Sydney Hilton Hotel bombing

On 13 February 1978 at 12:42 AM a bomb exploded in a rubbish bin outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia killing two garbagemen and a policeman, and injuring several others. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was taking place in the hotel and a number of foreign leaders were staying there.

No one claimed responsibility. Several individuals and organizations have been accused of planting the bomb. However, the true perpertrators have yet to be discovered.

Terry Griffiths was a policeman injured during the blast. He has uncovered substantial evidence and has called for a full enquiry. He had no particular political nor security affiliations at the time of the blast, and thus provides a fairly unbiased and credible observer. He believes that it was probably a bungled attempt by the intelligence services to increase their importance.

The episode was the first and only domestic terrorist event to hit Australia's shores and had a profound impact on the sleepy, insular nation of 1978.

Evidence of official misconduct

There is considerable circumstantial evidence to suggest that Australian Security forces and in particular Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) were responsible for the Hilton bombing. This includes:

• Several garbage crews that had attempted to empty the bin immediately prior to the blast were prevented from doing so by "someone official" standing nearby. This was despite the fact that it was overflowing with rubbish right at the entrance of the major international meeting. (Recounted by Bill Ebb, the driver of the rubbish truck that was destroyed.)

• The entire garbage truck and all bomb fragments were dumped without any proper forensic investigation. This would be extremely unusual for such a serious crime.

• Keith Burley is a retired corporal from the Army Bomb Search Dog Handler Squad. He says that Sniffer dogs were specially trained to check the site, but were then called off. This is very unusual and no explanation was given.

• Ian McDonald, a former Commonwealth police inspector, alleges that the commonwealth security forces prevented the NSW police from establishing a normal "secure area" around the entrance to the Hilton which could be used to gather forensic evidence.

• The fact that the caronial inquest was shut down prematurely and prevented a full investigation. The coroner refused to allow Griffiths' counsel to call any police or military witnesses or documents. Later, the Commonwealth government refused to hold an official enquiry despite being asked by the NSW Parliament.

• The highly dubious way that Tim Anderson and others were prosecuted. (They were later pardoned.)

• Then NSW attorney general Frank Walker told the press in 1980 that he had been told by a disaffected CSIRO scientist that ASIO had asked CSIRO to build the Hilton bomb. Mr George Petersen MP also said that he had met a scientist said to be involved with the manufacture of the bomb.

There are many sources for these alegations, one of the best is the ABC documentary "Conspiracy" 1995.

Ananda Marga

The Indian prime minister, Morarji Desai claimed that Ananda Marga had attempted to kill him due to the imprisonment of the organisation's spriritual leader, Shrii Shrii Anandamurti.

Tim Anderson, Ross Dunn and Paul Alister, known as the Ananda Marga Three and members of the Ananda Marga sect, were jailed until 15 May 1985 for the bombing. They were later pardoned after several inquiries.

Related events

In 1977 a judicial inquiry was made into the South Australian Special Branch under Justice White. It was very critical and the police commisdioner Harold Salisbury was sacked. The Special Branch's special relationship with ASIO was also discontinued.

Largely as a result Neville Wran (Premier of NSW) announced that in five days time a similar judicial inquiry would commence in NSW. This was just a few days before the Hilton Bombing. These events put considerable pressure on the Australian security forces.

Shortly after the bombing Wran decided to abandon his enquiry. The intelligence services and ASIO received a substantial increase in funding. ASIO was also given immunity from prosecution for illegal activities.

Sources and extracts

Since this event is now rather old, many sources are not easily available online. Below are extracts of some relevant articles. (Note that full articles can be purchased from the Sydney Morning Herald [1] for $2.20 each, min charge $22.) These extracts are reproduced under copyright Fair use provisions.

SMH: The Hilton bombing; Jane Freeman, 6 Feb 1995:

" (...) [The ABC documentary] Conspiracy tells the story of Terry Griffiths, one of the policemen brutally injured by the explosion. Griffiths believes the bomb was planted by security forces in an attempt to secure more funds, prestige and power (the ASIO Act, following the bombing, gave them all three).

According to Griffiths's theory, the bomb was never intended to go off but, due to a fumble at CIB in passing on the bomb warning and the fact that the garbage truck was running early and had not been banned from emptying the bin, it exploded.

(...)

The documentary looks at the mysteries which surround the bombing: Why was the bin never checked? Could the sophisticated bomb have been made in a Commonwealth laboratory, as one scientist claimed? Were there army sniffer dogs trained for the CHOGRM security operation but never used? When did the warning phone call come through and were the police records of the call tampered with? Who decided that all the rubbish in the garbage truck, including bomb fragments, should be thrown away in the local tip?

(...)

The film suggests a number of possible scenarios. Griffiths says it was the spooks, with help from the military and Special Branch. Researcher Jenny Hocking thinks it may have been a bungled training exercise along the lines of the ASIS raid on the Sheraton Hotel in Melbourne. Ian McDonald, an inspector in the Australian Federal Police who saw the bomb flash against his Hilton hotel window, is sure no secret service would use a live bomb for training or political purposes (he says it would have been easy to make an inert bomb that looked as if it was intended to go off).

(...)

In 1991 the whole NSW Parliament called for an inquiry and the Federal Government refused. That's a situation without precedence.

SMH: The path of bliss...; Ben Hills, 25 Oct 1990:

"In 1985, after unsuccessful appeals to the Supreme and High Courts, a government inquiry recommended that the three be pardoned - largely because of the tainted testimony of the key Crown witness, a Special Branch infiltrator into the Ananda Marga - and Anderson, Alister and Dunn walked free after more than six years behind bars. They later received $100,000 each to help with their rehabilitation.

(...)

Ostensibly, the charges that were eventually laid in June of 1978 had nothing to do with the Hilton bombing...

Ostensibly. In fact, as one of the jurors was later to relate, the jury was influenced by the fact that they believed the three were really guilty of the Hilton bombing - but police could only get evidence against them for the so-called Yagoona conspiracy.

(...)

The day after Anderson's arrest [the second time, after the pardon] was announced, a man no-one had heard of before - a former member of the Ananda Marga named Evan Pederick - walked into the confessional of a Catholic priest in Brisbane and confessed to having planted the bomb, at Anderson's direction.

(...)

Pederick was sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the crime, and Mr Tees had the copper-bottomed evidence he needed to get a conviction.

This 1990 article then speculates that Anderson would be found guilty. In fact he was cleared due to the wildly inconsistent evidence against him.

External links

• Conspiracy: Australian Broadcasting Commission documentary, Daryl Dellora, 1995 (shown on True Stories series). Reviews most of the evidence. Unfortunately no on line transcript is easily available, although it could probably be purchased from the ABC. Articles reviewing the documentary include:-
  • ABC George Negus discussion with Dellora.
  • filmartdoco review, includes enumeration of the key issues.
  • shootersnews Good review of the main points made by Griffiths.
• Greenleft Article Quotes Terry Griffiths.
• NSW Hansard 19 Sep 95 Questions from Ms Kirkby and replies from the minister of police. (Search for "Hilton"). Confirms Frank Walker's claim amongst other things.
• NSW Hansard 21 Sep 95 Call for Hilton Hotel bombing enquiry. Speach by Mr Tink, ex Attorney General, complaining of changes to publically available documents, amongst other things.
• tripod
• Wilsons Almanac Detailed article into the bombing and associated events, including the special branch enquiries.
• Molomby Tom, SPIES BOMBS AND THE PATH OF BLISS - Ananda Marga and the Hilton bombing