Authors: Matthew Condon
I would like to pay tribute to writer and mate Doug Hall, who triggered the trilogy.
Many former State and Federal police officers generously gave of their time, and offered documentation and diaries for the books. Thanks to: Kym Goldup-Graham, Greg Deveney, Ross Dickson, Peter Gallagher, John ‘Bluey’ O’Gorman, Ron Edington, the family of the late Robert Walker, Barry Krosch, Les Lewis, Keith Smith, Peter Dautel, Ken Hoggett, the late John Huey, Geoff Pambroke, Ron Lewis, Arthur Volz, Bruce Wilby, the late Noel Creevey, Cliff Crawford, John Moller, Ian Hatcher, the late Abe Duncan, Fred Collins, Max Rogers, Brian Bennett, Bill Harrigan, Bob Sawford, Clive Small, David Marshall, John Cummins, Frank Rynne, Jim Shearer, John Morris, Ross Allan, Dennis Koch, the family of Merv Callaghan, the family of Don ‘Buck’ Buchanan, John Shobbrook and Ian Alcorn.
I owe a special thanks to Jim Slade and Peter Vassallo – two fine men.
I am especially grateful to Lewis’ former personal assistant, Greg Early, for allowing me to make use of excerpts from his police diaries and his expansive unpublished memoir, and for his help with innumerable queries.
I am, once again, indebted to two great mates: former Licensing Branch officer Nigel Powell, for countless hours of support, advice and friendship – Nigel, you are the definition of integrity; and former Licensing Branch officer Kingsley Fancourt, a man who suffered much for his honesty, but whose actions contributed to changing the history of Queensland.
To those policemen and women, and their families, who offered information but chose to remain anonymous, I thank you.
I would like to pay tribute to the inspirational Mary Anne Brifman, who so generously welcomed me into her extraordinary life. The Brifman story haunts the trilogy and underpins much of the drama over more than 50 years, and its unfolding was only made possible due to Mary Anne’s open heart and fierce intellect.
The political threads of the books were enriched by the cooperation of many former premiers, politicians and political operatives. Thank you to: former premier Mike Ahern, former premier Peter Beattie, Sir Llew Edwards, Paul Clauson, Terry White, Bill Hewitt, Brian Austin, Henry Palaszczuk, Paul Braddy, Russell Grenning, the family of the late Huan Fraser, Allen Callaghan, and the inestimable (Sir) Malcolm McMillan.
I would also like to thank former Chief Justice and now Governor of Queensland, Paul de Jersey, and his wife Kaye, the late Justice Bill Carter, Michael Forde, Terry O’Gorman and the late, great Colin Bennett. Thank you also to Gavin Rebetzke.
I would especially like to acknowledge the work and contribution to Queensland history of Tony Fitzgerald.
So many others from all walks of life made valuable contributions to the books. My thanks to: Anne Marie Tilley, Debbie Kilroy, Carol Scully, Leonie Bahnemann, Lee Kear, Richard Spencer, Peter Walsh, Lawrence and Andre Daws, Ken Lord, Ruth Whitrod Blackburn, Ian Whitrod, Mervyn Carey, Dr Paul Wilson, Dr Ross Fitzgerald, Paul Reynolds, Jean Hudson, John Hooper, John X. Berlin, Dr Harry Akers, Fred Komlosy and his family, Edgar Bourke, Keith Underwood, John Stopford, Tony Corrigan, Robert ‘Dave’ Berrick, Pat Gallagher, Vince Doyle, Mary, Judith and Christian Bennett and the Bennett family, and Bob Martin of Amity Point.
I am indebted to the hundreds of Queenslanders who have contacted me with their own tales from the eras covered by the books, some of which have enriched the text.
Again, I am enormously grateful to investigative journalists Chris Masters and Phil Dickie, whose work forms the bedrock of the trilogy. Thank you, Chris and Phil, for your extreme generosity during the years of the project.
Thank you, also, to those inspirational scribes, Quentin Dempster and Evan Whitton, and to Bob Gordon, Greg Chamberlin, Peter James, Tony Koch, Alan Hall, Paul Weston, Ken ‘Digger’ Blanch, Matthew Fynes-Clinton, Jason Gagliardi, Michael McKenna, Alex Mitchell, Judith White, Phillip Knightley, Steve Bishop, Peter Morley, Michael Crutcher and David Fagan. I’d like to pay tribute to the memory of Tony Reeves. A special thanks to two great friends – Hedley Thomas and Des Houghton.
The books were largely made possible courtesy of the invaluable encouragement of my editors at News Queensland – Christopher Dore (
The Courier-Mail
), Peter Gleeson (
The Sunday Mail
) and Kylie Lang (
Qweekend
magazine). A big thank you to Alison Walsh, Phil Stafford, Anne-Maree Lyons, Frances Whiting, David Kelly, Russell Shakespeare, Leisa Scott and the wonderful Susan Johnson.
I owe more than I can express to Jean Bowra of Brisbane, who faithfully and professionally transcribed interviews over many years. Thank you, Jean.
Many books and documents have been important to the trilogy:
The Road to Fitzgerald and Beyond
by Phil Dickie, UQP, 1989
In Place of Justice: An Analysis of a Royal Commission 1963–64
by Peter James, The Shield Press, 1974
The Sundown Murders
by Peter James, Boolarong Publications, 1990
The Long Blue Line: A History of the Queensland Police
by W. Ross Johnston, Boolarong Publications, 1992
The Bagman: Final Confessions of Jack Herbert
by Jack Herbert with Tom Gilling, ABC Books, 2004
Before I Sleep: My Life Fighting Crime and Corruption
by Ray Whitrod, UQP, 2001
The Prince and the Premier
by David Hickie, Angus and Robertson, 1985
Trial and Error
by Don Lane, Boolarong Publications, 1993
The Man They Called a Monster
by Paul Wilson, Cassell Australia, 1981
A Life of Crime
by Paul Wilson, Scribe, 1990
Reform in Policing: Lessons from the Whitrod Era
by Jill M. Bolen, Hawkins Press, 1997
Don’t You Worry About That!
by Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Angus and Robertson, 1990
Honest Cops: Revealing Accounts of Australians who Stood up to Corruption and Suffered the Consequences
by Quentin Dempster, ABC Books, 1992
Crims in Grass Castles
by Keith Moor, Penguin Books, 2009
Joh: The Life and Political Adventures of Johannes Bjelke-Petersen
by Hugh Lunn, UQP, 1978
Inside Story
by Chris Masters, Harper Collins, 1992
In the Arena: Memories of an A.L.P State Secretary in Queensland
by Peter Beattie, edited by Brian Stevenson, Boolarong Publications, 1990
The Hillbilly Dictator: Australia’s Police State
by Evan Whitton, ABC Books, 1989
The Ayes Have It: The History of the Queensland Parliament
by John Wanna and Tracey Arklay, ANU Press, 2010
Lock, Stock & Barrel: A Political Biography of Mike Ahern
by Paul Reynolds, UQP, 2002
The Tangled Web
by Des Sturgess, Bedside Books, 2001
A History of Queensland
:
From 1915 to the Early 1980s
by Ross Fitzgerald, UQP, 1984
‘An Investigation of the Dynamics of Cultural Policy Formation: The States’ Patronage of Film Production in Australia, 1970–1988’ by Thomas Vincent O’Donnell, RMIT University, 2005.
Thank you to former premier Peter Beattie for permission to quote from his Master of Arts thesis, ‘The Window of Opportunity: The Fitzgerald Experiment and the Queensland Criminal Justice Commission 1987–1992’ (QUT, November 1996).
Both the National Library’s newspaper digitisation project, Trove, and Queensland Parliament’s digitisation of Hansard, were of major importance to my research.
In addition, I wish to pay a special tribute to author Tom Gilling, author of Jack Herbert’s memoir,
The Bagman
, for kindly providing me with the original interview cassettes he recorded with Herbert.
On a personal note, I would like to express my sincere love and thanks to Ron and Karen Condon, Marsha and Phil Pope and family, John Shakespeare and Anna-Lisa Backlund, Gillian Morris and Geof Hawke, Gary Morris and Jo Gaha, and Nick Morris and Clodagh Crowe and family. A special hug goes to Pat Rose, and to the memory of Victor Rose.
My publishers, University of Queensland Press, took on the Lewis trilogy before they (or any of us) understood the immensity of the job at hand, but over the years have carried out their role with the utmost professionalism and support. Thank you to CEO Greg Bain for having faith in the books. To Publisher Madonna Duffy, your guidance, duty of care and level of calm during the turbulent moments kept the project going – thank you, Madonna. I want to pay a special tribute to my editor, the brilliant Jacqueline Blanchard, who remained focused at all times and brought the books home. There is not a single page of the trilogy that does not bear her expertise. Thank you so much, Jacq. I owe gratitude also to Meredene Hill and the wonderful Bettina Richter.
Finally, all my love to my wife Katie Kate, who silently suffered my many absences during the years working on these books. Thank you, darling, for your affection and incredible forbearance. And to my beautiful children – Finnigan, Bridie Rose and Olly G. (Oliver George) – this, and everything, is for you.
Index
The page numbers in this index refer to the page numbers of the printed book and are reproduced here for reference only. Please use the search facility of your device to find the relevant entry
Agro 66–7
Ahern, Mike 34, 246–7, 312, 317, 367, 374–5, 376, 380, 416, 434–5, 465, 469
Fitzgerald Inquiry, support for 406, 416
Justice Stewart meeting 406–8
leadership ballot 377–8
letters to Lewis 425–7
sacking of Lewis 460–1
Allen, Ric 104, 304–5, 306, 398–9
Andrews, Chief Justice Sir Dormer (Bob) 35–6, 266, 307, 311
Astley, Thea 100–1
Atkinson, Sallyanne 243–3
Atkinson, Deputy Commissioner Syd ‘Sippy’ 8, 13, 15–16, 29, 75, 113, 169, 174, 342
Fitzgerald Inquiry appearance 410
Australian Broadcasting Commission
Nationwide
10–11
Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence (ABCI) 110–13, 168
Australian Federal Police (AFP) 148
Bahnemann, Gunther ‘Gunner’ 441–2, 520
Barnes, Alan 112, 126, 148, 178–80, 189–90, 261, 533
Beattie, Peter 105, 379, 550
Beer, Ross 28, 94, 258, 291
Bellino, Antonio 88
Fitzgerald Inquiry 313
Bellino, Geraldo (Gerry) 17, 80–1, 138, 147, 177, 180, 226, 261, 294, 313, 316–17, 336–7, 405, 468
Fitzgerald Inquiry evidence 330–1
Herbert, sale to 226–7, 288–9
imprisonment 506
Top of the Valley 263–4, 267, 271
World By Night 18, 76, 271, 331
Bellino, Vince Jnr
Global Marble 251–3
subpoena 314
Bellino, Vincenzo
Fitzgerald Inquiry 313
Four Corners
writ 301
Global Marble 251–3
Bellino/Conte enterprise 30, 87, 227, 272, 486
Bellino family 138, 147, 177, 180, 199, 201–2, 204, 209, 325
Bennett, Col 257, 492, 543–4