‘Why have we forgotten this?’: Story of gay bushrangers revealed in documentary

It was a match made in prison: in the 1870s, bank robber Andrew Scott – who used the alias “Captain Moonlite” – met a petty thief named James Nesbitt inside a Melbourne jail. After being released, they moved in together. Not long after, Moonlite assembled a gang of bushrangers, appointing Nesbitt as his deputy.

But when this gang attempted to hold up Wantabadgery Station in NSW, Nesbitt was shot during a stand-off with police. As he lay dying, according to one report, “his leader wept over him like a child, laid his head upon his breast and kissed him passionately”. And when Moonlite was sent to the gallows, he wore a lock of Nesbitt’s hair around his finger.

More than a century later, a trove of letters – written by Moonlite while awaiting execution – was discovered. In these, he recorded his love for Nesbitt and expressed his desire to be buried with his “dearest Jim” so they could be together for eternity. But most of these letters were seized by the prison’s governor, who refused to mail them on account of their “dirty” nature.

We cannot be certain Moonlite and Nesbitt were lovers. The mere possibility, however, was enough to ensure their story remained obscure until relatively recently.

This lesser-known chapter of our history is explored by acclaimed actor Rachel Griffiths in her excellent four-part SBS documentary program, The Idea of Australia. She has also made a five-episode series for ABC titled When the War is Over, which examines the songs, paintings, films and other artworks that have transformed Australians’ understanding of our biggest wars.

Griffiths, who describes herself as a “history buff” and a “war nerd”, was surprised by what she learnt while filming each program.

“There were so many things that made me think, ‘Why have we forgotten this?’ or ‘Why have we never raised this before?’” she says. “Sometimes, it might be an inconvenient truth – but sometimes, it’s a wonderful truth that makes you think, ‘We should remember and celebrate this’.”

Case in point: in The Idea of Australia, Griffiths tackles the myth Australia was never blighted by slavery. Between 1863 and 1904, for instance, an estimated 62,000 South Sea Islanders were abducted and shipped to Queensland, where they were forced to work on sugar cane plantations.

“But this show is also really good at reminding us of those moments when, as Australians, we were excited and we felt like being better was possible,” she says. “We shouldn’t give up believing that this country can continue aiming to be one of the most functioning, wondrous, multicultural democracies on earth.”

Based on Julianne Schultz’s book of the same name, the series, which is produced by Blackfella Films, covers everything from the conflicts between European settlers and First Nations peoples to the politicisation of the Anzac legend.

Griffiths interviewed 60 people for the program, including musician Paul Kelly, filmmaker Rachel Perkins, author Bruce Pascoe, academic Marcia Langton, broadcasters Kerry O’Brien and Ray Martin, and activists Grace Tame and Thomas Mayo.

“These are people who think a lot about who we are and where we’ve come from, and how we can find and commit to our common Australian values,” she says. “My role is to be the curious person who is discovering things along with the audience. It’s an ambitious, thought-provoking, ideas-embracing show.”

Likewise, When the War is Over is not your typical war documentary. Instead of the usual talking heads and archival footage, Griffiths gets her boots on the ground, visiting key battle sites from the first and second world wars, Vietnam, Afghanistan – and the conflicts between Aboriginal Australians and European settlers.

“I’ve always understood artists to be the conscience of war,” she says, explaining her approach to the series. “I’m not naive about war; like every artist, I wish they didn’t happen. But I think they’re inevitable because humans can be catastrophically awful to each other.”

Among the artworks Griffiths examines are Peter Weir’s blockbuster film Gallipoli; paintings by Ben Quilty, whose canvases laid bare the trauma suffered by soldiers returning from Afghanistan; and the songs Khe Sanh by Cold Chisel and I Was Only 19 by Redgum.

“War demands that you think in black and white,” she says. “You have to take a position of good versus bad, whereas art asks you to see all the shades in between.”

This extends to elements of the anti-war movement.

“[We’ve been] a nation divided, where one side was so hellbent on protest that we lost any sense of humanity for those who were sent to fight,” Griffiths says. “And I think that’s something the audience will recognise. You can hate a war, but don’t hate the guy your nation has sent to fight it.”

While researching the infamous Burma-Thailand railway, Griffiths was astonished to learn some of the prisoners who built the infrastructure adorned it with illustrations of butterflies.

“They were making art in a literal hell,” she says. “You’ve got some guy who doesn’t know if he’s got another day on this earth – and who has been dehumanised as a captive of the Japanese – insisting upon his humanity by painting a butterfly and finding beauty.”

This, Griffiths believes, is proof that even under the worst conditions, art can provide a kind of spiritual sustenance.

“When I was making this show, I got quite tired of this cultural narrative that artists are all indulged, left-wing, bubble-living people with a university degree that’s of no value to society,” she says. “If artists are just the cream on the cake, and if they’re so secondary to life, why do we turn to them to make sense of humanity’s most dastardly endeavours?

“Art and love are the two things we can do to defy any circumstance. It’s about not giving up on your capacity to love, or your capacity to find humanity and beauty.”

The Idea of Australia premieres October 15 at 7.30pm on SBS; When the War is Over premieres on November 18 at 8pm on ABC.

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