He saw an opportunity to escape

Birds do, bees do it, even bearded Australian bushrangers do it. 

In recent years there has been much interest in the life of Andrew George Scott, the bushranger known as Captain Moonlite, and his relationship with gang member James Nesbitt. Based on eyewitness accounts of Scott’s anguish at Nesbitt’s death, and his later prison correspondence, it’s clear the two men were lovers.

When Scott went to the gallows, he wore a ring fashioned from a lock of Nesbitt’s hair, and his final wish was “…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.”

“So, you’re Captain Moonlite? Well, you aren’t what I expected you to be…”

The Captain Moonlite I depict is my hero, my villain, my icon, and my romantic myth. He embodies bushranger folklore and yet mocks it. These vignettes blur the lines between historical fact and fiction, weaving in contemporary queer references and deliberate distortions. They playfully explore and propose a historical narrative that is as truthful as I, the queer storyteller, decide it should be.