[1][2] The Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub occupied the first floor of a building which still exists on the corner of Amelia Street and St Paul's Terrace.

The space was previously occupied by another club called the Celebrity Cabaret which closed due to financial pressures.

[3] Seeing an opportunity, band manager John Hannay approached the Little brothers (Brian and Ken) and suggested they rent the vacant space for a new nightclub.

[8] The Whiskey Au Go Go was firebombed in the early hours of 8 March 1973 with fire begun by the ignition of two drums (four and five gallons) of petrol in the building's foyer.

In 1966, Finch had been sentenced to 14 years prison after being found guilty of malicious wounding with a firearm and carrying an unlicensed pistol.

Finch had fired two shots during an altercation near a petrol station in Oxford Street, Paddington, Sydney, injuring two men.

It was reported that there was commotion in the dock when the men were brought before the Brisbane Magistrates court after their arrest for arson and 15 counts of murder.

During this hearing Finch claimed he was innocent, that on his arrest police had presented him with a prepared written confession, and had beaten him.

The police reported that Finch had willfully set the fire while Stuart had plotted to establish a false lead that "southern criminals" were planning an extortion racket in Brisbane.

[25] During the supreme court trial Finch and Stuart loudly protested their innocence, claiming they had been "verballed" and convicted based on false confessions.

[30] The jury found that the fire was lit as part of an extortion-terror campaign aimed at Brisbane nightclub operators, and they were sentenced to life in prison.

On 28 June, the High Court of Australia refused this injunction, and the appeal reached the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London on 6 July 1984.

[37] Stuart was found dead on 2 January 1979 in his cell of Boggo Road Gaol after a six-day hunger strike.

[43] He told The Sun newspaper in a videotaped interview that he had tipped two drums of fuel into the doorway of the nightclub building before the firebombing.

Wendt says that "When I suggested to him that his admission might mean that he could also be extradited to Australia to face other murder charges, his behaviour suddenly changed dramatically.

[47][48] On 2 June 2017, following the conviction and sentencing of O'Dempsey and Garry DuBois for the McCulkin murders case, Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath announced that the government would re-open the coronial inquest into the fire.