WEBVTT - A witness to Melbourne's worst bombing 0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:04.920 I thought the petrol taker has hit this corner of 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:08.440 this building, right near where we exploded, and the exploded. 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:09.840 If we're building up. 0:00:09.880 --> 0:00:12.360 We had light fittings come crashing down around as the 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:17.040 plaster pieces came around, and dust everywhere, and this noise, 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:22.360 this huge explosion. A taste of terrorism, wasn't Yeah, it 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:25.240 was the taste of terrorism. That's That's exactly what it was, 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:29.640 domestic terrorism meters away from from where we were sitting. 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:34.159 I'm Andrew Rules Life and Crimes. This week as we 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:37.239 go to air it is exactly forty years since the 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:40.640 Russell Street bombing, which of course is one of the 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:44.839 worst crimes ever perpetrated in Australian history. And it was 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:50.480 the day that our guest in the studio today once said, 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:54.000 it's the day that we lost our innocence. And he 0:00:54.080 --> 0:00:57.520 would know because Bill Ayres, who's with us, was chief 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:03.080 police reporter of the Venerable Herald newspaper back in the 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:05.960 mid nineteen eighties, and Bill and I worked together at 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:10.480 Russell Street, where in those days reporters who covered the 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:15.920 crime beat would work, and he was on duty the 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:20.319 morning of the Russell Street bombing. He's written us a 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:24.160 terrific piece about his memories of that day, and he's 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:27.800 very kindly come in to talk to us about it 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:32.280 all over again. Bill Airs, welcome back to your old haunts, 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:35.680 although of course you worked at Flinders Street, but you 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:39.520 are one of the great police reporters of ancient time 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:43.039 and it's good to see you back here. Your piece 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:47.080 about the Russell Street bombing was very potent, very powerful 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:51.320 and quite haunting. Although there are certain names sadly that 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:55.560 we can't mention, names that are closely associated with the bombing, 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:59.600 which for legal reasons cannot be brought up at this point, 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:01.200 so we'll be careful about that. 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:02.240 We will be careful. 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:06.960 Bill. Take us back to the day of the bombing. 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:11.000 What you did, how it unspooled for you? All right? 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:15.200 Well, as you mentioned Andrew, we worked out of a 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:19.040 pokey little office at Russell Street. There was a few 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:22.160 room set aside for the media guys. There was a 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:24.959 room for the Sun and the Age and the ABC 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:29.280 and for us at there. We had three reporters on 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:32.119 that day. There was myself and a young cadet called 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:37.120 Greg Kerr, and another journo Brian Adams, not related to 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:41.160 the singer we'd started early in the morning, as was 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:43.640 the story of the Herald that in those days, we 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:47.120 had to start early, so wet the meet the deadlines, 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:50.320 and it just started out. It was a lovely sunny 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:54.040 autumn day and we just went about doing our business, 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:57.040 sort of cleaning up what was happening overnight and through 0:02:57.080 --> 0:03:00.000 the rest of that morning. So this is a Thursday 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:03.720 before he said Thursday, Yeah, which meant I think that 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:09.480 the morning newspaper people, meaning the Sun and the Age 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:12.480 people weren't at work because on good Fridays in those 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:14.760 days there was no paper. There was no morning paper, 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:17.799 but you worked for an afternoon paper, the Old Herald, 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:22.200 which meant you were there very early to publish stories 0:03:22.360 --> 0:03:25.200 that would be published later the same day, later that 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:28.760 same day. Yep, So we were the only ones there. 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:31.560 There was a blow for the ab so and he'd 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:32.560 left fairly early. 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:33.480 Was that Scoby? 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:35.760 That was Scoby? 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:36.600 Yeah, yep. 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:41.400 He'd turned right out of out of the office to 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:42.120 head to. 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:43.000 The tab. 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:46.560 And they say beddings bad for it saved his life, 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:48.680 saved his life. He went he went right down to 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:52.920 the tab. If he went left, he might have might 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:53.840 not be with us today. 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:56.160 If he'd gone to church, he'd be dead, but he 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:59.800 went to the tab down on the Cartain side. Of course. 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:03.800 The Russell Street Police Headquarters is an iconic building, cream brick, 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:07.840 sort of very New York sort of building really, and 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:12.480 it's at the corner of Russell and La Trobe and 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:18.680 its opposite the old Melbourne Magistrates Court, and it's very 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:22.800 close to r MIT, the original r MIT campus and 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:29.520 was the police center, the heart of the Victoria Police 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:35.520 for decades until they moved most of their operations down 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:38.680 and killed the road before building the new one in 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:40.039 Spencer Street. 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:43.960 So we were the only newspaper people working at the 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:48.400 time and had we had already written the lead story 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:50.839 for the first edition of The Herald, which was of 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:55.560 course the mandatory Easter Road Blitz story of course, and 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:58.520 from memory, there wasn't a lot of other stuff going 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:02.159 on that morning, so you know, we were kind of 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:04.720 sitting around. It was getting close to knockoff time for. 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:07.000 Us and looking forward to Big East to break, the. 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:08.880 East to break, because we wouldn't have been working on 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:11.920 the Friday, whereas the other morning boys they would have 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:17.040 come in on the Friday for the Saturday paper. And 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:21.120 it was it was just gone one o'clock, just ticked over. 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:21.480 I was. 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:25.320 I was actually on the phone to an assistant commission 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:28.680 for traffic to tee him up for the Monday paper, 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:31.960 to get him to be ready for us to get 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:34.000 all the figures and what was happening over the recent 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:38.960 road road road tops, etc. And then all of a sudden, 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:40.000 all hell broke loose. 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:45.440 Describe what the sound and the feeling the whole building 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:46.200 seemed to shake. 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:51.640 I thought, petrol tanker has hit this corner of this building, 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:55.400 right near where we exploded, and then exploded, and the 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:58.400 building up there was We had light fittings come crashing 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:02.640 down around us. The plaster pieces came around, and dust everywhere, 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:08.599 and this noise, this this huge explosion. And I hung 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:13.040 up from from the assistant commissioner, and Brian had had 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:16.080 left to go and get his Easter haircut, and so 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:18.080 he was sort of on his way back from his 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:21.520 lunch break, and so there was only Greg and I 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:24.640 there and our police rounds driver. Back in those days, 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:27.040 she actually had a driver. His name is Shepard. 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:31.360 Shepherd, well regarded by some as wise of the most 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:32.360 police rounds reporter. 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:35.680 Yes, he knew his way around Melbourne every lane way. 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:37.359 Yeah, lovely fellow. 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:41.000 Yeah, he was a great, great bloke and he had 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:44.080 just put the kettle on and I thought that hit 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:47.280 my mind. I thought there's been an electrical explosion because 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:52.200 he's just top of the kettle on. Anyway, this massive explosion. 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:55.320 So Greg and I just took off out the door 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:59.800 and there was glass and smoke and the smell of 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:01.520 Jelly Knight in the air. 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:04.240 You could just smell that was explosive. 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:07.000 It could smell explosives. I knew then that it was. 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:07.760 You knew that. 0:07:07.960 --> 0:07:11.200 I knew that something had blown up in the street. 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:15.520 Now, you were a young blog originally from Seymour area 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:19.440 and Heathcott and the Shepherdon. Your dad had worked on 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:22.960 the railway. So did you have some idea what exploses 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:24.760 you smell like? Because yes I did because of that. 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:25.680 Did yeah? 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:31.400 Yeap just just knew that that smell right with a gunpowder, 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:35.600 I guess. And we Yeah, So we just raced out 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:36.960 into the middle of the street. 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:39.880 And in the middle of the street there was something burning. 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:43.040 There was a ball of flame about. It was probably 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:44.600 about forty meters away from us. 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:45.480 Did you know what it was? 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:49.040 No idea, I had no idea what was going on. 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:54.120 Saw this ball of flame and it kind of jumped, 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:56.640 it jumped over a car, the bonnet of a car 0:07:56.760 --> 0:08:00.160 that had stopped on the street. I learned later that 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:01.200 was Angela Taylor. 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:06.000 The burning ball was burning a still living young police. 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:10.520 Young police woman who was twenty one years twenty one, 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:14.120 and yeah, she had just come out of the magistrate's 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:17.680 court and she was heading across towards the Russell Street 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:22.280 Police complex and she was getting lunch for the other 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:24.720 for the rest of the crew over and looking after 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:28.280 the courts and she she walked straight into it. She 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:32.600 just walked straight towards that car and it just killed well, 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:33.160 she died. 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:36.840 She lived later, yeah, about three weeks later. It was 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:39.240 an horrific thing. It was. It was. 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:42.679 And there were other explosions happening as well, we thought, 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:47.120 because back in those days you could park along Russell 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:50.800 Street right outside the police building, so there were cars 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:54.080 right along the street. And we saw this car that 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:57.360 had blown up. But we thought, oh, there's another exploder, 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:01.120 there's another car's gone. But it turned out it was 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:06.120 the leftover sticks of Jelick Knight that had been and 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:07.959 blasting caps that were going. 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:10.280 Off, going off on one after the other. Yeah, the 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:13.120 big one had been a bunch of them taped together. Yeah, 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:13.800 but about one. 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:16.200 Hundred and fifteen sticks of Jelick Knight. 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:19.880 Apparently, and there were some stray ones that yeah, yeah, okay, 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:23.600 it's a fairly crude job, I believe. Yeah, all attached 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:27.240 to a clock which was weighed down by a block 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:32.360 of timber that defen a bit of red gum yep, 0:09:32.920 --> 0:09:37.240 and that will form part of the big forensic investigation 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:41.000 down the track before they finally caught up with these crooks. 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:42.199 What did you do next? 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:44.880 Next? I had to had to run back into the 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:49.080 office and jump onto the phone to let the chief 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:53.120 of staff know that there's been a massive explosion outside 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:57.520 the Russell Street Police Station, police headquarters because it housed 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:00.559 all the squads and the D twenty four Commune occasions 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:03.800 and everything at that time, as well as being an 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:05.000 all running police. 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:07.520 Station, it was a nerve center, wasn't It was absolute's 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:10.480 where everyone, all the all the top detective and everything 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:11.160 were based there. 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:13.440 So I had to ring ring up. 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:15.840 It was a rock song by the Sports What did 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:19.440 the Detectives say? And it mentions Russell It was part 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:22.640 of Melbourne's focalore. Yeah, it was. 0:10:22.880 --> 0:10:25.200 The Herald was printed in four editions a day. There 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:28.000 was the first one that came out around about eleven 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:32.520 thirty twelve o'clock. Then the second one was due to 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:35.000 go onto the presses about one o'clock, about at the 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:38.160 same time this thing went off. So it was just 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:41.600 starting to rumble on the presses down at Flinders, down 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:44.839 at Flinda Street, down in the basement there, and we 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:47.000 had to tell them to stop the presses. I've never 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:49.960 never said that before in my life. In a long 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:52.880 career in journalism, I never got the chance to stop 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:53.439 the presses. 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:55.560 But you did this time, and they stopped them. 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:57.840 And they did. They said, you know, what's what's going on? 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:00.560 I said, been a massive explosion. Explained it, do them 0:11:00.840 --> 0:11:04.079 and they said, right, get what you can and jump 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:05.960 on the phone as quickly as you can because we 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:10.440 need this to go into our second edition. So both 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:13.559 Greg and I then jumped on the phones and dictated 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:18.000 our stories to this magnificent bunch of copy takers that 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:21.960 were based at Flinda Street. And they could they could 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:24.640 type as quickly as we could talk. They were so 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:29.640 good at what they did. But their spelling was better correct. 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:34.960 Correct, And yeah they were because the Herald and all 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:40.240 newspapers probably still do. They had reporters based at Russell Street, 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:46.440 the town Hall, the trades hall. Your age. They don't 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:48.800 have reporters at any of those places that day, not 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:52.920 anymore because this century that hasn't happened. 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:57.400 I've been out of the game for a while. But yeah, 0:11:57.440 --> 0:12:00.160 so we had people, you know, like trades everywhere and 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:02.839 state Parliament. Of course there was a big press cos 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:03.640 we still have that. 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:04.240 Yeah. 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:08.400 Yeah, anyway, they and these girls were vital to all 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:12.280 of us for taking our copy, spelling it properly and 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:13.640 getting it through to the editors. 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:16.400 So just so our listeners get it. And of course 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:18.840 most of them are old enough to remember those things. 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:21.960 You were dictating a story you'd already written with a 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:26.319 typewriter or even rough notes on your notebook. This dictating 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:31.040 to somebody who's wearing set of headphones and a typewriter 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:33.080 and there banging it out there, bang it out a 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:35.360 kilometer away from where you were s Yeah, exactly. 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:38.640 Yeah, we didn't have time to hit the typewriter. We 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:41.160 just had to off the take, take a few notes, 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:42.720 and it was all off the top. 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:46.120 File off the top of those wonderful words, A great 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:47.440 skill for those that could do it. 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:50.160 And of course then we had to then race back 0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:53.319 out and continue to witness what was going on because 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:58.040 there were people screaming, there were people calling for help. 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:02.120 And I remember Neil, our driver. Last I saw of him, 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:04.720 he was carrying a young woman who was bleeding fairly 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:08.760 heavily around the corner away from Russell Street because we 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:12.200 didn't know what else was going to happen. Yeah, that 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:13.760 was the last I saw of him for the day, 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:17.920 so he obviously was there helping other people to his credit, 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:21.839 great man and Greg and we just ran back out 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:25.120 into the street and just tried to witness there was 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:28.080 there was people bleeding, of people. I saw a young 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:31.720 police officer being comforted by a woman, a police woman, 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:35.040 on the steps of Russell Street, and she kept on 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:37.720 telling him don't look at your legs, don't look at 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:41.000 your legs, because I looked at his legs and I 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:44.640 could see the bone on his lower leg protruding. 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:48.360 Yeah, the bone. 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:52.400 And there are other people running around that. There was 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:57.880 other policemen in uniform, some who'd never fired a side 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:04.160 arm in anger, running around with their Repolice issue guns 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:07.800 out what was going on. 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:08.800 No one knew. 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:12.360 It was such a shock, and the shock was to 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:16.400 a degree that I've never forgotten it. No, And I 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:19.600 think the piece that I wrote in the Sunday paper 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:23.560 just the other day, yeah, caught that that and that 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:26.160 was why I wrote it. I thought, forty years on, yes, 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:31.280 let's remember what happened and let the readers of the 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:33.720 Herald Son know what it was like, what it was 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:35.920 like back then to be there, to actually be on 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:36.720 the spot. 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:39.560 And really it's not an experience unique to you, but 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:43.480 it's unique to only a few dozen people were really 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:47.280 as close as when you were near as close as 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:50.440 you were, because it happened within meters. 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:54.040 Of the door of that old press exactly. 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:57.800 Now. I know you've already said this, but the morning 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:00.320 newspaper people weren't there. You were really bit of a 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:05.800 skeleton crew. Yes, we we were. Normally there'd be the 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:08.960 age people and the Sun people there as well. 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:10.920 They would have just come in. They would would have. 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:13.240 Just come in and they'd be sitting and I remember 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:17.080 doing this for one of those papers, sitting under a window, 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:23.360 a normal old glass window with thin, nasty glass facing 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:26.520 Russell straight. Now, what happened to those windows? Bill? 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:31.160 During one of the times when I was running backwards 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:34.360 and forwards, I thought I'll just have a quick check 0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:37.680 into their offices and just in case there was someone there. 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:41.600 And as I had a look in through their doorway, 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:48.000 there were shards of glass fifteen centimeters long sticking out 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:52.160 from a cork noticeboard right behind that desk. 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:53.240 Oh my god. 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:55.440 So someone would have been sitting there. 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:57.200 Would have taken their head off, would have taken. 0:15:57.000 --> 0:16:00.560 Their head off, It would have been cut ribbons, terrible 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:04.880 and that that really shocked me as well, because I 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:07.960 thought if there was someone there, they could. 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:08.360 Well have died. 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:13.400 Oh yeah, because it was head height. You know the window. 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:14.360 What's that there? 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:18.360 Many We used to have that office, Yes, and we 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:22.000 got moved down a little corridor sort of in behind 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:22.720 that office. 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:24.080 Yeah, is that how it worked? 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:27.520 Yeah, And the ABC was in They were in a 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:34.560 little nor between us a small bathroom for a large toilet, 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:36.240 that's right. 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:39.960 And it was amazing to some extent. You were lucky 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:40.360 to be. 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:43.720 Yeah, we lost our view, but we probably had our 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:49.560 lives safe, good Lord, because yeah, draw yeah, absolutely. 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:51.800 It was young Greg was working with you. 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:55.239 Yeah, yeah, Greg a very lovely fellow. 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:56.040 Yes he was. 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:59.920 He was a really a very smart young jur. 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:03.760 Yes, very nice fellow. Of course. He belonged to a 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:06.480 large family. The Kerr family were well known in Melbourne, 0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:11.440 connected heavily with Carlton Football Club. His father was Laurie Kerr, 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:14.800 who a well known ex Carlton player and businessman and 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:19.680 public relations expert and a kingmaker in fact in politics 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:23.679 and football I think. But that's sort of beside the 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:27.639 point of and Brian, Brian Adam on the day in 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:30.960 christ he was walking back, as you said, from having 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:35.399 a haircut and he look, you know, the lights changed 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:37.720 or didn't change for whatever fortune to walk across the 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:41.040 street in your head, he caught the green pedestrian light 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:45.840 and crossed across. He would have been hit by the way, 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:48.320 would have been hit them too, and probably killed by it. 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:52.199 As it happened. He was far enough back that it 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:56.840 did not injure him physically, but it was a terrible 0:17:56.960 --> 0:17:59.760 shock to him. And I know that he was in 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:03.919 a fog like a war fog afterwards, and that he 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:08.280 was sat down by Stephen Price, Steve Price, who was 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:11.400 then i'll say chiefs of staff for the Herald who 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:14.480 sat him down and said, right now, I'll write it 0:18:14.560 --> 0:18:17.480 for you and type it, but you tell me you'll 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:20.359 want to remember yeah, you know, coming out of the barber, 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:23.400 walking up the street and price. He had to write 0:18:23.440 --> 0:18:26.040 it for him for him because he was so shaken. 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:29.959 He was naturally of course, he was a person who 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:33.440 was in shock, in shock, which didn't stop us getting 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:35.679 the story. But I don't think it did him a 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:36.120 lot of good. 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:39.040 No, I don't think it did it. I think it 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:42.240 affected him pretty badly to the point where he left 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:46.920 the newspaper industry ultimately and moved to the Northern Territory 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:49.760 and going away from Melbourne and moved away from Melbourne. 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:53.879 I don't know whether it had anything to do with that. 0:18:54.040 --> 0:18:56.240 He might have had a job offer all what a 0:18:56.320 --> 0:18:57.240 lot of people did leave. 0:18:57.359 --> 0:19:01.159 Yeah, now you're the rest of your day. You you 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:03.960 didn't really have time to take it all in because 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:07.680 you were stay busy filing stories. Yeah, tell us about that. 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:11.639 We we just had to continue to take our own notes. Ye, 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:15.440 put it all into our head and then just continue 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:20.719 continue filing update, update, update all the time. And at 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:26.080 one stage we were evacuated from the building by the 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:30.520 Special Operations Group. They came in all armed, and I 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:33.960 think they were a bit surprised by the fact that 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:36.919 we were we were there. I don't know whether they 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:40.439 knew that we had these offices. They may not have. 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:44.119 Anyway, they were pretty basic in those days. Yeah, they 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:47.359 were just black, black, armed black pajamas. Yeah. 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:49.800 Anyway, they gave us a bit of a fright when 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:53.040 they came storming in and and got us out of 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:56.840 the building. And so then we had to then find 0:19:57.200 --> 0:20:00.400 phone boxes, continue filing us stories. 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:04.080 Oh, I see mobile phones. Then no computers, so you'd 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:06.040 have to fish out ten cent coins and all the 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:06.359 rest of it. 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:09.479 I've always had a pocket full of coins, as you know, 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:10.959 you would have had to have. 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:13.840 And so this went on all afternoon. 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:18.520 All after from from one o'clock through to six o'clock. 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:22.720 We made our way back to the office, to the 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:26.679 main office in Flinders Street and headed straight for the 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:30.840 Phoenix Hotel, where we knew that most people would be. 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:34.359 Just because there was a lot of journals thrown onto 0:20:34.359 --> 0:20:38.480 this story. After we file our initial peace, a lot 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:41.359 of journeys were sent out of the office and to 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:43.000 walk around the area. 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:46.600 The Phoenix of course was the pub very close to 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:51.760 the old Herald and Sun building. It was facing Flinders Street, 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:55.560 not far from the corner of Flinders. 0:20:55.200 --> 0:20:57.040 And Flinderson Exhibition vision. 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:00.359 And it was owned in the before the it's not 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:03.800 at this stage, but earlier by lou Richards the Football 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:07.640 and it was known to the Lose. 0:21:07.480 --> 0:21:09.520 Lose that's so we knew it. 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:13.120 And you'd have to walk up those thin stairs, stick 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:17.439 carpet to get to the bar with drink, and that 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:19.600 was where you sort of decompressed. 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:23.000 Yes, that that that's where it was that night, headed 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:23.800 up the stairs. 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:26.280 What did you drink? Pots of beer? 0:21:27.119 --> 0:21:31.080 Yeah, k didn'apped to buy one. Chief of staff was there. 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:33.679 He was He was put his hand in his pocket 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:36.600 for the crew, for the crew and sat us down 0:21:36.640 --> 0:21:39.520 at the table. There was me and Greg and Brian 0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:44.560 and and it was of staff then Hugh Crawford. 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:45.360 Very good. 0:21:46.000 --> 0:21:48.240 He was a very good a good chief of staff 0:21:48.240 --> 0:21:51.000 and good journo too, because I think he operated out 0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:54.000 of a Sydney office for a long time and then 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:57.639 then came down. I know Price he was chief of 0:21:57.680 --> 0:22:01.439