Whiskey au Gogo

This rather low-res black-and-white image records the scene at one of Queensland's most violent crimes. It is a nightclub, burning out of control in Fortitude Valley in the early hours of the morning. It is 8 March 1973, thirty-seven years ago today. It is the Whiskey au Gogo.
(Photo at www.news.com.au)

In the late sixties and early seventies, Brisbane's Fortitude Valley was the equivalent of Sydney's Kings Cross - illegal gambling, strip clubs and prostitution - which all existed because of police corruption that was finally uncovered by the Fitzgerald Inquiry. Also drugs, protection rackets and all sorts of other seedy activity were not only rife, but also condoned by Queensland "wallopers" (police) right to the very top of the organisation.

Fifteen people died at the Whiskey au Gogo on that fateful night. This was Australia's worst mass murder before the terrible Port Arthur shootings occurred in 1996. Two men, John Andrew Stuart and James Richard Finch, were convicted of murder as a result of the deaths that were caused by the fire, and they were sentenced to life imprisonment in Brisbane's Boggo Road jail. The prosecutors alleged that, as part of a scheme to terrorise and extort Valley business operators, Stuart and Finch had thrown two cans of petrol into the Whiskey au Gogo building and set them alight. The nightclub was on the top floor of the building, and the unfortunate patrons were trapped by the inferno that started on the ground floor. The two accused men denied all charges and claimed that they had been "verballed" by police. The sensational trial was delayed when it was discovered that Finch had amputated a finger and swallowed wire while in custody. After conviction, both men took part in a hunger strike which cost Stuart his life. Finch was released from prison in 1988 and deported to Britain. It is claimed by interviewer Jana Wendt that Finch had admitted his crime, but upon realising that he could perhaps be extradited back to Australia to face more charges of murder, he once again swore his innocence.(Photo: © 2010 the foto fanatic)

The building that housed the Whiskey au Gogo is this one in St Paul's Terrace, still standing after what must have been major refurbishment following the fire.


Click here for a Google Map.

tff

Next: West End to University link