEST INTELLIGENCE [PER GREVILLE AND CO., REUTER’S AGENTS.] (BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. ) Sydney, June 25. The convicted bushrangers, Thomas and John Clarke were executed at 9 o’clock this morning. The scaffold was erected in the yard of Darlinghurst Gaol. There were only about the usual number of officials and spectators present, and nothing special marked the ceremony. The men bad been most assiduously attended by their spiritual advisers, and a subdued and quiet manner, with expressions of penitence for their crimes, marked their last moments. In … Continue reading Spotlight: The Execution Of The Clarke Brothers As It Was Reported

Spotlight: Historic Old Gaol – Darlinghurst Closed – 1914

Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 – 1931), Saturday 8 August 1914, page 37 HISTORIC OLD GAOL DARLINGHURST CLOSED “‘Gallows Hill’. we called it.”“There were many executions in those ‘good’ (?) old days.”“Early in the morning there sounded the clanking of irons as as the chain gang wended its weary way from Hyde Park Barracks to work on Flagstaff Hill or Fort Phillip. In the evening the tired convicts clanked wearily back through Jamieson and Hunter streets to the park. But ‘Gallows’ Hill is no more. Hyde Park and Carter’s Barracks are but memories. Now Darlinghurst is gone. For the first … Continue reading Spotlight: Historic Old Gaol – Darlinghurst Closed – 1914

The Execution of Scott and Rogan

“I, Maurice J. O’Connor, being the medical officer of the gaol at Darlinghurst, do hereby declare and certify that I have this day witnessed the execution of Andrew George Scott, alias Moonlight, lately convicted and duly sentenced to death at … Continue reading The Execution of Scott and Rogan

Spotlight: Captain Moonlite, the condemned bushranger. By Silverpen.

Ballarat Courier (Vic. : 1869 – 1883; 1914 – 1918), Tuesday 6 January 1880, page 4 CAPTAIN MOONLITE, THE CONDEMNED BUSHRANGER. BY SILVERPEN. As every item of news anent the Wantabagery bushranger is just now read with painful interest by … Continue reading Spotlight: Captain Moonlite, the condemned bushranger. By Silverpen.

Spotlight: Portrait of John Thompson

John Thompson was a member of Captain Thunderbolt’s first gang in 1865. During this time he was working as a bushranger in the gang alongside Mary Ann Bugg, Thomas “The Bull” Hogan and a lad called McIntosh. The gang had been operating since January in the region around the Culgoa and Bokhara rivers when Thompson joined them in February of 1865. Continue reading Spotlight: Portrait of John Thompson