Complete history of Brisbane nightclub family the Hannays: The good, bad and ugly

The Hannays have been a fixture of Queensland’s night scene for decades – though their true impact has long divided opinion. This is their story – the ‘good, the bad and the ugly’.

Good, bad, ugly, or all of the above?

The Hannays have been a fixture of Queensland’s night scene for decades – though their true impact has long divided opinion.

“The good, the bad and the ugly, but don’t forget the good,” one friend said upon the passing of John Hannay in 2019.

John was infamously manager of the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub in which 15 people were killed when it was firebombed in 1973.

His business ventures took him to north Queensland – where he hit further trouble – before fronting The Beat in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley.

The Beat in Fortitude Valley is one of the most famous Hannay holdings.

Nephew Ross took over the business along the way but has since also ended up in front of court; in May 2023 he escaped jail time after police found more than 700 ecstasy pills and a taser at his home during a raid in 2020.

This is the unbelievable true story of the Hannays – the good, bad and ugly.

1973

During late 1972, John Hannay was the manager of the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub in St Pauls Terrace in Fortitude Valley, before he was sacked amid allegations of theft and fraud.

Shortly after his sacking he was badly beaten in a Valley alleyway as part of a series of reprisals for allegedly stealing tens of thousands of dollars from the Whiskey.

John Hannay was an influential player on Brisbane’s night scene.

Then on March 8, 1973, just months after the beating, the Whiskey was torched, killing 15 innocent people. It was up to that point Australia’s worst mass murder.

1979-1983

John Hannay, initially anyway, appeared to be making a considerable success of his Mackay business ventures.

He even sought election as mayor, a venture which fell apart when it was discovered he was not on the electoral roll.

Being described as “a millionaire’’, he bought the Daydream Island resort in April 1979, announcing ambitious refurbishment plans.

But a little over a year later, a receiver and manager had moved in.

The low point of Hannay’s northern career occurred in 1983, when he was convicted of misappropriating the superannuation payout of a deceased employee and sentenced to a year’s jail.

June 1989

John Hannay, the businessman once named in state parliament as “the godfather of corporate crime in north Queensland’’ was fined $300 on a firearms charge in the Mackay Magistrates Court.

Hannay, 44 at the time, was convicted of possessing a sawn-off .22 rifle at Mackay on March 19, 1986.

Hannay, the manager of the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub in which 15 people were killed when it was firebombed in 1973, was named in parliament in 1981 by former Opposition police spokesman, the late Mr Kevin Hooper.

Never-before-seen photos of Whiskey Au Go Go

VIEW GALLERY

The court was told that the rifle was found in the boot of Hannay’s car.

July 1990

The owners of three Brisbane nightclubs were fuming after thieves stole their smoke-making machines.

John Hannay – the owner of two clubs in Fortitude Valley, Electric Circus and The Beat – said at the time two of his $3000 smoke machines had been stolen.

John Hannay at the Beat.

Mr Hannay said his third and final smoker would remain locked up after a neighbouring club at the Waterloo Hotel, Decotech Nightclub, had reported the same theft.

Million-dollar sound and laser effects at Electric Circus, opened the previous month, were worthless without the smoke effect, he said.

February 1994

John Hannay was forced to defend The Beat after Aboriginal Legal Service vice-president Sam Watson said it was racist to blame Aborigines for violence problems in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley.

“We are aware of the problem in the Valley,’’ he said.

“We are concerned that this campaign of public vilification of Aboriginal people is being carried out not to serve the interests of the people who use (the Valley) but to serve some sort of racist attack on the Aboriginal people at large.”

The Beat in Fortitude Valley.

Nightclub owner Mr Hannay said that the Valley was “under siege by 50 young Aboriginals’’.

He said the State Government would not let the police do their job.

Whites were locked up but blacks were told to “move on’’.

“They don’t take any notice of the law. We want the Government to allow the law to apply for everybody,’’ Mr Hannay said.

“The traders have worked very hard over the last four years to get the Valley up and running to get thousands of people into the Valley.

“We are trying with some of the Aboriginal departments and groups to do everything possible but it doesn’t matter what we do if we don’t have the backing of the law.’’

September 1996

Brisbane nightclub owner John Hannay lived a lifetime of close scrapes but his luckiest escape may have come in September 1996.

Police, acting on a tip-off, arrested three men in a car as they allegedly were on their way to murder Hannay.

Also allegedly in the car were a rifle, chain and concrete blocks.

Hannay, who made a habit of living and conducting business on the edge, wasn’t talking at the time.

But other Fortitude Valley entrepreneurs were not surprised, particularly in the light of a recent apparent attempt to repossess or otherwise take over Hannay’s principal nightclub, The Beat.

June 2001

Brisbane was in the midst of a dance revolution that was aiming to bring the city in line with southern cousins.

Extensions to the Valley’s well-known dance club The Beat were tipped to mark the beginning of a new era for dance.

The Beat nightclub has long been a popular spot.

The Beat manager Ross Hannay said growing demand for dance music among clubgoers was the driving force behind the planned extensions.

Expanding to neighbouring former Lucky’s restaurant site, the extension would have seven bars and five dance floors.

May 2007

With concerns at the times over the future of the Fortitude Valley, Ross Hannay explained how The Beat had adapted over the years.

“It’s a bar now, but back in the day, there was a game going on up there, it was a lot of fun, it was safe, not like now with so many kids coming into the Valley, getting drunk and fighting,’’ he said.

July 2013

The hunt was on for the perfect night spot in Brisbane and Ross Hannay put forward his case for The Beat.

“It’s the original dance club,’’ the manager said.

“Currently it’s got five rooms and three beer gardens. There are 15 DJs on Friday and Saturday nights. Each room has a different style of music.’’

Hannay also insisted there was rarely trouble at the club despite being popular for hen’s parties and other occasions.

March 2019

John Hannay took some of the state’s darkest criminal secrets – including those about the deadly 1973 Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub bombing – to the grave.

Hannay, 74, who had for years been suffering health complications and was largely confined to a wheelchair, died in the Fortitude Valley gay nightclub, The Beat, which he had owned and presided over for decades.

Police said they had approached Hannay as part of their reinvestigation of the Whiskey tragedy following the government ordering a fresh inquest into the fire in 2017.

One officer said when questioned by police Hannay drifted off into a comatose state.

He had form for not answering official questions.

He was excused from being called as a witness in the 1973 trials of criminals John Andrew Stuart and James Richard Finch over the Whiskey deaths, claiming he had fallen off a horse and suffered brain damage.

One officer said Hannay took “his secrets to the grave”.

Friends said Hannay should be remembered for “the good, the bad and the ugly, but don’t forget the good”.

“Some people will remember John as the bad, bad, bad, ugly, and a little bit of good, but there was a lot of goodness in him and a lot of us wouldn’t be where we are today without John’s kindness,” one close friend said.

May 2023

Brisbane nightclub owner Ross Hannay escaped jail time after police found more than 700 ecstasy pills and a taser at his home during a raid in 2020.

Owner and manager of The Beat Megaclub in Fortitude Valley Mr Hannay, 62, pleaded guilty to three counts of drug possession and one count of weapon possession in the Brisbane Supreme Court.

A large volume of illegal drugs were uncovered at Mr Hannay’s Clayfield home during a police raid on September 2, 2020, including 738 pills containing 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and other bags of smaller amounts of cocaine, Methylamphetamine and illegal preworkout substance DMAA.

Ross Hannay, director and manager of Beat Megaclub in the Valley. Picture: John Gass

The court heard Mr Hannay had left school at the age of 14 to work for his uncle John Hannay, the founder of The Beat nightclub.

Mr Hannay took over The Beat from his late uncle and has been managing the nightclub for the last 14 years.

Mr Hannay’s defence barrister Alastair McDougall said his client had been using drugs while dealing with the loss of his uncle after he died of cancer in 2019.

Justice Brown took into account Mr Hannay’s early guilty plea and his lack of offending following his arrest more than two years ago.

He was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment with immediate parole.

Originally published as Complete history of Brisbane nightclub family the Hannays: The good, bad and ugly