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The Whisky Au Go Go Bombing

The 1973 torching of Brisbane’s Whisky Au Go Go nightclub and subsequent deaths of 15 people remains the worst case of death by arson in Australia’s history.

In the early hours of 8 March 1973, the Whisky Au Go Go nightclub was packed. The upstairs bar was full of night owls who were dancing the night away. Downstairs a murderous plot was unfolding; it would see the place go up in flames in a matter of seconds.

Two full cans of petrol had been emptied into the foyer, and when it was lit, the flames and carbon monoxide shot up the stairwell. Alarmed patrons rushed to the fire escapes, only to be met by a deadly wall of flames. All the lights blew and people who were dancing only a minute earlier found themselves battling the blaze in the dark.

Many leapt to safety through windows; others got out through the side door before it slammed shut behind them, leaving 15 souls to be burned to death. Forty-six patrons escaped.

The fire didn’t come as a surprise to anyone. For weeks there had been rumours that the nightclub would be firebombed because the owner refused to pay protection money to a gang of thugs operating in the Brisbane and Surfers Paradise districts. It had even been predicted in the local papers after another nightclub had been extensively damaged by fire a few weeks earlier – without any loss of life.

On the day after the blaze, well-known local criminal John Andrew Stuart walked into Brisbane Central police station with his solicitor and informed detectives that though he had warned police that the nightclub was going to be firebombed, he was not responsible for the fire and the subsequent deaths.

A $50,000 reward was offered by the Queensland government and a 30-man task force was set up to find those responsible. Their main lead was the rumour that a Sydney underworld syndicate was trying to break into the Brisbane nightclub scene and had warned discotheque operators that if they didn’t sell to the Sydney people or pay them protection money, their premises would be burned down.

In a shock revelation, it was alleged by Commonwealth police that they too had warned Queensland police of an impending attack on the Whisky Au Go Go – but the Queensland police ignored it, as they had the other warnings.

Within days, 32-year-old John Stuart, the man who had allegedly warned police of the forthcoming bombing, and 28-year-old James Richard Finch were arrested.

The Crown case was weak. It relied heavily on an unsigned confession by Stuart. He strongly denied making the admissions, and both men vehemently denied any involvement in the crime.

Police alleged that Stuart had tried to create an alibi for himself by going to the police and telling them that criminals from New South Wales would bomb a number of Brisbane nightclubs. They alleged that Stuart had imported his old friend Finch from England shortly before the blaze to help him stand over nightclub owners with the threat of burning their clubs down if they didn’t cooperate.

Charged with the murders and on remand in jail, Stuart and Finch proved to be difficult inmates. They went on a hunger strike, swallowed foreign objects and caused injury to themselves to bring attention to the case and their innocence.

Five days after their trial eventually got under way, John Stuart was taken to hospital after swallowing several metal objects. Rather than have his trial delayed yet again, Justice Lucas went ahead without Stuart being present.

After seven weeks of deliberation and the court hearing damning evidence against the defendants, it took the jury just two hours to find Stuart and Finch guilty. Both were sentenced to 15 terms of life imprisonment.

In January 1979, John Stuart died mysteriously in his cell in Brisbane Gaol. The coroner found that he had died of a virus which affected his heart. John Stuart had vigorously maintained his innocence to the end.

James Finch also maintained his innocence and was paroled in 1988, 15 years after the murders – or one year for each person killed – and returned to England where, in an interview with an Australian journalist confessed that he and John Stuart had in fact committed the crime and told things that only the killer could have known. Finch also named others involved in the fire.

After the interview was published in Australia, Finch immediately retracted it when he learned that he could be extradited to Australia to face further charges relating to the firebombing of the Whisky Au Go Go nightclub.