Promised inquest into the Whiskey Au Go Go fire still delayed after two years

The Whiskey Au Go Go inquest, promised two years ago, has evolved into an example of dereliction of duty and it is in real danger of becoming an artefact of government indifference, writes Matthew Condon

A FEW weeks ago, at an event at the State Library of Queensland, I had the unique opportunity to actually hold one of the two fuel cans used by the perpetrators of the infamous Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub firebombing in Brisbane in 1973.

Fifteen people lost their lives in that inferno. And here was one of the fuel drums, one of the murder weapons, on loan that night from the Queensland Police Museum. There was still a court exhibit tag attached to the thin metal handle of the can.

Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub fire: new inquest ordered

It was heavily blackened on the top and when you put your nose to the lidless opening, there may or may not have been the scent of fuel. Perhaps there were traces of soot on the drum.

I couldn’t be certain because this object, once so ordinary before March 8, 1973, and the night of the fire, was now some sort of priceless, albeit malevolent, artefact from an incredible moment in Queensland’s criminal past. When you lifted it by the handle, it was incredibly light, despite the grotesque weight of history it carried. It was chilling to be in its vicinity.

Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub in Amelia Street Fortitude Valley where two 4 gallon drums of super petrol were placed to set fire to the premises March 8, 1973

It should make a cameo in the new Whiskey Au Go Go inquest, announced by the State Government on Friday, June 2, 2017, following revelations that flowed from the conviction of killer Vincent O’Dempsey at the conclusion of his trial for the murders of Brisbane housewife Barbara McCulkin and her two daughters in 1974.

Despite two men – John Andrew Stuart and James Finch – having been tried and found guilty of the Whiskey atrocity in late 1973, there had always been speculation that others were behind the fire, including Barbara’s husband, Billy McCulkin, and possibly O’Dempsey.

The Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub after the fire bombing.

The revelation at his sentencing hearing that there was evidence that pointed towards O’Dempsey’s engagement in the Whiskey atrocity, and that Barbara may have been killed for what she knew about those involved in the fire, triggered the new inquest. Yesterday was the second anniversary of that announcement. And there is no inquest in sight.

According to sources, the police investigation assisting the coroner has struck numerous hurdles since it was initiated. In fairness to police, the Whiskey remains a complicated viper’s nest of a crime, with a string of parallel motives from several quarters, possibly including personal revenge, a money-spinner for unscrupulous gangsters and corrupt police, an insurance job and a political act to undermine the authority and standing of the police commissioner of the day.

Barbara McCulkin (34) and daughters Barbara (11, left) and Vicki (13, right) disappeared from their Highgate Hill Brisbane home in 1974.

The head of the initial investigation was replaced earlier this year by Detective Virginia Gray, one of the extraordinary team that reinvestigated the cold case McCulkin murders and secured convictions against Vince O’Dempsey and his co-accused, Garry “Shorty” Dubois. The difficulty faced by Gray, who probably knows more than anybody about O’Dempsey and that 70s criminal milieu, is that she needs time to properly investigate such a tangled scenario and cannot be rushed to satisfy a government and a coroner’s office under public pressure to hold the new inquest.

Sources have also said that there is very little likelihood that the inquest, if and when it happens, will produce charges against any fresh suspects beyond Stuart and Finch.

Brisbane Supreme Court Investigating officers Detective Inspector Mick Dowie and Detective Sergeant Virginia Gray gave evidence in the Garry Dubois trial.

This, despite the fact that according to insiders, police investigators have produced a wealth of new information about the mass murder and the web of criminality that existed around that fateful night in 1973.

That the State Government, and in particular the Department of the Attorney-General, should allow this situation to drag on for two years is a disgrace. It has put the police in an almost untenable position where they may now have to force a premature result in relation to one of the most significant crimes in Queensland history, just to answer to the vagaries of their political masters. And it has left the loved ones of the victims dangling with false hopes for far too long.

The Whiskey inquest, sadly, has evolved into an example of dereliction of duty, pure and simple and it is in real danger of becoming an artefact of government indifference.

[e-mail]