LONG RIDE FOR BIKIE GANGS
Motorcycle ‘clubs’ causing strife on Coast for more than 50 years
THE slaying of bikie Shane Bowden in his driveway this week left the city shocked, as gang violence returned to the Gold Coast’s streets.
It was a brutal end for a man who had spent decades at the heart of outlaw motorcycle club dramas.
In the past decade alone he had had two separate stints in prison, quit The Finks and “patched over” to the Mongols before attempting to switch back in the last weeks of his life after an internal beef saw him shot in the leg in July.
Many do not realise the Gold Coast’s connection with bikie clubs goes back more than half a century.
The Finks were formed in 1969 and by 1974 had grown to the point where police were concerned by their influence.
That year, the club held a major gathering at an Upper Coomera farm understood to be owned by a club member.
But as the day wore on, the members swapped the remote farm for beer gardens in Surfers Paradise.
The outing was a three-day bender and a “monumental headache” for police. Later, barricades were set up on all exits from the farm to “contain” the revellers and three men appeared in Southport Magistrates Court on drug and firearms charges.
A year later, in mid-1975, police received reports a crowd of at least 300 bikies from mixed clubs were heading back to the Coast.
The “wing-ding” was advertised nationally and clubs from across the nation agreed to send troops.
Southport’s then-top cop Inspector Arthur Pitts began planning an all-out response, fearing a confrontation in the Hinterland during a major celebration weekend.
Inspector Pitts told the Bulletin at the time that his main concern was the bikies would antagonise the hundreds of motorists heading for Mt Tamborine to mark the area’s centenary.
“There will be a lot of decent people in the area,” he said. “I’m not for a moment saying the bikies aren’t decent but one rotten egg could cause a lot of strife.”
Inspector Pitts’ planning paid off and officers were ready on the day bikies were planning to arrive.
The celebrations were cut short as the Finks were keen to avoid the glare of publicity and instead went to the Sunshine Coast.
Fast-forward to the late 1990s and early 2000s the Gold Coast again became a major battleground for rival bikie gangs.
The rivalries between clubs such as the Finks and Hells Angels intensified until the emotional tinderbox exploded in 2006.
On March 18, the Hells Angels and Finks went head to head during a kickboxing fight night at Royal Pines Resort, later known as the “Ballroom Blitz”.
The fight was supposed to be in the ring but the battle raged across the room in front of 1800 people.
The violence began after Christopher Wayne Hudson was spotted at the event.
Members and associates of the Hells Angels were sitting ringside when the large group of rival Finks, including Bowden and Nick “The Knife” Forbes, arrived.
Forbes threw a punch at Hudson. Footage showed Forbes and Hudson coming to blows, before Bowden pulled a handgun and shot Hudson twice, in the face and back.
Forbes then held Hudson against the ring while Bowden and another man rained more blows on him.
It was believed the shooting was retribution for Hudson, a former Finks member, defecting to the Hells Angels.
Bowden, who was on parole at the time for drug trafficking and property offences, was convicted and went back to prison for seven years.
A bikie war never eventuated but there were a series of violent incidents, including the 2012 Robina Town Centre shooting, which occurred the same day as that year’s council election.
Finally, the 2013 Broadbeach Brawl sparked a major crackdown from the Newman government and the controversial VLAD laws.
This crackdown saw bikies go underground and largely stay out of the limelight, even after the VLAD laws were replaced in mid-2016.