Whiskey Au Go Go fire 03/08/1973
The Whiskey Au Go Go fire occurred at 2:08 a.m. on Thursday, 8 March 1973, at the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub in Fortitude Valley, resulting in the deaths of 15 individuals. Prior warnings regarding arson risks were subsequently corroborated when the nightclub Torinos, which was unoccupied at the time, was destroyed by arson on 25 February 1973.
In the early hours of 8 March 1973, the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub was deliberately firebombed. The fire originated in the building’s foyer following the ignition of two petrol drums, with capacities of four and five gallons respectively. Upon ignition, burning petrol generated large volumes of carbon monoxide, which rapidly travelled upward into the main club area on the first floor. The principal means of escape was via a rear staircase that was inadequately signposted and obstructed by crates of bottled goods. As a consequence of these conditions, the premises were later characterised as a deathtrap.
At the time of the fire, approximately 50 patrons, staff members, and entertainers were present within the club. Several individuals escaped by breaking windows, jumping onto an awning, and then dropping approximately 4.5 metres to the ground below. Others managed to flee through windows located in the men’s and women’s changing rooms.
Escape efforts were further hindered by significant accumulations of grease along the designated escape route and by a fence approximately 1.8 metres in height that blocked access through a side alley. Persistent rumours suggesting that the escape route had been deliberately greased by the arsonist or arsonists were later disproven. It was established that the club routinely stored containers of used cooking oil against the wall of the escape passage. During the ensuing panic, these containers were overturned, and the oil was spread across the escape path as patrons attempted to flee the building.
Police were warned Brisbane’s Whiskey Au Go Go would be burned down, inquest told
Immigration investigators told of threats to stop the nightclub operating and ‘there would be a fire’, inquest hears
Whiskey Au Go Go Fire Victims
The plaque commemorates the 15 people who were murdered in the Whiskey Au Go Go fire of 1973. The circular plaque, ringed with the names of the 15 dead, sits outside the Amelia Street doorway in Fortitude Valley.
Whiskey Au Go Go fire bombing witness told by police to change her statement, inquest hears
A woman has told an inquest she witnessed the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub being firebombed but police called her a liar and tried to make her change her statement several days later.
Criminal - Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub bombing
At approximately 2:10 am on 8 March 1973, the Whisky Au Go-Go nightclub in Fortitude Valley, Queensland, caught fire after two drums of fuel were set alight. Fifteen patrons died from asphyxiation. Two men were tried and convicted following the event.
S1 E2 Whiskey Au Go Go – 50th Anniversary: The Firebombing
Fifty years ago on 8 March 1973 a popular Brisbane nightclub in Fortitude Valley named The Whiskey Au Go Go was firebombed in a deliberate criminal act which resulted in the deaths of 15 people. It was at the time Australia’s worst act of mass-murder. It stunned the entire nation and the crime has haunted Brisbane for half a century. On behalf of Jack Sim and the staff at Boggo Road Gaol and Historic Australia we would like to express our deepest sympathies to those who are still grieving.
Convicted McCulkins' killer Vincent O'Dempsey denies involvement in fatal Whiskey Au Go Go firebombing, Brisbane inquest told
A reopened inquest into the deaths of 15 people who were killed in a firebombing at the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub in Brisbane almost 50 years ago has ended, with convicted killer Vincent O’Dempsey giving evidence.
Heartbroken families speak of sorrow at inquest into Whiskey Au Go-Go fire
The families of the victims of a historic firebombing of a Brisbane nightclub have revealed their sorrow more than 40 years after the arson attack.
Revisiting Brisbane’s Whiskey Au Go Go Firebombing, Forty-Five Years On
In March 1973, the firebombing of Fortitude Valley’s Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub resulted in the deaths of fifteen people.
Excluding the appalling colonial decimation of Aboriginal populations, the Whisky Au Go Go fire was the worst mass murder in Australian history before the Port Arthur shootings of 1996.
