Hilton Bombing

Sydney Hilton bombing
The scene shortly after the bombing
Location	33°52′19″S 151°12′26″E / 33.87194°S 151.20722°E / -33.87194; 151.20722Coordinates: 33°52′19″S 151°12′26″E / 33.87194°S 151.20722°E / -33.87194; 151.20722 Hilton Hotel, Sydney, Australia
Date	13 February 1978 12:40am
Attack type	Bomb
Deaths	2 garbage collectors, 1 policeman
Non-fatal injuries	11
Perpetrators	Unknown

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Terrorism in Australia

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The Sydney Hilton bombing occurred on 13 February 1978, when a bomb exploded outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. At the time the hotel was the site of the first Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting (CHOGRM), a regional offshoot of the biennial meetings of the heads of government from across the Commonwealth of Nations.

The bomb was planted in a rubbish bin and exploded when the bin was emptied into a garbage truck outside the hotel at 1:40 a.m. It killed two garbage collectors, Alec Carter and William Favell. A police officer guarding the entrance to the hotel lounge, Paul Birmistriw, died later. It also injured eleven others. Twelve foreign leaders were staying in the hotel at the time, but none were injured. Australian prime minister Malcolm Fraser immediately called out the Australian Army for the remainder of the CHOGRM meeting.

The Hilton case has been highly controversial due to allegations that Australian security forces, such as the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), may have been responsible. This led to the New South Wales parliament unanimously calling for the Commonwealth to hold an inquiry in 1991 and 1995. The federal government refused to hold an inquiry.

In June 1978, members of the Ananda Marga organisation were implicated by a police informant, Richard John Seary, but his evidence has been discredited. A member of Ananda Marga, Evan Pederick, claimed in 1989 that he had carried out the Hilton bombing on the orders of another member, Tim Anderson. Both men were given prison sentences, but Anderson was acquitted on appeal in 1991 . Pederick appealed but his appeal failed and he served eight years in prison. In directing Anderson's acquittal NSW Chief Justice Murray Gleeson said: "The trial of the appellant miscarried principally because of an error which resulted in large part from the failure of the prosecuting authorities adequately to check aspects of the Jayewardene theory. This was compounded by what I regard as an inappropriate and unfair attempt by the Crown to persuade the jury to draw inferences of fact, and accept argumentative suggestions, that were not properly open on the evidence. I do not consider that in those circumstances the Crown should be given a further opportunity to patch up its case against the appellant. It has already made one attempt too many to do that, and I believe that, if that attempt had never been made, there is a strong likelihood that the appellant would have been acquitted.".