Childers is a rural town with a population of 1,500 -- the last place one would expect backpackers to congregate. But sometime after midnight on June 23, 2000, a fire broke out at the Palace Hotel, a hostel occupied mostly by international travellers completing their 88-day regional work requirement for a second-year working holiday visa.
Of the 85 backpackers staying in the hostel, fifteen did not make it out. The victims were:
twins Kelly and Stacey Slarke, from Australia; Moulay Lalaoui-Kamal, dual citizen of Australia and Morocco; Mike Ernest Lewis, Adam John Rowland, Gary John Sutton, Melissa Jane Smith, and Claire Louise Webb, from England; Natalie Morris and Sarah Ann Williams, from Wales; Julie O'Keefe, from Ireland; Joly Van der Valden and Sebastian Westerveld, from the Netherlands; Hui-Kyoung Lee, from Korea; Atushi Toyona, from Japan.
Robert Paul Long, an Australian itinerant worker who had recently been evicted from the hostel for anti-social behavior and non-payment of rent, was found guilty of arson and two counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
The Palace Hotel was rebuilt and reopened as an art gallery and memorial in 2002. Acclaimed Australian artist Josonia Palaitis painted a group portrait of the victims, entitled "Taking a break in the field" which depicts the fifteen backpackers at rest together on a fruit farm.