10-08-2025
Bushranger Wild Scotchman retains 'heroic aura' after almost 160 years
You may never have heard of the bushranger dubbed the Wild Scotchman, but he is Queensland's own Ned Kelly with a record of brazen robberies and even an infamous prison break.
James Alpin McPherson is the man behind the reputation.
He is widely touted as the state's only bushranger, known to the Wide Bay region north of Brisbane for his crimes throughout the 1860s.
McPherson would become known for his charm and intellect as much as for his criminal deeds.
Originally from Scotland, he moved to the newly established pioneer area as a boy.
What is unclear is why McPherson, an apprentice builder and accomplished bushman, turned to a life of crime in 1865.
Historical records show he became an outlaw after being charged after holding up a Bowen publican over unpaid wages.
From here he escaped custody, fleeing to the Wide Bay, robbing mail coaches between Maryborough, Gayndah and Gladstone.
The now-notorious Wild Scotchman went on a spree of robberies in late November 1865, with reports from the era describing his growing reputation of being both well-mannered and polite during the run-ins.
Historian Belinda Daly founded the Saint Helena Island Community Group, which preserves the history of the island's prison that would eventually house McPherson.
"All of those things together made him endearing to people and I think that's a big part of why he continues to be talked about."
James Cook University PhD candidate Cindi Davey, who has researched McPherson, said the myth he was Queensland's only bushranger may have developed because of his charisma.
"There's heaps of bushrangers, but they all get caught fairly quickly and they're not as 'successful', because they weren't as literate as James McPherson was," Ms Davey said.
"Every time he bailed a postman up to steal stuff out of the post, he would skite about what an excellent bushranger he was and how he had the best skills in the world and no one could beat him."
McPherson's skills were not enough to keep him from being captured by four horsemen on a property called Monduran Station in Gin Gin, four hours north of Brisbane, on March 30, 1866.
His capture was recorded in newspapers that detailed his alleged taunts of police and the community's "boredom" after his arrest.
McPherson spent three years in H.M. Gaol Brisbane, now better known as Boggo Road, before being transferred to what was known as the "Alcatraz of Moreton Bay" — the St Helena Island Penal Establishment.
Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service ranger Daley Donnelly, who manages landscapes and structures on St Helena Island, said McPherson was only at the maximum-security prison for seven weeks before trying to escape.
Quickly caught, others received 25 lashes, while McPherson and another prisoner, Henry Ross, received 30 days of solitary confinement.
"Solitary confinement was in the dark cells, semi-underground, silence was the rule, and you lived on bread and water, so it was absolute torture," he said.
McPherson turned to writing while in solitary, penning 19 poems in an exercise book.
"That's how we get a sense of what it was like to be in the prison cells," Mr Donnelly said.
"He really captures the awful condition, but it also communicates this resilience, exuberance and delight in his knowledge.
"He's using Greek mythology, he could write in Latin.
"He's probably the most colourful prisoner in the entire history of the island."
That colour inspired an annual festival in Gin Gin that ran for 17 years from 1990 to 2007.
Descendants would travel to be a part of the event each year to commemorate The Wild Scotchman's capture.
Community members have called for a return of the event to mark the 160th anniversary of McPherson's capture, in March.
Ms Daley said McPherson was known for his ability to speak Gaelic, French and German.
Records show he was punished seven times in just 13 months while on St Helena for assaulting a fellow prisoner, refusing to work, making noise, disobeying orders and making frivolous complaints.
Ms Daley said it was surprising then that he was released just eight years into his 25-year sentence.
"When he was sentenced, Chief Justice James Cockle wanted to send a bit of a deterrent out to all would-be bushrangers, so he made the sentence quite harsh, giving him two lots of 25 years, to do concurrently," she said.
A petition for his release was made by his parents in 1874, which was supported by respected community members of the time.
"There was some decision made at a high level to let him go," Ms Daley said.
Queensland State Archives show that once he was released, McPherson never returned to a life of crime, working as a stockman at Cessbrook.
He married and had seven children before he died, aged 53, after falling from his horse at Burketown.
University of Technology Sydney research fellow Meg Foster, who has been studying Australian bushrangers for a decade, said there was a "heroic aura" around "elite" bushrangers such as Ned Kelly.
But she said their status was being questioned.
"I think there's a growing awareness that we need to think more critically about that colonial past."
