MARTIN BRYANT: THE PORT ARTHUR MASSACRE

Tasmania; Although only 364 kilometers from north point to south point and only 306 kilometers from east point to west point, it is the 26th largest island in the world. It has come to be known as the 'Island of inspiration', "a world separated, not a world away". But in 1996 on the 7th November the island and country of Australia was introduced to arguably the worst mass murder in Australian history.

Martin Bryant (born 7th May 1967) was only 28 when he originally pleaded not guilty, but was persuaded by both his own court- appointed lawyer and the prosecution to plead guilty, and was convicted for the murder of 35 people and injuring 21 others. He was given 35 life sentences for the murders and 1,035 years for other crimes. The sentencing judge, Hobart Supreme Court Judge William Cox also ordered that Bryant should "remain in prison for the rest of his life".

Bryant spent most of his childhood growing up in Carnarvon Bay. He lived with his mother and his English father; who was an immigrant from Dunston Tyne in North England. The rest of his upbringing was in their family home in Lenal Valley, Tasmania. His relationship with his family was seen as 'ordinary' and it seemed to be Bryant that was different. From a young age his mother said that she would "find toys belonging to Martin broken". In an interview with her in 2011 she states that he was an "annoying and different child". A psychologists' view on Bryant was that "he would never be able to hold down a job as he would aggravate people to such an extent that he'd always be in trouble".

In school Bryant was disruptive and often violent towards others. He was severely bullied and never really focused on the tasks at hand. He was described by teachers as 'distant from reality and unemotional'. In 1977 he was suspended from 'New Town Primary School' and was assessed by psychologists as a result of his behavior. In one assessment it was noted that he tortured animals for fun. Almost a year later he returned to school and seemed to have made dramatic improvements although he continued to bully and tease younger children.

Two years later in 1980 Bryant was transferred to a special educational unit at 'New Town High School' due to his lack of attention, but nothing good came of it. He deteriorated academically and in behavior. Throughout his adolescence he continued to be disturbed and as soon as he was old enough he left school. He applied for the disability pension and was assessed for it by a psychiatrist. Bryant had an I.Q. of 66, putting him in the bottom 1.17 percent of the Australian population. The score consisted of an I.Q. of 64 for verbal with a non- verbal reasoning and cognitive functioning of 68. This made him possibly autistic. 90 percent of 11 year olds would be ably to score higher that this. In the assessment the psychiatrist wrote, "Cannot read or write. Does a bit of gardening and watches TV... Only his parents' efforts prevent further deterioration. Could be schizophrenic and parents face bleak future with him". Bryant was given the disability pension but also managed to obtain a gardening job as a handyman.

1987; Bryant was only 19 years old but already had his own lawn-mowing business. He was looking for new customers when he met a 54 year old eccentric recluse named Helen Mary Elizabeth Harvey. Harvey was the heiress to share in the Tattershell' lottery fortune. At the time she lived with her mother (Hilva). Harvey befriended Bryant who started to visit the mansion often. In 1990 someone reported Harvey to the health authorities and medics found both her and her mother in urgent need of hospital treatment. While in hospital Harvey’s' mother died and Bryant cleared up the entire interior of the mansion with his fathers' assistance. Now that Harvey’s' mother was out of the way she invited Bryant to live in the mansion with her. Bryant agreed and they soon spent large amounts of money together; they ate out every lunch and purchased over 30 cars in less than 3 years.

Bryant at this time was reassessed for his pension and a note was attached to his paperwork that reads, "Father protects him from any occasion which might upset him as he continually threatens violence.... Martin tells me he would like to go out shooting people. It would be unsafe to allow Martin out of his parents' control." Despite this advice in 1991, Harvey and Bryant moved into a farm that Harvey purchased in Copping, Tasmania. The farm was called Taurusville and consisted of 72 acres. Bryan became fascinated guns and took to always carrying an air gun on him; he often fired it at tourists as they stopped on the highway to buy apples from a stall there. He would also provoke dogs on other peoples' properties late at night and shoot at them when they barked at him. The dogs would avoid him 'at all costs', despite his attempts to befriend them.

Bryant seemed to have a stable home here until October 20th 1992 when Harvey was killed in a car accident. Harvey’s' car veered onto the wrong side of the road and hit an oncoming car directly. At the time of the accident, Bryant was beside her in the vehicle. He was hospitalized for seven months with severe neck and back injuries. Harvey had stated many times that she never exceeded 60 kilometers an hour due to Bryant’s' tendencies to lunge for the steering wheel. Harvey had already had three previous accidents due to this happening before and as a result Bryant was briefly investigated by police for the role he played in the accident, no arrest was made.

Harvey’s' assets that totaled over $550,000 were granted to Bryant under a guardianship order as he was the sole beneficiary and therefore were placed under the management of public trustees. Bryant’s father moved into the farm to help with things after Harvey’s' death, while Bryant was still in hospital. When Bryant returned to the farm he had a prescription of anti depressants. Also the money from their joint bank account had been secretly transferred into his wife’s' name.

On August 14th someone came to visit Bryant’s' father. When they got to the farm they found no one but a note pinned to the door reading "call the police" and several thousand dollars in his car. Police searched the place but were unsuccessful in finding Bryant’s' father (Maurice). Finding no trace they sent a dive team to look in the four dams on the property. After a long search his body was found on the 16th August in the dam closest to the farm house with one of his own diving weights around his neck. The death was ruled as suicide by drowning although police described the death as "unnatural". Bryant then inherited his father's superannuation fund which valued at $250,000. Bryant moved back into the Hobart mansion and sold the farm for $143,000. He began to change his appearance from the white overalls he ritually wore, to grey linen suits, cravat, lizard skin shoes and Panama hat while carrying a briefcase with him during the day.

With the only two people that spoke to him both deceased he craved attention and acceptance; he wanted people to think that he was high up in the world with a well- paying career. He boasted this to anyone that would listen to him. Bryant was regularly seen in the same restaurant on his own. The restaurant staff felt sorry for him. He would usually dress in an electric blue suit with flared trousers and ruffled shirts as if he were in a 60's film. When the restaurant owner was questioned about Bryant he recalled; "It was horrible. Everyone was laughing at him, even the customers. I really felt suddenly quite sorry for him. I realized this guy didn’t have any friends."

Between the years 1993 to 1995 Bryant became lonely. He used his money to visit various overseas countries. He traveled at least 14 times but hated all the destinations that he visited. For Bryant it was never about the places that he visited as people avoided him where ever he was. It was the traveling that he enjoyed, more specifically the flying. Bryant needed human interaction and conversation, the aeroplane was the one place he found that he could speak to the person that sat next to him. Unlike restaurants or public transport they had no choice but to be polite and listen to him. Having a successful conversation quickly became a highlight to him.
In late 1995 he became suicidal and took up drinking. "I just felt more people were against me. When I tried to be friendly towards them, they just walked away". This was stating to become an everyday occurrence. He drank half a bottle of Sambuca, a bottle of Baileys Irish cream with port wine and other sweet alcoholic drinks on a daily basis. When questioned, Bryant stated that the plan of the massacre first occurred to him four to twelve weeks before the event actually happened. He told one neighbor: "I'll do something that will make everyone remember me".

Bryant's first two victims were David and Sally Martin. The Martins' owned a bed and breakfast guest house called 'Seascape'. Bryant’s' father wanted to buy the B+B before the Martins but lacked the funding a short while before the sale. Bryant offered to buy another property at Palmers lookout road as a trade so that they could have the B+B, but the Martins said no and bought the B+B anyway. Bryant believed that the Martins had deliberately bought the property that his father wanted to hurt him. The Martins bought the other property offered to them on Palmers lookout road anyway. Bryant blamed the Martins for the depression that lead to his father’s death and the loss of the only person that didn't avoid him.

Bryant got to 'Seascape' down the Arthur Highway at around 11:45am. He stopped at the Seascape guesthouse and went inside. He fired several shots; he then gagged David Matin and stabbed him. Witnesses testified to different numbers of shots fired at this time. It was claimed in court that this was the time that Bryant killer both Martins. After they were both dead Bryant heard a car and went outside to speak to a couple that had stopped at the guesthouse. They asked if they could have a look at the accommodation. Bryant told them that they could not as his parents were away and his girlfriend was inside. His demeanor was described by the couple as "quite rude" and they felt "uncomfortable". They left at about 12:35pm. Bryant locked all the doors of the guesthouse and drove towards Port Arthur with the keys. He stopped by a car that had overheated and suggested to the occupants that they should go to Port Arthur for some coffee later. Bryant then went along to Palmers lookout but stopped again on the way, noticing a familiar face that he hadn’t seen since he was very little. He asked if he could go down their driveway to their farm to say hello to his wife whom he knew. The man, remembering Bryant said that it was alright but he would accompany him. Bryant changed his mind, stating that he would return later he headed back to Port Arthur.

Port Arthur was the first convict- built settlement in Tasmania. Built in 1830 , Port Arthur was built entirely by convicts for convicts as it was originally built as a prison. In 1877 the building was abandoned as a prison. But in 1979 funding was received to preserve the site as a tourist destination. The site has been used as a tourist resort ever since and has always been one of Tasmania's most promoted and well known buildings in Tasmania.

Bryant entered the Broad Arrow cafe' on the historical site's grounds, he carried with him a large blue duffel bag. He sat down to eat a meal on the balcony area. One person helped him with the door and remarked on the amount of food he had. Bryant remarked about the wasps; "there’s a lot of wasps today" to no one in particular. Once he finished his meal he cleaned up his table, put his tray away and moved towards the back of the cafe'. Bryant set a video camera on a vacant table; facing the guests. He then took out an AR-15 semi- automatic rifle and, firing from the hip, began shooting both patrons and staff. Within 15 seconds he had fired 17 shots, killing 12 people and wounding 10 others. Bryant then casually walked to the other side of the cafe' and giving no one time to leave fired 12 more shots, killing another 8 people and wounding another 5. Bryant took this time to change magazines before fleeing, shooting at people in the car park from his yellow Volvo Sedan as he drove away. He drove about 300 meters down the road where he saw a woman with two children walking. He stopped and fired two shots, killing the woman and the child she was carrying. The older child managed to run away but Bryant followed her and killed her with one shot. He then stole a Gold BMW and killed the occupants. In his recently obtained BMW he stopped a short distance down the road beside a couple in a White Toyota. Drawing his weapon, he ordered the male into the boot of the BMW. As soon as he shut the boot he fired two shots into the windscreen of the Toyota, killing the female driver. Bryant then returned to the guesthouse in the BMW, he set the stolen car alight and took his hostage inside with the Martins' corpses.

Soon after Bryant arrived, so did the police who tried for many hours to negotiate with Bryant. They spoke with Bryant until the battery in the phone that they had died, ending all communication that they had. Bryant had only one demand; he wanted to be transported in an army helicopter to an airport. At some point during the negotiations Bryant killed his hostage. A full 18 hours later he set fire to the guesthouse in an attempt to escape in all the confusion but suffered burns to his back and buttocks. He was captured and taken to Royal Hobart Hospital where he was treated for his burns and kept under heavy guard until he had recovered.

Despite his I.Q. and the psychiatric evaluations he was given a standard trial on 7th November 1996. While in prison he has attempted suicide six times. For the first eight months he was held in a purpose- built special suicide prevention cell which had four glass walls, he was in almost complete solitary confinement. He remained in protective custody for his own safety, until he was moved to a newly built detention center ten years after his conviction. On the 13th November 2006 Bryant was moved into Hobart's Wilfred Lopes centre; a secure mental health unit run by the Tasmanian Departure of health and human services. The 35- bed unit is for inmates with serious mental illness. It is staffed with doctors, nurses and other support workers. Inmates are never locked in their cells in the day and can 'come and go' from their cells. The exterior security at the facility is provided by a three- wall perimeter patrolled by private contract guards.

On 25th March 2007 Bryant tried to commit suicide by slashing his wrist with a razor blade. On 27th, just two days later he attempted suicide again by slashing his throat with another razor blade and was hospitalized briefly before being transferred to the psychiatric wing at Risdon Prison without parole.

Bryant's shooting spree rampage ranks among the deadliest of the 20th century and as a result the Australian state and territory governments placed tight restrictions on semi- automatic centre fire rifles, high- capacity repeating shotguns and high- capacity rifle magazines. Many Australians had to hand guns that they had owned for years back in as a 'buy back' scheme due to the 1996 legislation.

An image of Bryant that had the eyes digitally manipulated to purposely make him look deranged was constantly used despite criticism to portray the character he was.