She was working the front desk. About 10 minutes before the fire bombing, she went back to her usual waitressing work.

If she was still at the front desk, Donna would also have died.

At the time the Whiskey Au Go Go fire bombing was Australia's worst mass murder.

Yet only this week – 42 years after the 15 murders – has any form of identification or memorial been placed at the Fortitude Valley site.

A circular plaque, ringed with the names of the 15 dead, now sits outside the Amelia Street doorway in Fortitude Valley.

It reads "Site of the Whiskey Au Go Go. At 2.10am on March 8, 1973 the Whiskey Au Go Go was fire bombed. The popular first-floor nightclub was located on the corner of Amelia Street and St Pauls Terrace. Fifteen people were unable to escape the fire and lost their lives."

The victims went upstairs to the club to dance, have a few drinks, to listen to big sixties' stars The Delltones - and later – Trinity, which was playing for the first time.

The victims were:

• Colin William Folster, 19, Red Hill, musician with Trinity
• Darcy Thomas Day, 22, Holland Park., musician with Trinity
• William David Nolan, 22, military police, Indooroopilly
• Ernest John Peters, 50, Rockhampton, farmer
• Desmond John Peters, 31, Rockhampton, farmer
• Carol Ann Green, 27, Camp Hill
• Wendy Leonne Drew, 24, Norman Park
• Brian William Watson, 32, Goodna
• Peter Marcus, 23, Petrie Terrace
• Fay Ellen Will, 19, Nundah
• Jennifer Denise Davie, 17, New Farm
• Desmae Selma Carroll, 29, of New Farm
• Leslie Gordon Palethorpe, 20, Lance Corporal, Indooroopilly
• David John Western Green, 19, Norman Park
• Paul Zoller, kitchen hand, National Hotel, Queen Street

On Sundayat 1pm, friends and family of these 15 people will gather at a small service in Amelia Street to talk and remember.

At the time of the fire bombing, Donna was a 22-year-old young mum and the wife of successful professional photographer and advertising man, Dennis Porter. She had worked at the Whiskey for several months.

Weeks before the fire, in January 1973, the couple had led a successful promotion at the Whiskey Au Go for Radio 4BK for their campaign, "Reaching Out, Touching You". Donna was the model.

Donna, now living at Sandgate about 17km north of the Brisbane CBD, clearly remembers working that night, seeing the flames come up the stairs and seeing all the windows in the Whiskey Au Go Go explode.

"On that particular night, the Delltones played," she said.

"And then after midnight – at some time – the owner of the nightclub, Brian Little, approached me and asked to come and take over the front desk."

She said that was unusual because her experience was that the club's owners never spoke to the club's floor staff.

"The interesting part of it was that Brian Little's partner – and I don't remember at the time if she was his wife or his girlfriend – went away from the front desk. It was her position," she said.

"And then Brian Little went away as well.

"And then while I was there I received a phone call from a man with a rather terse voice, asking to speak to Brian Little.

"And in my best business voice I said 'Mr Little is not here at the moment, whom shall I say is calling?'."

"And he was very rough, and just rang off.

"And I told Brian Little when he came back to the front desk, he looked agitated and when his female partner came back, he said – words to this effect – 'We're leaving now'."

Donna says she remembers Mr Little's partner arguing that she did not want to leave.

"I can't remember exactly what her words were, but it was like 'Why, I don't want to go.'

"But he insisted and then they left of course."

She remembers four people leaving; the two Little brothers, Brian Little's partner and another man.

Newspaper reports in 1973 contain stories of warnings to the club and tell of other arson attacks on Brisbane nightclubs; Torino's nightclub and Chequers nightclub; before the Whiskey Au Go Go fire.

Donna says she was moved off the front desk and back to waitressing by Johnny Bell, the Whiskey Au Go Go's manager.

She went back towards the bar and asked Desmae to get a glass of water.

"I had walked from the front door to the drinks bar near the stage," she said.

"I turned to Desmae – the lady from New Farm who died, the lady with three children – and she gave me a glass of water.

"And then the fireball erupted through the door.

"So technically if I had still been at the front door I would have died of course."

She still remembers the inside of the club as the Whiskey Au Go Go fire began.

"There was a fire ball, a large burst of fire and it blew through the top floor entrance to the club," she said.

"It did erupt through the door, Johnny Bell was sitting there with people and I do remember seeing him run, although I don't know what he did," she said.

"I saw the fireball erupt, I saw John Bell run this way and Peter, a young drinks waiter, who was behind the bar, began running.

"As Peter was running, the curtains started to catch fire and it spread very quickly.

"As he was running, his hair and the clothes on his back caught fire.

"And I watched him run to the end of the bar – to the furthest end from the fire – and I imagined that he bent under the bar and tried to get the money from the till.

"While he was bending over, that is where he collapsed and died."

Donna said she now realised she was in shock at the time.

"I just stood there ...," she said.

"My eyes were on him.

"The lights then began to flicker at the top end of the room and go out."

"They started to go out in succession, from the door end.

Donna says she escaped through another door, helped by two men, went down the front stairs, towards a rear door and scrambled outside.

"Two men came to the door, I don't know if it was open, or closed, but then we exited down the steps, out the back door and then over the security gate and onto the footpath onto the Amelia Street side," she said.

"And we sat on the footpath across the road and watched the whole affair.

"We watched the bodies bought down. In my grief at that time I believed I saw the body of Desmae Carroll, the lady who was over my shoulder behind the drinks bar near the stage."

Donna says she still believes Desmae paused for a few minutes to save the takings from the till.

"She was a very ethical person – and she was overcome and she was to die," she said.

Donna says the shock lasted long after the nightclub blaze was doused.

She was affected by scenes in The Towering Inferno, the 1974 film which depicts people escaping from a burning glass tower in San Francisco. It was released in Australia in 1975.

"It wasn't until I went to see the film, The Towering Inferno, that I reacted to a scene in the film and had to leave the cinema," she said.

"And obviously I took note that I was internally suppressing the event."

After this she studied psychology and did sessions with counsellors.

She said she her "tough exterior" stayed until she spoke to a person who was writing a book on the Whiskey Au Go Go.

"It wasn't until I spoke with Tony Reeves [in 2013] that I started to get incredibly upset about it," she said.

Reeves, a former investigative reporter, was researching a book on the Whiskey Au Go Go fire bombings with Danny Stuart, the nephew of one man convicted of the murders. Reeves died in December 2013, aged 70.

Donna said she was never formally interviewed by police, but was called to the court before the trial of John Andrew Stuart, 32 and James Richard Finch, 29 in 1973.

Both men were found guilty, despite a controversial trial and a thread of alternative back stories.

"I had not been interviewed by the police formally at all, except when I was called to the court before the trial," she said.

"And I don't know exactly who I spoke to, but there was a policeman in attendance and there was a solicitor or a barrister who spoke with me – part of their legal team, I believe – and I signed a document at that time.

"But I was never interviewed by the police before that."

Donna said she learned about moves to place a plaque at the Whiskey Au Go Go site when reading a story in Fairfax Media and decided to help.

"That is why I'm doing my bit to launch the plaque on Sunday, March 8," she said.

Helen Palethorpe's big brother, Leslie, also died the Whiskey Au Go Go fire that night.

Leslie, then 20, was in the Army based at Lavarack Barracks, and had gone out with some friends for a few drinks that night.

She also believes it is essential the plaque to the Whiskey Au Go Go victims and their families is finally there.

"I mean 15 people lost their lives there that night," Helen said.

"It is something that if my Mum was alive she would be so happy to know that that has happened."

"Because that is somewhere that where should have gone.

"It is somewhere where I – when I am in Brisbane – will be going to have a look.

"There are shrines in places where other people lost their lives, so it is about time that this one happened."

"Whiskey Au Go Go was so long ago, that people just forget that it happened."

The Whiskey Au Go Go plaque has been suggested by several people closely linked to the event, but put into action by Brisbane councillor Vicki Howard and former State MP Rob Cavallucci since 2013.

Cr Howard agrees it is time victims were given some recognition.

"Along with many residents, I well remember that nightclub and the tragic event that occurred in 1973," Cr Howard said.

"This was the largest mass-murder in Australia, until the sad incident at Port Arthur, and my purpose was to ensure that those 15 victims would receive a proper memorial near to the space where their lives were so tragically cut short," she said.

"I am very much hoping that the local community will embrace the spirit of the plaque as they move through the area.

"I hope that the families of victims will take some comfort from the fact that we have recognised the site in this way, and that the service at the new plaque will provide a focus for them, and the general public to show their deep respect."

A small group of family and friends will gather on Amelia Street, Fortitude Valley on Sunday at 1pm and honour the victims of the Whiskey Au Go Go fire bombing.

Stay in touch with Queensland's best news via Facebook.