Death Masks - Captain Moonlite

Top right and bottom left

Walter McGill, Australia, 1824-1881, Death Mask of Captain Moonlite, plaster, painted

Justice and Police Museum, Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, JP 1910/211

Top left and bottom right

Dave Horton, sculptor lecturer at National Art School,

Andrew George Scott AKA Captain Moonlite (Copy Cast)

Copy of the original Death Mask (1880) cast by Horton in 2014

 

"Moonlite's head was so peculiarly formed that it was impossible he could speak the truth, or be honest; that it was devoid of all moral courage, and hence would keep up to the last what he once said; and that he could not brook contradiction; and that he had such a love of life and its pleasures, that he cared not how he gained his ends."
Australian phrenologist Walter McGill  (1824-1881)

     "The context considered in this article is that of 19th century Australia and the 'reading of heads': heads were read, the bumps of the skull were interpreted, the features of the face were studied. The technique was applied essentially to dead people, mostly criminals who were condemned to death, who had been hanged...

      The features of the faces and skulls of the famous, the criminal and the insane were collected and studied. The extremes of society ― the exalted and the lowly ― were of especial interest. By studying the heads of criminals, phrenologists believed they could prove the existence of a criminal type or class...

      To make the practice of phrenology easier the head was shaven of all hair, beard and moustache and a plaster caste was made...These death masks were made out of wax moulds taken rapidly after death occurred...before the features became distorted."

[Chantal Kwast-Greff, 2007, 'Reading Heads: An Australian National Icon in the Face of Death', Les Carnets du Cerpac (Universite de Nimes), No. 5, pp 179-196].

Walter McGill (b. 1826 Edinburgh, d. 1881 Sydney) was a sculptor and monumental mason. 

He worked on the carvings of St John's Church of England and local buildings and graveyards at Port Fairy in the Colony of Victoria (1853-1858), before moving to Sydney in New South Wales, where he was responsible for several honorary statues and fountains in public places as well as the facades and capitals of the Australian Museum, General Post Office, and Darlinghurst Gaol (1866-1874).

"As an avid phrenologist, McGill cast the death mask of executed bushranger Captain Moonlite in 1880 (Historic Houses Trust NSW Police and Justice Museum Collection)." 

<designandartonline.org.au/bio/waltermcgill/biography>

Gaol Photograph of AG Scott alias Captain Moonlight, November 1879

NRS 2138 [3/6043] No. 2170 p. 132

"The historical gaol photograph description books at State Records NSW were created to assist gaol staff to keep track of each prisoner's record. The records cover c. 1870-1930 and contain a photograph of each prisoner as above, along with information such as name A.G. Scott als Captn Moonlight, place of birth Ireland, year of birth 1843, year and ship of arrival Esther? Allen 1867, occupation Civil Engineer, religion C. of E., education degree of R+N?, physical description 5'9'', 143 lbs, brown hair, gray eyes, where and when they committed an offence Murder, Death, Executed, previous convictions 1870, False Pretences, Sydney, 18 + 12 months concurrent., 1872, Bank Robbery Under Arms, Ballarat, 10 years Roads, and when the portrait was taken 26th Novr 1879."

<archivesoutside.records.nsw.gov.au/staff-picks-captain-moonlite>

Certificate of Execution ― Andrew George Scott alias Captain Moonlight

1880 pen and ink on printed paper form

NRS 13240 [X945 p. 13a]

"Scott who was 37 years of age at the time of his trial, together with Rogan were found guilty, and were hanged at Darlinghurst gaol on Tuesday 20th January 1880, in the presence of three members of Parliament, three doctors, the Police magistrate who committed them, Mr Fosbery, the Inspector General of Police, the Governor of the gaol, some of the New South Wales police, and three members of the Victoria police, besides a few others."

[Senior-Constable James O'Dwyer, 1890, 'The Life and Career of Alexander Charles Scott (Alias Captain Moonlight)', Independent (Footscray, Vic.), Sat. 20 Dec., p. 3]

"Notwithstanding the many efforts made to obtain a reprieve, G.A Scott (alias Captain Moonlite) and Rogan, the two Wantabadgery bushrangers, this morning bade farewell to earth for ever, they having paid the full and last penalty of the law, within the precincts of Darlinghurst gaol, precisely at eight o'clock. The execution was strictly private, as by order of the Government the press were not admitted. No speech, however, was made by Captain Moonlite, Father Ryan having induced Rogan  to dissuade Scott from addressing even those few who were witnesses of the dread scene. Scott on appearing at the gallows merely said that today was his father's birthday, and he felt his position more keenly on that account. He totally denied having misled the youths Williams and Wernicke, and asserted that he endeavoured to induce them to return to the path of honesty. The fatal lever was then drawn, and Scott and Rogan were ushered into eternity. Both the culprits died easily. Subsequently the bodies were cut down, and the formal inquest held..." 

'Execution Of The Bushrangers', Sydney Evening News, reproduced in Kerang Times and Swan Hill Gazette edition dated 23 January 1880 (3 days after actual execution)