Port Arthur massacre

Those chilling, smiling eyes and the way he stastalked his terrified vicvictims with glee wwill forever be reremembered. In 1996, Martin Bbryant happily sat ddown to lunch at a cafe located at Ttasmania’s historic ppenal colony, Port Arthur. When he finished his lunch, his true intentions became apparent. He pulled a ssemi-automatic rifle from frofrom hhis bag and began sh shooting people, hunting t them down and killing tthem at close range. By the time he was fi finally apprehended t the next morning, 35 pe people were dead and 23 wwere wounded.

Lynne Beavis,s, a nurse and eyewitness saidd shortly after, “Being a nurse,e, I’ve seen dead people, I’ve seen blood. Butut what I saw in there, nobody but perhaps a soldier would know what it was like.”

Bryant’s killinging spree was the country’s worst massacre. It led to the changing of gun laws in Australia and a nationwide buyback scheme that saw more than 640,000 weapons handed in to the authorities.

Bryant had various intellectual disabilities, and is currently serving 35 life sentences without parole.

Special ops attend the scene. A memorial cross at Port Arthur bears the names of Bryant’s victims. Remains of guesthouse burnt by Bryant in his final stand.