Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Foretold: Australia's Whiskey Au Go Go Fire - Part 2
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Foretold: Australia's Whiskey Au Go Go Fire - Part 2
Episode 115
In Part 2 of our Whiskey Au Go Go series, we leave the nightclub behind and turn our attention to the man who would become the central figure in the investigation: John Andrew Joshua Stuart.
Long before the Whiskey Au Go Go fire claimed 15 lives, Stuart was already well known to police, journalists, and much of Brisbane's criminal underworld. Raised in a home marked by violence, poverty, and abuse, Stuart's life became a revolving door of arrests, reform schools, mental institutions, prison escapes, and newspaper headlines.
This week, we follow Stuart's journey from troubled child to notorious criminal, exploring the brutal conditions at Westbrook Farm Home for Boys, his involvement in Australia's bodgie and widgie subculture, his repeated clashes with police, and his growing reputation as a man who always seemed to be at the center of the action.
We also examine Stuart's unusual relationship with Sunday Truth reporter Brian "The Eagle" Bolton, a connection that transformed Stuart from an ordinary criminal into something far more influential: a source. Time and again, Stuart appeared to possess insider knowledge of crimes, escape plots, and events before they occurred. Sometimes he warned people. Sometimes he claimed no one listened.
As police would later discover, that pattern would become impossible to ignore.
Because years before the Whiskey Au Go Go burned, John Stuart had already established himself as a man who seemed to know things before they happened—and a man who desperately wanted people to pay attention.
Sources for this episode include Geoff Plunkett's excellent book, The Whiskey Au Go Go Massacre: Murder, Arson and the Crime of the Century, along with contemporary reporting and historical records. If you'd like a much deeper dive into the case, we highly recommend the book.
As always, keep your exits clear and your fire escapes free of storage.
CHECK OUT MY NEW AUTHOR WEBSITE: www.anauthornamedapril.com
The Crime to Burn Patreon - The Cult of Steve - is LIVE NOW! Go join and get all the unhinged you can handle. Click here to be sanctified.
Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:
Eternal gratitude to our Inner Sanctum patrons, Melanie Curtis, Jenny Mercer, Laura Pisciotta, and Jason Wolfe for helping us bring light to the stories others would rather leave in the ashes.
Listener discretion is advised.
Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated
Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com
Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at [email protected] We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review.
If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet.
SOURCES:
View all episodes
By lilpyrogirl
5
5656 ratings
Episode 115
In Part 2 of our Whiskey Au Go Go series, we leave the nightclub behind and turn our attention to the man who would become the central figure in the investigation: John Andrew Joshua Stuart.
Long before the Whiskey Au Go Go fire claimed 15 lives, Stuart was already well known to police, journalists, and much of Brisbane's criminal underworld. Raised in a home marked by violence, poverty, and abuse, Stuart's life became a revolving door of arrests, reform schools, mental institutions, prison escapes, and newspaper headlines.
This week, we follow Stuart's journey from troubled child to notorious criminal, exploring the brutal conditions at Westbrook Farm Home for Boys, his involvement in Australia's bodgie and widgie subculture, his repeated clashes with police, and his growing reputation as a man who always seemed to be at the center of the action.
We also examine Stuart's unusual relationship with Sunday Truth reporter Brian "The Eagle" Bolton, a connection that transformed Stuart from an ordinary criminal into something far more influential: a source. Time and again, Stuart appeared to possess insider knowledge of crimes, escape plots, and events before they occurred. Sometimes he warned people. Sometimes he claimed no one listened.
As police would later discover, that pattern would become impossible to ignore.
Because years before the Whiskey Au Go Go burned, John Stuart had already established himself as a man who seemed to know things before they happened—and a man who desperately wanted people to pay attention.
Sources for this episode include Geoff Plunkett's excellent book, The Whiskey Au Go Go Massacre: Murder, Arson and the Crime of the Century, along with contemporary reporting and historical records. If you'd like a much deeper dive into the case, we highly recommend the book.
As always, keep your exits clear and your fire escapes free of storage.
CHECK OUT MY NEW AUTHOR WEBSITE: www.anauthornamedapril.com
The Crime to Burn Patreon - The Cult of Steve - is LIVE NOW! Go join and get all the unhinged you can handle. Click here to be sanctified.
Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:
Eternal gratitude to our Inner Sanctum patrons, Melanie Curtis, Jenny Mercer, Laura Pisciotta, and Jason Wolfe for helping us bring light to the stories others would rather leave in the ashes.
Listener discretion is advised.
Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated
Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com
Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at [email protected] We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review.
If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet.
SOURCES:
More shows like Crime To Burn
View all
Missing
3,289 Listeners
48 Hours
10,914 Listeners
Crimelines® True Crime
4,214 Listeners
Snapped: Women Who Murder
5,294 Listeners
Criminology
6,992 Listeners
Crime Junkie
370,110 Listeners
Evidence Locker True Crime
807 Listeners
Women and Crime
3,000 Listeners
Park Predators
18,053 Listeners
Anatomy of Murder
19,045 Listeners
Dark Downeast
4,455 Listeners
Crimes of the Centuries
3,969 Listeners
The Deck
11,682 Listeners
Scamfluencers
7,343 Listeners
People are the Worst
1,625 Listeners