1895: The Wild Scotchman: Death of Queensland Bushranger James Macpherson

James Alpin Macpherson, known as the Wild Scotchman, was one of Queensland’s most notorious bushrangers before his capture and imprisonment. Released from prison in 1874, he lived out the remainder of his days quietly, working as a stockman and station overseer far from his outlaw past.

Macpherson died on 23 August 1895 at Burketown, Queensland, aged 53, after falling from a horse. The man who had once terrorised the bush met his end not in a blaze of gunfire, but in an ordinary accident on the land he had spent his later years working.

Portrait of bushranger James MacPherson 1866
Portrait of bushranger James MacPherson 1866: The Wild Scotchman

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1900: The Last Escape of Moondyne Joe, Western Australia's Most Famous Bushranger

Joseph Bolitho Johns, born in Wales around 1826 and transported to Fremantle in 1853 as convict 1790, became the most celebrated escape artist in Western Australian history. Known as Moondyne Joe, the Cornish-Welsh convict turned bushranger broke out of custody so many times that his repeated escapes became legend.

He made his final escape on 13 August 1900, dying at the Fremantle Lunatic Asylum after years of confinement and declining health. He was buried two days later in a pauper’s grave at Fremantle Cemetery.

moondyne joe
Moondyne Joe – Perennial Escapee

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On This Day in True Crime History

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