Whiskey Au Go Go inquest: Families relive horror of terrifying and senseless deaths

A promising young saxophone player, a country girl new to city life and a young man about to propose. They were strangers who will forever be linked by the horror they faced in their final moments.

A promising young saxophone player high on the thrill of his first paying gig, a country girl embarking on her new life in the city, a young man in love paying off an engagement ring to propose to his love, and a 17-year-old waitress proud as punch to have a job and saving up for her first car.

These are just four of the 15 victims killed in one of Australia’s worst mass murders when two barrels of fuel were set alight underneath the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub in March of 1973.

Almost five decades after their terrifying and senseless deaths, the families of the 15 victims are still struggling to comprehend the tragedy and the horror their loved ones faced in their final moments.

The Whiskey Au Go Go was the scene of one of the nation’s worst mass killings.

Statements from four of their families were read in the Brisbane Coroners Court on Monday on the first day of the reopened inquest.

Denise Koch lost her 24-year-old sister Wendy Drew in the fire and said their parents went to the grave still unable to comprehend “that such an evil act took their daughter”.

“They say time heals – no it doesn’t,” Ms Koch said.

“I remember vividly that before I returned Wendy’s belongings to mum I scrubbed and scrubbed the handbag that Wendy had taken with her to the nightclub. I wanted to remove the residue of soot and erase the smell of petrol.”

Wendy had moved from country New South Wales to live with Ms Koch and her husband before she died.

“She arrived fresh faced and very excited at making the transition from a country life to a city life,” Ms Koch said.

“She felt safe in our home while she searched for work, and one night she went out with her girlfriend and never came home.”

Inside the Whiskey Au Go Go after the fire.

Ms Koch said there had never been a resolution to the “awful tragedy” which had reverberated through their entire family and said she hoped the inquest could help assign the responsibility for this “horrific crime, however uncomfortable or unpalatable for some”.

“I want to go to the gravesite of my parents, of my sister Wendy, of my brother Paul and of my beloved brother John and tell them they can now rest easy because the story of Wendy has been told in truth.”

Lorraine Ellingham’s 17-year-old sister Jennifer Davies was the youngest victim of the attack and was working at the nightclub as a waitress.

She said the excited teenager had just left home, got a job and started travelling Australia when her life was cut short in the firebombing.

“She was very proud of herself and she wrote multiple letters telling us of her achievements,” Ms Ellingham said.

“She had a lifetime of adventures to look forward to and apart from paying her way she was looking forward to buying a car.”

The damaged Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub.

Ms Ellingham said her parents struggled to talk about Jennifer and her death.

“I will never have a sister niece or nephews, that right was taken from me. I can never buy a sister a birthday card or receive one - that was taken from me,” she said.

“She wanted to travel and live until she got old, to have children of her own, that was taken from her.”

Susan Hartley told the inquest she lost her 19-year-old brother David Western who was doing a course in hotel management and needed experience in bar management so he took on the job at the nightclub.

He was not rostered to work on the night of the fire but had been called in to cover a shift.

She recounted the horror of waking up on the morning of the fire and realizing her brother wasn’t home. She was just 17 and had to identify her brother at the morgue and break the news to their mother who was in Townsville.

She said her mother never recovered and she felt she had lost both her mother and brother in the fire.

“It has taken many years to pick up the threads of life again and to give myself permission to live while David does not have that opportunity,” she said.

“My brother is dead and nothing can bring him back, I don’t want vengeance I can’t afford to live with that the price is too high

“I often think of what he missed out on in life, he was only 19 years old, he had only just begun to live.”

Inspector LJ Bardwell of CIB Scientific Section inspects the damage at the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub. Picture: Photo File

Ms Hartley said her brother was about to get engaged and was paying off the ring before he died.

“I was told that he actually got partially out of the building on that night but went back to help his friends. He was found trying to drag his friend out when he was overcome with smoke.

“This is who David was, this is how people remember him.”

Ms Hartley said her son and grandson were named after her beloved brother.

Dianna Day said told the court she lost her little brother Darcy Day in the fire – he was only 19.

Darcy was the saxophone player in the band Trinity and he was thrilled the band had booked its first paying gig.

“Unfortunately it was to be the last time the band would play together,” she said.

“I can still remember them practicing their songs under mum and dad’s house.

“I can still hear the song Jackie Wilson Said by Van Morrison beating out. Darcy would play his sax, blowing those notes like he was in Van Morrison’s band.”

Ms Day said her handsome and fit little brother had a bright future ahead of him before his life was cut tragically short.

“There was no denying Darcy would have made his mark in Brisbane’s music industry.”

She said Darcy’s death devastated their family and she wished her parents had lived to see the inquest finally take place.

Sonya Carroll, whose mother Decima Carroll, 29, died in the 1973 Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub fire. Picture: NewsWire/Jono Searle