The Whisky Au Go Go Fire is just as much a mystery today as it was in the hours after the tragedy that took the lives of 15 people in Fortitude Valley on March 8th 1973.

Police would start a major investigation that would drag in some of Brisbane’s most well known criminals, gangsters, bosses and violent offenders who had spent time together in jails over decades, creating networks and ties that spread down the coast into Sydney.

But the investigation would also expose police and political corruption, with a group of officers, who were on the take from those very criminals, potentially using this fire to help some club owners cash in.

Was it meant to escalate as it did? Were those 15 people meant to be victims or were they just in the wrong place at the wrong time with an arson attack that went far more successfully than the perpetrators planned?

THE END BITS

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CREDITS

Guest: Matthew Condon

You can hear his podcast Ghost Gate Rd here. 

Host: Claire Murphy

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Assistant Producer: Tahli Blackman

Audio Producer: Scott Stronach

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