
The fireplace was one of the less remarkable features of Luna Park's famous ghost train. A crude imitation hearth, with red and yellow streamers that were whipped about by a small fan.
But on the evening of June 9, 1979, that fireplace looked and felt different. More realistic. One curious rider even reached out toward it as her carriage lurched past. She felt a heat so intense that she snatched her hand straight back.
Within minutes, flames were licking up the ghost train's walls, tearing the ride down from within. Carriages emerged empty, burning.
Several passengers escaped, screaming, kicking down walls. Staff rushed in to guide others out of the dark labyrinth, braving the flames and thick smoke.
Watch: Caro Meldrum-Hanna investigates why justice has not been done for victims' families.
Seven people died that day. A man named John Godson and his two children, Damien and Craig, plus friends Jonathan Billings, Richard Carroll, Michael Johnson and Seamus Rahilly who attended Waverly College, a high school in Sydney's eastern suburbs.
Despite multiple inquiries, no one has ever been held accountable for what happened that winter night in 1979.
But an 18-month investigation led by Walkley-winning journalist Caro Meldrum-Hanna has uncovered compelling new information about the blaze and prompted calls for a new probe.
Exposed, which aired over three episodes on the ABC in March, was built on roughly 80 on-camera interviews and 250 phone and research interviews with survivors, witness, experts, judicial figures and police.
Speaking to Mamamia's True Crime Conversations podcast, Meldrum-Hanna stepped through some of the key findings.
The hasty police conclusion.
Half a day after the ghost train fire, while the ruins were still smouldering, NSW Police Detective Inspector Doug Knight fronted the media and declared the blaze to be the result of an electrical fault.