John Andrew Stuart (left) and Jim Finch (right). |
John Andrew Stuart and Jim Finch were the two men sentenced to life for the firebombing. Stuart and Finch were both violent men and had spent most of their adult lives embroiled in gangland feuds over rich prostitution and gambling rackets in the south. They claimed that they had been framed for the murders, and their protests of innocence were incredible, as were their attempts to delay the trial. Much has been written about the case and the guilt or innocence of the two men over the years and this debate continues today. Despite this, Stuart and Finch have already gone down as two of the most notorious prisoners in the history of Boggo Road.
While being held in the now-demolished No.1 Division of the prison, Stuart and Finch desperately tried to convince everyone that they were innocent. At one time Stuart silently sewed his lips together with a paper clip. On other occasions he ate wire crosses and nails that lodged in his gut. This required him to go to hospital for treatment and so delayed the trial. It also inspired other prisoners to do the same. He even climbed up on the roof of the old A Wing for three days in 1977 and pulled out dozens of bricks with his bare hands to spell out the words 'INNOCENT - VICTIM OF POLICE VERBAL' on the roof. Two officers were eventually sent up to retrieve Stuart, who was by this time riddled with bird lice.
A favourite trick of Stuart’s was to greet the officers unlocking his cell door of a morning by throwing the contents of his toilet tub over them. Many a new officer got a soaking like this. Some thought Stuart had a masochistic streak, and he would taunt groups of prison officers who had just bashed him with words like ‘is the best you can do?’, almost willing them to do it again.
His actions sparked riots and won him widespread support both inside and outside the prison, but he was never released. Stuart died of a heart infection (idiopathic myocarditis), alone in his cell on New Years Day 1979. He had been on hunger strike for six days.
Jim Finch also made memorable protests, including a 35-day hunger strike. His most famous stunt was to have the top of one of his fingers cut off at the same time as swallowing a wire cross. He falsely claimed that he bit the finger off himself. I understand that this bit of finger was kept for years in a jar (and may still be around somewhere) and at one point after his release Finch put in an unsuccessful official request to have it returned.
Finch's finger. |
He began keeping budgerigars and became known to some as the 'Birdman of Boggo Road'. Finch had a real affection for these birds, making sure they were looked after during his time in detention. When two birds were killed by smoke fumes during a November 1982 prison riot an angry Finch wrote the following messages on a yard wall:
“Who ever is responsible for the death of my two birds Chirpy and The Whistler is challenged to a fight to the death”
“Chirpy, The Whistler. Killed by the gutless actions of weak prisoners.”
“JA* will look after them in Heaven.”
“Stumpy sends his love. Also Kevie and Fatty.”
(* JA = John Andrew Stuart. Maybe Stumpy, Kevie and Fatty were birds too. Or perhaps inmates.)
(Queensland Prisons Collection) |
Whether guilty or innocent, Stuart and Finch certainly left their mark on Boggo Road history. Although the scene of their incarceration has long gone, the stories of their time inside will continue to be told.
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