More on the Royal Oak Hotel

On Sunday, April 15^th, after I was done shooting at St. Mary’s Brendan shows up at 7:00 pm to help me break down the shoot rig and take it to his garage for storage. While we were doing this I tell him the story of what happened at the Royal Oak. He tells me that it is owned by a biker club, the Outlaws. This biker club was once called the Bandidos until one of their leaders visited Texas. He talked to the Outlaws and he was given permission to use the name here in Australia. So we, Brendan and I, continue to talk about this and Brendan tells me how dangerous this biker club can be...I shouldn’t have been in there.

A couple of days later, Tuesday, Brendan comes here to the flat to deliver the coming week’s pictures. Of course there’s the usual talk and how things may change here in the future, blah, blah, blah. Then Brendan and I go out to the balcony to smoke a cigarette. Here he tells me what happened the previous night, Monday. His wife, Barb, has a friend and she’s a detective with the NSW Police Department. She’s telling them about the shooting incident at the Royal Oak when Brendan tells her he has a friend, me, that was there while the whole incident was happening. Brendan tells me here eyes lit up and she started asking about me and what I actually saw. She knows me because she and I met at a small party Barb and Brendan put on the first week I was here. Brendan explained to her that he didn’t believe I wanted to talk to the police about what I saw that night. He’s right. They need to talk to the bartenders that were there. However, I’m sure they don’t know any of the guys who were involved…..

By the way, the Royal Oak reopened for business just two days after the shooting. I haven’t returned. I now hurry by in the evenings on my walks back to the flat.

Later