Explosive claim made at Whiskey Au Go Go inquest: Infamous nightclub firebombing was ‘police-backed’

Explosive allegations of police involvement in the firebombing of Brisbane’s notorious Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub that killed 15 people have been aired at a coronial inquest.

A cop facing jail time in the 1970s threatened to expose police involvement in the deadly Whiskey Au Go Go inferno if the state’s most senior officers didn’t commit to protecting his family from prosecution, witnesses have claimed.

An inquest into the 1973 fire on Friday heard evidence from brothers Christopher and Graham McGetrick whose father was the police minister’s press secretary in the late 1970s.

Christopher McGetrick told the inquest that in the years after the fire, their father received a visit from an acquaintance named John Bargenquast, a police officer who had been charged with property-related offences.

Mr McGetrick said Mr Bargenquast was concerned his family members may also be charged over the offending and he asked their father to get a message to then-assistant commissioner Tony Murphy.

“Basically the message was let Murphy know that if the charges against my family are not withdrawn, then I will blow the lid on the Whiskey Au Go Go,” Mr McGetrick said.

“Eventually he did pass that message on to Tony Murphy at a function. And Murphy didn’t say another word to my father, he went straight over to where the police commissioner Terry Lewis was … and pulled him aside and they had a conversation for a while.

Fifteen people died after two petrol drums were ignited on the bottom floor Brisbane’s Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub on March 8, 1973. The current inquest is examining whether anyone else may have been involved in the deadly attack.

“And Tony Murphy came back to my father and said we won’t be intimidated, you tell Bargenquast we’re calling his bluff.”

Mr McGetrick told the inquest his father said Mr Bargenquast later called to tell him the charges against his family were not proceeding and thanked him for his help.

Mr McGetrick said Mr Bargenquast eventually went to prison over the property offences and after he had been released, the pair had a conversation after running into each other at an event.

“Mr Bargenquast said that it was his belief that Mr Murphy was behind, had some involvement with the Whiskey Au Go Go firebombing…,” Mr McGetrick told the court.

“Why he effectively said ‘tell Murphy I’ll blow the lid on the Whiskey Au Go Go’ because of his belief that Murphy had direct involvement in the Whiskey Au Go Go incident.

“He basically, from what I remember, said he believed Murphy was a bit of a standover man and basically he was collecting … protection money or something from nightclubs and various things in the valley and that somehow they fell fowl of him and that was his involvement.”

Graham McGetrick gave evidence he was “pretty sure” when he gave his statement to police that it was Terry Lewis his father had spoken to rather than Tony Murphy as his brother believed.

Detective Sergeant Virginia Grey, the lead investigator into the nightclub attack, leaving the coroners court. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Under cross examination from defence barrister Chris Minnery, who represents Vincent O’Dempsey, Mr McGetrick agreed he believed his father had passed on Mr Bargenquast’s message to Mr Lewis.

He said his father told him Mr Lewis had replied that he was not concerned about the threat and that: “we are going to nail that crooked bastard and his family”.

The court heard there was no evidence that Mr Bargenquast had disclosed whether he had any proof relating to claims police were involved in the fire.

James Richard Finch and John Andrew Stuart were both jailed for murder in 1973 over the incident. No one else has ever been charged in relation to the firebombing.

The inquest continues.