The Whiskey Au Go Go Firebombing

This building, right here on the corner of Amelia Street and St Paul's Terrace, was once the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub. It was on the first floor, and before that, another club called the Celebrity Cabaret was in the same spot, but it closed because of money problems.

In March 1972, a band manager named John Hannay saw the empty space and suggested to the Little brothers, Brian and Ken, that they rent it for a new club. They did, and they named it the Whiskey Au Go Go.

Then, on March 8, 1973, at 2:08 in the morning, a fire started here. It was a firebombing. Two drums of petrol, one four-gallon and one five-gallon, were ignited in the building's foyer. When that petrol burned, it sent carbon monoxide up to the main club room on the first floor.

There were about 50 people inside — patrons, bar staff, entertainers. The club only had one escape route, the rear stairs, but they were poorly signposted and cluttered with crates of bottles. It's been called a deathtrap.

Some people got out by jumping from broken windows onto an awning, then dropping about 4.5 meters, or 15 feet, to the ground. Others escaped through the windows in the men's and women's changing rooms.

Earlier, a career criminal named John Andrew Stuart had been released from prison in New South Wales in July 1972 and came back to his hometown of Brisbane. He started rumors about Sydney criminals wanting to extort Brisbane nightclubs. He told a reporter and a detective about it. At the end of 1972, he even told the reporter that an empty club would be firebombed first, and then the Whiskey Au Go Go would be firebombed when it was full of people. The reporter wrote 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.

The fire here at the Whiskey Au Go Go killed 15 people. James Richard Finch and John Andrew Stuart were convicted for it.