Whiskey Au Go Go firebombing kills 15

At 2:08 AM on Thursday, March 8, 1973, the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, became the scene of a firebombing that killed 15 people.

The nightclub itself was on the first floor of this building, at the corner of Amelia Street and St Paul's Terrace. Before it was the Whiskey Au Go Go, it was another club called the Celebrity Cabaret, which closed because of financial issues. John Hannay, a band manager, saw a chance and suggested to brothers Brian and Ken Little that they rent the empty space for a new club. They did this in March 1972, naming it the Whiskey Au Go Go.

The fire was set by igniting two drums of petrol, one four-gallon and one five-gallon, in the building's foyer. When the petrol caught fire, burning carbon monoxide went up to the club's main room on the first floor. The only way out was a set of rear stairs, which were not well marked and were cluttered with crates of bottles. The club has been called a deathtrap.

About 50 patrons, bar staff, and entertainers were in the club when the fire started. Some got out by breaking windows, jumping onto an awning, and then dropping 4.5 meters, or 15 feet, to the ground. Others escaped through windows in the men's and women's changing rooms.

A career criminal named John Andrew Stuart, who had been in jail in 1966 for attempted murder, had returned to Brisbane in July 1972 after his release from prison in New South Wales. He started spreading rumors about criminals from Sydney trying to extort Brisbane nightclubs, telling a reporter named Brian Bolton and Detective Basil Hicks. In late 1972, he specifically told Bolton that an empty club would be firebombed first, and then the Whiskey Au Go Go would be firebombed when it was full of people. Bolton wrote newspaper articles and told the police commissioner and police minister about the threat. Stuart's warning was confirmed when an empty club called Torinos was destroyed by arson on February 25, 1973, just a couple of weeks before this fire. Stuart was later convicted for the firebombing, along with James Richard Finch.