Do homosexuals now write poetry to each other?

Do homosexuals now write poetry to each other? [2018]

Fabric, sequins and acrylic paint. 1800 x 1200 x 1200mm.

The Australian bushranger Captain Moonlite (George Scott) is thought to have had a male lover, James Nesbitt, who was a member of his gang. Moonlite was captured in a shootout that also resulted in the death of Nesbitt., who died in his arms. He was convicted of his crimes as a bushranger and hung. His dying wish was to be buried beside Nesbitt, whose death had “broken his heart,” but he was instead interred at Rokewood Cemetery in Sydney.

In the 1990’s Moonlite’s body was exhumed by a group purportedly wishing to honour the bushranger’s final wish and a re-burial was conducted in full period costume at Gundagai cemetery. Moonlite had written his own epitaph for inscription on his gravestone which referred only to himself and Nesbitt. However, his new marker reads that he is “laid to rest near his friends” Nesbitt and Augustus Wernicke, the latter being another gang member buried in the cemetery.

In a 2015 interview with one of the people responsible for Moonlite’s re-interment, journalist Jeff Sparrow pointed to a love poem quoted by Moonlite and included as part of his letter requesting to be buried alongside Nesbitt. To Sparrow this poem was “clearly a love poem to a man.” The interviewee was less sure of the possibility of the two men being lovers, saying “…we don’t have the evidence. Do homosexuals now write poetry to each other? It’s an odd thing to do…”

It seems the mythology of bushrangers can accommodate, and even celebrate, their violent traits but maybe not their sexuality. In this piece I wanted to explore how queer history is often hidden and how different interpretations can be arrived at when you focus on isolated elements and alter the context.

[Photography by Emma Byrnes]