Mass shootings have become somewhat of an epidemic in places such as North America, but just because they are more prominent in certain places does not mean other nations around the world have not experienced the same pain from these tragic events. In nineteen ninety six, Australia would experience the worst mass shooting in their history, with one monster gunning
down anyone in their path. To date, the event has left a scar on their country's history, and that day has forever been known as the Port Arthur Massacre.
My name is Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked Ingram, a true crime podcast.
The following material for a mature audience listener discretion lies. This is one hell of a case. I'm warning you right now. There's a lot to this one.
Yeah. Well, you spent you know, I feel like quite a bit longer on this case than you normally do.
So I did for it, spend a lot of time really doing my due diligence in the research and getting the timeline as best as I could. Yeah, it's a jaw dropping event. It's massive. It's not one casualty, unfortunately, there's many. But what there's also many of is Patreon subscribers that we have that support this show.
Wow, what good job.
So we always thank our patrons who sign up and support the show, and this week we had b sign up and support us over on the Patreon platform. So thank you very much. Sam appreciate that.
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All the good stuff and all that.
Good good, but enough chatter. This is a big episode. I could have easily have done two parts to this. We're doing a single part to this episode, so it might be a bit of a longer one, depending on how much WeChat. We chitchat are some of the things we want to discuss about it. But I think I'm just ready to dive in.
If you are too, Yeah, let's door.
You have no what's the word objections to it?
No?
No? Okay, Well let's start the story. So the story of Port Arthur is one filled with you know, it's a very long history. It is a town and former convict settlement that exists on Tasmania Pensula Peninsula. There we go in Tasmania Australia, where it is located approximately ninety
seven kilometers southeast of the state capital, Hobert. Now. It was originally named after a man by the name of George Arthur, who is the Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land when the settlement started in eighteen thirty, but it is best known for being a penal colony. However, aside from the historical aspect of Port Arthur, it has become famous and very well known across Australia and the world
alike for a very dark reason. Port Arthur is home to the largest mass shooting Australia has ever seen, known as the Port Arthur Massacre. At around one ten pm on April twenty eighth and nineteen ninety six, twenty nine year old Martin Bryant arrived at the Port Arthur tourist site after paying the entry fee. He initially parked his vehicle near the Broad Arrow Cafe close to the waterfront.
The site's security manager noticed Brian had or sorry noticed Martin Bryant had parked in a spot designated for camper events. He instructed him to relocate his car to a different spot, different parking area, and Martin complied, yeah, okay, no problem, right, and he went to move his car, but he soon after a moment of just sitting in his car, turned his car around and parked near the cafe once again.
Now the security manager noticed this, but didn't really say much, Right, okay, whatever, it's a fairly busy day that they're dealing with today, busier than normal, so he just kind of whatever, just moved on doing what they're doing, right, fair enough, So Martin sat in his car for several minutes before getting out and doing something in the back seat and then in the trunk of his car before heading towards the cafe.
And when he was heading to the cafe, the security guard actually noticed he was carrying a sports bag type Duffel bag and he's headed to go have a seat, so as he ignored this, and as the man walked up. He goes inside and Martin ordered a meal and took it to the outside at a table that was on the the sun deck the cafe sun deck. He sat down with his bag and placed it on the ground next to him and placed his meal on the table
in front of him. During his meal, he briefly engaged other visitors in some small talk conversation, mentioning the scarcity of wasps this year out there not a whole lot being around and the fewer number of Japanese tourists compared to usual as well that they see on the site. It was mostly just small talk, you know, just little things whatever he could, right, and just having casual conversations as he's you know, just enjoying the meal in the cafe. It's not not any different than what a lot of
cafe individuals do. You know, if you're going there, you're not reading a book or on your phone or laptop, you know, you often make mention of something to someone around you. Hey, you know, I like your jacket or whatever.
Right, Well, honestly, I feel like that seems super friendly.
Well it is, and I mean this is in the nineties as well, like today with a bit more technology, there is a bit less of.
That, yes, because I'm often at cafes like working, so I wouldn't look like I'm very approachable necessarily anymore.
And I don't think someone's about to approach someone who's busy in that manner, right, Yeah. But like, for example, if someone's sitting here reading a book and it's like, oh, I also read books by that author. You know, they might strike up a conversation. Yeah, more so again in that era than today. But so that's kind of what was going on, just striking up casual conversation with those
around him as he's there enjoying his meal. Now, throughout this time, his behavior was noted to be a bit strange. Outside of just being a bit friendly. He appeared a little bit anxious and was frequently glancing back at his car and went back at where it was parked, and then also back inside the cafe. So this cafe, I'm not sure if I mentioned it's named the Broad Arrow Cafe. I don't know if I said that or not, but it is.
So.
It isn't exactly a large place, this cafe. It's a typical small, you know cafe, you grab cup of coffee, bite to eat whatever. Right, and today being a very particularly busy day, as I already mentioned, it was filled with patrons, which made Martin's next move all the more horrifying. As he was finishing up his food, Martin reached into the sports style duffelbag and he brought out what he had grabbed from the car. It was an AR fifteen semi automatic assault rifle.
Oh Man yes.
With the rifle now in his hands, Martin stood up, turned to the table beside him, presumably some of the individuals he was just making a small talk with brutal and began firing at them. Holy shit, without a moment to react. Mo Yi Nig and Sue Leng Chung, who were visitors from Malaysia, found themselves at Martin's first or as Martin's first victims of the day, as they were shot and killed right there in the cafe. As they laid there, their blood spilling out under the ground, Martin
then began his horrific rampage onto others. He continued firing his rifle at any one he saw inside the cafe. He fired a shot at Mixed Sergeant and the bullet just grazed his scalp and knocked him to the floor. Martin then shot Mick Sergeant's girlfriend right in front of him, twenty one year old Kate Elizabeth Scott, hitting her in the back of the head, killing her instantly.
Geez.
The rampage continued, and he did not discriminate between any of the people he saw. Anthony Nightgale forty four, stood up and shouted no, not here, and he was fatally shot by Martin, who hit him in the neck and spine. Martin also shot sixty eight year old Kevin Vincent Sharp, who was killed instantly. Another shot struck sixty six year old Walter Bennett, passing through him and hitting a man behind him by the name of Raymond John Sharp sixty seven,
killing both men. Bullets continued to fly, striking, killing and injuring more victims. Some turned to run, and others hit under the tables or attempted to shield others from certain death. The list of victims Martin affected is far too long to cover in this podcast, so for the sake of brevity, we will cover all of those names whose lives were lost at the end of this episode. What gets me the most, though, is how it seems Martin did not
care who he was killing. Already said he didn't discriminate. No, and this also includes children.
Oh shit, okay, Like, what the fuck is happening here?
Martin fired at a family inside the cafe where Graham Colier, Carolyn Lawton, and her daughter Sarah were seated. Colier was shot in the jaw. Carolyn tried to protect her daughter, but Martin shot Carolyn in the back, rupturing her ear drum. Tragically, Sarah was fatally shot in the head despite her mother's efforts. Sarah was fifteen years old. Oh my gosh, Wow, the events inside the cafe unfolded within a matter of approximately
fifteen seconds. Seriously, everything I just sa described was only fifteen seconds it took for that to occur, Holy shit, during which Martin had fired a total of seventeen shots, killing twelve people and wounding ten others. Fifteen seconds, killed twelve people in fifteen seconds.
Wha. That is honestly just mind blowing. Like, did even try to comprehend that, just as it just seems so impossible.
Those fifteen seconds. I bet you felt like fifteen fucking minutes. I cannot imagine being in there. That would have been scary as shit.
Well, yeah, just like this perse like, uh, it's such you would just never think that that would happen, Right, if you're out there enjoying like a nice day or whatever and a coffee and then oh, like that is this fucking nightmare.
Yeah, it's the last thing you would expect, especially from someone like I said, who's just at the table next to you, just enjoying a meal, having small talk with you, being like, oh, yeah, there's a lot of less Japanese tourists this year. I wonder if you know, they maybe were sending boat a little bit later or something in the season. Who knows, right, yeah, and then all of a sudden he pulls out an AR fifteen and just unloads on you, like what the fuck?
You wouldn't even have a minute to comprehend it or thing?
No, I don't done. I have a feeling there are some individuals who that did pass away who did not.
Know, yeah anything, what even was happening?
Yeah, they were there one moment and then they weren't. They weren't. So from the cafe, Martin then moved on to the gift shop. Many who were there used the time from the initial bullet firing.
He's not done.
Oh no, he's just getting started.
Oh shoot, I thought we were okay.
No, that was the first fifteen seconds.
Holy I thought that was like fifteen seconds and done kind of thing. Move on here.
Nope. He moved on to the gift shop, and those who were in the gift shop used the time those fifteen seconds to try and hide under the tables behind shop displays whatever they could, but it was no use. He immediately fatally shot two local women who worked in the gift shop, seventeen year old Nicholas are Sorry Nicole Burgess in the head and twenty six year old Elizabeth
Howard in the arm and chest. Some tried to make a run for it, but Martin didn't care and fired his rifle right into the back as they tried to run. For a brief moment, Martin turned his attention back to the cafe, where he shot a man by the name of Peter who was trying to hide under a table. In this moment, a man by the name of Jason Winter thought Martin had left the room because he had turned his attention back to the cafe. Thinking this was an opportunity to escape and move out into the open,
he tried to make a run. Martin, however, was standing right there and saw Jason stand up immediately. Jason's last words were allegedly no, no, as Martin opened fired on him, with bullets hitting his hand which was out in a defensive position, ye his neck, chest, and finally a fatal one in the head. The sequence of events that followed is not entirely clear. As many of those who were present did not survive to tell their experience, but at
some point Martin reloaded his weapon. He returned to the cafe before heading back to the gift shop. There he fatally shot Ronald Jerry, Peter Nash, and Pauline Masters. He however, did not see Carolyn Nash lying hidden beneath her deceased husband Peter, and went unnoticed by Martin.
Oh my goodness, holy shit.
Yeah. So in the midst of that reloading, he left an empty magazine on the counter and then finally exited the building. In the cafe and gift shop combined, he fired twenty nine shots, killed twenty people and wounded twelve more. Martin then headed towards the parking lot in front of the cafe building, and seeing the armed men approaching, people
started running and trying to hide. Now, initially, the security guard who saw this happen, heard the shots start and went running up there, thinking there was like an electrical problem, Like, who would have thought that it was bullets.
Yeah, your mind would just kind of think that it's something else.
So he thought there was like electrical pops happening, it's shortening out, And then he saw the firing happening, and then he bolted away trying to get other people to safety, get out of here, run. But initially people thought this was like some sort of like reenactment or like some sort of like show that was being put on, So
it took him a bit to get people to get moving. No, yes, okay, And I read an article where that security supervisor or manager was questioning if he should have gone into the cafe to try and like take out Martin because hindsight what he ended up doing. He's like, if only I could have taken him out, maybe it would have played out different. But I mean, I don't I don't think he could have done anything. You have a man with an era of fifteen, he would have seen.
He would have just honestly gotten shot instantly.
Yeah, I agree, So I don't think he needs to second guess anything he did. I'm pretty sure he probably did save some lives by rallying people to move them on. Yeah, so props to him for doing that.
Yeah, but that's such a terrible feeling though, Hey, like where you think that you you should have done something else or could have done.
Regret for sure, But I don't think he should have no regrets, because I guarantee you he did save lives that day.
Yeah.
So Martin exited the building and headed towards the parking lot in front of the cafe, and people were running and trying to hide seeing him approach. Among them was Royce Thompson, a bus driver. Martin shot Thompson in the back as he moved along the passenger side of the bus. Although Thompson managed to crawl under the bus to hide, he ultimately succumbed to his injuries, and chaos erupted as
people desperately sought cover among the park tourist buses. Aware of their strategy, Martin circled around the buses until he found a group of people seeking refuge. Just as before, he began firing at the group, further adding to the growing list of casualties. Everything continued, but eventually Martin made his way back to his car to exchange his rifle for another, this time an L one A one self loading rifle. He turned back and picked up where he
left off. He shot a woman by the name of Janet Quinn in the back and then chased after her husband, Neville Quinn. Martin shot at him at least twice before Quinn ran onto a bus in a desperate attempt to find cover from the bullets. Martin, however, followed him. Once on the bus, he pointed the gun in nevill Quinn's face, saying, quote, no one gets away from me.
Okay, I'm like shocked that he actually went like he would. It seemed like he kind of just like zoned in on people and then they were his next target and they finished, and he finished them and then went on to the next.
Just whoever he saw. He's like, yeah, I'm going to kill you. Yeah, I'm going to kill you.
But I feel like, yeah, like that when I'm surprised he went on the bus after him and didn't just like move on to someone that was easier or whatever.
Right, I'm not too sure why, but he definitely honed in on Neville and like I said, his quote, no one gets away from me disgusting. Now, After Martin was finished in the parking lot near the buses, he headed back to his car and drove towards the exit of the historical site. Ahead of him in the middle of the road was a woman by the name of Nanette mccac. She was with her two children, Madeline, who was three
and Elena, who was six. Nnette was trying to make a run from the horrors of what was assuing in an attempt to save her two children lives. She was carrying Madeline and Elena was running slightly ahead. By this point, they had run approximately six hundred meters from the parking lot, only to have Martin pull up right behind them. He
slowed down and opened his door. Nenette didn't panic or find herself screaming in fear, though, and stead she moved towards the car because she thought the driver was another person who was trying to escape and was stopping to offer her and her children help. Instead of help, though, she found herself face to face with a monster. As Martin stepped out of the car, A gun was pointed directly at Nnette, and Martin told her to get to
her knees. She had no other choice but to do as he said, hoping and praying that she would find mercy once in the ground. She didn't find mercy, though. Martin held the gun up to her temple and pulled the trigger, killing Thennette instantly, with her two little girls watching. He then turned his attention to them and faintly shot both the girls, three year old Madeline and six year old Lena.
Good God, what a frickin monster. I didn't expect that to play out like that For some reason.
You thought it was done after the cafe, and here we are. He's still going like.
Where like we're at. I'm a lot of victims, Holly.
Martin got back in his car and continued to drive up the up to the toll booth, and at the exit he exited the historical site, where there were several vehicles at the exit. Though here Martin shot and killed a few more people, including Nixon and Helen Salzman. He pulled their lifeless bodies from the BMW vehicle that they were driving and transferred his belongings into the car, including ammunition, handcuffs, the AR fifteen rifle he started with, and the fuel container.
Martin then drove to a service station at the front of Port Arthur Jen Store, where he blocked the exit of a white Toyota Corolla attempting to merge onto the highway. Glenn Peers was the man driving that car, with his girlfriend Zoe Hall in the pasture seat. Martin swiftly exited his vehicle, armed with the rifle and attempted to pull
Hall from the Corolla. Glenn got out and approached Martin, who then pointed the gun directly at him, forcing him backwards before locking him into the trunk of the B and W. He now had a hostage.
Yeah.
Martin returned to the passenger side of the Corolla, where Hall was trying to move in the driver's seat. He raised his rifle and fired three shots, killing her instantly.
And her girl or her boyfriend is in the trunk hearing this correct? Huh, Yeah, and I'm sure he knows exactly what happened.
I'm assuming he probably did. Martin hopped back into the driver's seat of his vehicle and made his way to his destination, a place called Seascape Cottage. This place was a bed and breakfast, and it would soon be location where Martin would be at a standoff with authorities. As Martin parked his car and made his way into the Seascape, he would shoot at several passing by vehicles. Thankfully, at this point no one was killed, but there were injuries.
Inside the bed and Breakfast, he handcuffed his captive hostage, Glen, to the banister of the stairs inside the home. By this time, police who were notified of the horrific shootings, had made their way to the scene of where it all started, and now we're on their way to the Seascape cottage as well. It didn't take long for them to have the place completely surrounded, but of course they did not want to advance on the cottage with an armed man and a hostage inside. In fact, it could
be more than just one hostage. The owners of the and Breakfast were not able to be located, which meant there was a good chance they too were being held by Martin m HM.
So three potential hostages.
That potentially three hostages inside. So what they tried to do was talk and negotiate with Martin, but their efforts never seemed to really get them anywhere. Allegedly, Martin would talk about how he went surfing that day and didn't seem to make any real mention of the actions he had actually taken while completing a mass murder shooting.
Seriously, he's just talking about the rest of his fucking day.
Yeah, things like that. He probably didn't actually even do what the Yeah. So, at some point during the standoff, as the hours ticked by, the phone line went dead, so they're talking to him on the phone, you know, all this sort of stuff. That phone line went dead.
The only phone in the house was a battery operated cordless landline, so with it dead, there was no way of communications because I mean cell phones right right, yep, And any attempt to get close to the house resulted in bullets flying out the window in their direction.
Oh boy.
Now, two of the first policemen who were on the scene were Pat Allen and Gary Whittle, who hid in a ditch with a view of the house. To quote Alan quote, it was very simple. I knew where he was. He was shooting at us, so I had no concerns about where he was. Now, the two officers were trapped in a ditch with him shooting at them, keeping them pinned down. They were there for a total of eight hours because of the constant gunfire that was threatening their position.
Good God, that is so long. Yeah, oh shit, I can't leave this one on for that long.
Well, that was how long those two were in the ditch. It would be a total of eighteen hours that this standoff occurred, really on the morning of April twenty ninth, with this whole standoff would finally come to an end. Martin decided he would set the seescape cottage a blaze. Now, whether he intended to go down with the fire or escape somehow in the commotion, it's kind of unclear, but either way, Martin would be caught allegedly in the process
of setting fire. Martin caught himself on fire as well, and he came out running in a panic, which is when police quickly made their move and finally apprehended Martin Bryant, officially ending his rampage. Now, this is where I was really tempted to leave it as a two parter, and this is where the episode was going to end.
Gosh, I would rage.
Yeah, So instead I made a push to really get through all that information so far, so we can do this in one episode.
Hey, well, my first question is did the guy that was handcuffed to the fucking railing get saved? Please tell me that he did.
Well. After the fire was extinguished, investigators went inside and they found three bodies of the hostages inside. All had been killed prior to the fire being set, all killed via gunshot wounds.
Really, so those like the shots that they were hearing being fired and stuff he had already gotten Oh man, well, he.
Was shooting at the police like constantly. He had a shit ton of ammunition.
But he also killed those three in the process. Correct, Really, I'm shocked. Okay, Well, like you said, I fucking thought we were done at the cafe. Wow, this is unreal.
So that is the events of the massacre, the shooting, all of that, But there is a lot more information that builds up to this, and of course you know the aftermath right so.
Well, because I can only imagine too, if they had known that the hostages were already deceased that this, it would have changed a little bit of things. Most likely.
I'm not certain if it would have, because like they just outwaited him. Potentially, I don't know, it might have, but it's hard to say. So we need to back up and we need to learn who Martin. Martin Bryant is, Okay, So we're going to go into his history and a little bit of his upbringing. He was born on May seventh, nineteen sixty seven, at the Queen Alexandria Hospital in Hobart, Tasmania. He was the first child of Maurice and Carlen Bryant.
The family lived in Lenay Valley, but Martin also spent part of his childhood at their beach home in Carnavon Bay. His mother, Carleen recounted in an interview later after this all occurred that Martin often broke his toys and was perceived as quote annoying and different from a young age. A psychologist assessed that Martin would likely never be able to maintain a job, as his behavior would irritate others to the point of constant trouble. From an early age,
Martin exhibited disturbing behaviors. A neighbor recalled an instant where Martin shot all the parrots in the area. Additionally, dead animals often appeared on their property without any real natural causes. Locals noted that other are sorry other troubling actions, such as Martin pulling a snorkel from another boy while diving and cutting down trees on the neighbor's property. Teachers described him as distant from reality and unemotional.
That's some scary shit right there, that is.
But I mean there are a few in there that I think is just like typical, like just kid kid, Like you're cutting down some trees. Sure, maybe it's like like I went and I cut down trees. But I live out in the bush and Canada, there's a lot of trees, a lot of like just not someone's property. It's just government land, like you know, it's just acres and acres and hectares. Like so maybe it's a little bit different for me. But some of it just like, hey,
it's just harmless kid, played don't know any better. But others, yeah, it's definitely a little bit concerning now. At school, Martin was both a disruptive and occasionally violent, suffering severe bullying from his peers. After being suspended from Newtown Primary School in nineteen seventy seven, psychological assessment revealed he tortured animals. Although his behavior improved slightly upon his return to school
the following year, he continued to tease younger children. In nineteen eighty, Martin was transferred to a special education unit in Newtown High School, where his academic performance and behavior further deteriorated during his remaining school years. Question forty two.
Okay, sorry, did he was he was a bully or did he get bullied or both?
Both?
Okay?
He was bullied by his peers and then whenever he had the opportunity. He bullied those younger weaker than him.
Okay, yep.
So descriptions of Martin's behavior as an adolescent showed that he continued to exhibit disturbing traits and it didn't seem to be something that was going that he was going to exactly outgrow, which suggests the possibility of an intellectual disability. When he left school in nineteen eighty three, a psychiatrist who assessed him for the possibility of a disability pension noted, quote, 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 a bleak future with him.
Oh that's terrible, that is part of it.
Could be schizophrenic. That's telling me, I don't think this. This psychiatrist is doing their proper job.
Well, yeah, they needed to go further, Yeah, to try to help yep.
Could be.
Yeah, it's just so like daunting or almost I don't even know the word, but just like that's the end kind of thing, like this is this is it?
Well that last sends could be schizophrenic, which already said is like now, yeah, it's like you could go deeper and parents face a bleak future with it. Yeah, like no hope, Yeah, okay, he might be mentally ill.
Good luck with that, Yeah, good luck?
What the fuck? Maybe you could look into this and give us tools to deal with it. So not too fond of this psychiatrist just saying that.
But I mean, was there just maybe not anything else available at that time, or I don't know, I mean, I don't know.
I don't know if it's a necessarily a product at the time. We're almost entering two thousands. Oh I believe are eighties. Sorry, we are in the eighties, nineteen eighty three, so yeah, it is eighties. Maybe it is a product at the time.
I'm not certain, but either way that sucks.
It is now. There is an important point in Martin's life which occurred in early nineteen eighty seven, when, at nineteen years old, he met fifty four year old Helen Mary Elizabeth Harvey. Helen was, for a lack of better words, rich as fuck, like rich as fuck, the true the
two cross paths. When Martin was seeking new customers for his lawnmowing service, as a psychiatrist, said he enjoyed things at gardening, right, So he was getting out doing some gardening service or lawnmowing and all that sort of stuff. So Helen befriended Martin and he quickly became a regular visitor to her mansion in Newtown. Martin assisted with various tasks, such as feeding the fourteen dogs inside the house and some forty cats that lived on the property.
Okay, minus the cats. Not that I hate cats, but that sounded like paradise all those dogs.
Well, mansion it is. But the only problem is the property in mansion were not being looked after they were deteriorated.
Okay, fast.
In nineteen ninety, already found the house in such terrible condition they issued a mandatory cleanup order. So following this, Helen invited Martin to live with her in the mansion. The two began spending money lavishly, including purchasing more than thirty new cars in less than three years.
Good God.
They became inseparable, often spending their days shopping extensively after dining at local restaurants.
Is this like a friendship thing or more.
As far as I'm aware, just a friendship thing? Okay, Yeah, I mean I think she's, like, you know, she's getting up there in her age a little bit. You know, she's she's kind of just looking this fucking mansion and alone. She was living with her mom, but her mom had passed away, I think, just prior to her inviting Martin.
To live with her.
Okay, so I think it was kind of more like just companionships every thing, needing a friend and Martin I didn't really talk a whole lot about this, but in his younger years and even into adulthood, he had trouble making friends too, Like he was bullied, He was a bit odd, you know. He also, I think was seeking out companionship.
Ye.
So I think it was just kind of a match made in Heaven to have someone for both of them. Now, around this period, Martin was released, sorry reassessed for his pension and a concerning note was added to his paperwork. Quote, father protects him from any occasion which might upset him as he continually threatens violence. Martin tells me he would like to go around shooting people. It would be unsafe
to allow Martin out of his parents' control. Oh okay, Yeah, so that is a quote from the paperwork that was on his pension reassessment. Martin tells me he would like to go around shooting people.
You know, Okay, that is just so fucking alarming. But else, oh, I guess, like what do you do? What do you do? Right? Like, Yeah, I don't know. I'm struggling to know what to say in regards to that.
Understandable, it's a tough situation. Yeah, right now that onus is on his parents. They have the knowledge passed on by these professionals.
Yeah, but like I mean, can they be there twenty for seven kind of you.
Know, they can't watch they can't Yeah, I mean there's there's technically no mental disability or anything that has been diagnosed of him. Nothing. It's just like I might be schizophrenic, you know, he kind of wants to shoot people. He has trouble making friends. His IQ is kind of low. Like that's all that it is.
That is just the most hot, like just such a hard position to be in for like everybody around because you think that you need you should help, like, but there's really seem to be like no resources. And then I don't know, this is like I feel pretty okay with not having a kid. Why because like that is just such a terrible position to be I I can't even imagine.
It's a lot of pressure, and it's a failure of the system on this person.
Because it seems like they just have no support whatsoever.
Yeah, so if there's a parent who needs support, where's it coming from. Oh, your kid might be schitzo, you fucked? Yeah, Oh your kid wants to shoot people have fun. Excuse me, No, I get.
What you're saying, Like, that's just so it's devastating.
Really, it really is. So no, I feel you now. In nineteen ninety one, due to a prohibition on keeping animals at the house, Helen and Martin moved to a twenty nine hectare or seventy two acre farm called Tarsville in Coping, which was a small township. Neighbors recalled that Martin often carried an air gun with him, which he fired at tourists stopping by to buy apples at the roadside stall. Late at night, he would wander through nearby properties,
shooting at dogs when they would bark at him. Now, an air gun is most likely something like a BB gun or something quite harmless. Really, but I mean, if you get in an eye, you're kind of fucked.
Put well, and I just realized too. Hopefully it's not doing anything terrible to all these animals that they have.
I'm yeah, I don't know, boy, I.
Kind of didn't. I forgot about that, okay.
Yeah. So the two of them were basically having a grand old time together living on this farm, and they still had the other house as well, so it was kind of like doing a bit of back and forth, but just to have the animals hey the farm, right, So from then on they were just living life. But on October twentieth, nineteen ninety two, tragedy would strike. Helen, who was then fifty nine years old, was killed along with two of the dogs that were in the car
with her. So the car had veered onto the wrong side of the road and collided with a on vehicle coming the other direction. Martin was in the vehicle two during the accident and suffered severe neck and mac injuries, resulting in a seven month hospital stay. So Helen of course passed away, but after the hospital Martin recovered. Now police did briefly investigate Martin's role in the accident due to his apparent known habit of lunging for the steering wheel.
This behavior had already caused three previous accidents.
With Helen or just accidents.
I don't know if it was specifically with Helen, or if his parents and Helen or what. But Helen had often told people that she never drove faster than sixty kilometers per hour or thirty seven miles power. Yeah, because of Martin's unpredictable actions. She allegedly confided in a neighbor once saying, quote, one of these days, the little bastard is going to kill me.
Oh okay, wow, and lo and behold that happened.
If veers off her vehicle, veers into oncoming traffic and she fucking dies.
Yeah. Well, yeah, because it doesn't. I mean, there are lots of reasons that could happen, really, I guess, but you kind of think it's you.
Know, the evidence kind of points one way. Yeah, but there wasn't enough evidence to really say for sure, and
the incident was eventually deemed an accident. But many people still, and I mean like today, speculate and believe that Martin was ultimately responsible for the accident and her death, especially when you consider that not not long before her death, Helen had named Martin the sole beneficiary of her will, which saw him inheriting assets worth over five hundred and fifty thousand dollars Australian, which is equivalent to approximately eight
hundred and nineteen thousand dollars US today or one point one million dollars Canadian today.
No shit, Hey, yeah, really.
Yes, ma'am did.
Okay, she didn't have anyone else to leave that too.
Well, like I said, I think this was like she has no one, she needs a friend, and Martin needed a friend too. And then so that's why they had this relationship together.
Hmm.
They relied in each other, they enjoyed the company.
And yeah, so it's not really like in a way, I'm almost thinking like, was he manipulating her? But it does I don't think so.
I don't think so. If he was manipulating her, I think it would have this would have taken place much in a much shorter time period because this was like a freaking decade.
Basically, right, Okay, Okay.
So I think there was a legitimate friendship here. I personally do think that Martin is responsible for her death. I don't know if the will part plays a role in it or not, because he does already have a history of veering people.
Off well and it already kind of seemed like he he had access to her money too. He did in a sense, right.
He certainly did, so I don't there's no real reason why he would just need it all. Yeah, he might not even even have known that she changed her will. It's hard to say. I'm going to assume he didn't know, and the will is not a part of it. But I do still think that he pulled on that wheel and he veered him off into the other lane. But I do believe their friendship was also very real too.
Yeah, what a like, what an interesting habit? Yeah, to have right like that is obviously dangerous as.
Fuck, no kidding. Now, with Martin's mental capacity, let's put it that way, he had a vague under only a vague understanding of financial matters, which again plays into the will portion, right like, really, so his mother took over managing his finances while his father, Maurice, took care of the property, which was like the farm and then the house, right right. Maurice, however, had reportedly been prescribed antidepressants and had transferred his and his wife's bank account, their joint
bank account into solely his wife's name. Okay, he did this secretly, and on August fourteenth, nineteen ninety three, a visitor on the property found a note on the door recalling quote, call the police, and several thousand dollars in Maurice's car, but Maurice was nowhere to be found. Two days later, on August sixteenth, his body was found in the dam near the farmhouse with a diving belt, a weighted diving belt around his neck.
Dang.
So potentially he had put the bank account in his wife's name because and on antidepressants because he was planning.
Ye Oh, that's sad.
Now. Police describe the death as quote unnatural, ultimately ruling it a suicide. As a result, Martin sorry, Martin inherited an additional two hundred and fifty thousand and Australian dollars.
Okay, Like it didn't all just go to the wife, I guess then, Well, I.
Think this came from like a part of his pension plan or something. So I think there was some to the wife and some to him from this, and then whatever finances they had, like equity for example, or in the bank account, that was all the wife.
So yeah, was he like would you say he was close with his parents?
I don't know. Okay, from what I found, I couldn't really tell. But I did find a couple of articles saying that Martin apparently was pretty nonchalant and even laughed at the prospect of his dad's body being found.
Col that is which leads to disturbing us.
Okay, yeah, it leads me to the next thing I was going to say. Some speculate that Martin may also have been responsible for his father's death, and many of them point to the fact that the diet of the weighted diving belt actually belonged to Martin.
Like he kind of helped him or pushed him to do it.
And I don't know, but potentially that he could have maybe he knocked him out and put the belt around his neck and dumped in the water. I don't know, but some some speculates that Martin could have been responsible.
Huh. That is interesting that.
I'm not sure if I'm on board with that. I think the moving and the bank account right there says it all to me.
But also there was too, like the lack of hope that he had that regard like to helping his son and stuff, right Like, I mean, it would just all play. I think on his mental health.
That's true. It's very true. So with the death of his father and Helen, Martin became increasingly isolated. Between nineteen ninety three and late nineteen ninety five, he traveled overseas fourteen times and had an extensive record of domestic flights as well, which apparently filled three pages. Despite these trips, Martin felt as lonely as he did abroad as he did in Tasmania. The trips didn't help whatsoever, and he was just alone.
Yeah. I mean, I love traveling, but I also don't feel like it's super. It doesn't like super connect you to people necessarily, right, well.
It doesn't. But like, Martin particularly enjoyed flying, primarily because it allowed him to engage with fellow passengers, people who were sitting next to him, who had no choice but to be polite and engage in conversation.
Oh fuck, I would hate that. I I don't love I don't enjoy having to talk to people on like planes when you're just like forced.
Yeah, nope, Martin, it's super awkward. Actually, Martin certainly did, and he actually later in different interviews, actually took pleasure in recounting some of these conversations that he had.
That is so sad though. That makes me feel like, not that I'm ever rude or anything, but I'm like usually listening to a book or watching something, and you know, but that now makes me feel so sad. Yeah, he just wanted to talk to the person next to him.
Yeah. So Martin's isolation led him to become eventually suicidal, Expressing that he felt more and more people were against him. He said, quote when I tried to be friendly towards them, they just walked away. Though previously a social drinker, Martin's alcohol consumption significantly began increasing, especially in the six months
leading up to the Port Arthur massacre. On average, he consumed half a bottle of sambuca and a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream daily, whoa supplemented with port wine and other sweet alcoholic drinks. So he is consuming quite a bit of alcohol on the daily basis.
Yeah, which I mean, I couldn't imagine would help his condition any and like his mental health not at all.
Yeah, but with all that alcohol consumption, Like, despite all this heavy drinking, he had not consumed any alcohol on the day of the massacre. None really Stone sober.
Okay, that seems that's like, that's confusing.
Hey, yeah, you tell me. Huh is it ever.
You think that you would have consumed even more on that day?
Nope, not a drum huh yeah shit.
Okay.
So, according to Martin, the idea for the Port Arthur attack might have come to him somewhere between four to twelve weeks before the actual event. Now he's given conflicting and confusing accounts of what really drove him to kill the people at Port Arthur, but one possible motive was his desire for attention. He allegedly told next door neighbor quote,
I'll do something that will make everyone remember me. Though no one specific reason has ever been given by Martin, many leave his true motivation for the attack was initially started with the bed and breakfast known as the Seascape Cottage, which was the same place where the eighteen hours standoff had occurred, so Martin suspected suspects the sorry Martin's suspected motivations for the massacre there we go were the refusal of the sale of the Sea Escape by owners David
and Noel Martin. Apparently, Martin's father Maurice had interest in buying the se Escape Cottage while it was for sale, but in the time it took him to get his finances and orders to make the purchase, David and Noel came in and bought it instead. So the hard feelings continued for some time about this. The whole fact that, you know, was kind of like scooped up underneath them sort of thing, and Maurice often complained to his son
about the quote double dealing involved in the purchase. He offered to buy another property from the Martins on Palmer's Lookout Road, but they allegedly declined. To Martin this was all intentional. He firmly believed that they had deliberately bought the property to harm his family, and he attributed this event to the depression that led to his father's suicide in nineteen ninety three. He later described the Martins as quote very mean people end quote the worst people in my life.
Okay, that's like that's pretty hard. I mean, shit like that happens though.
Right, Yeah, I mean it's not their fault. They bought the promo. They wanted it too.
Yeah that is that's like a normal life thing.
But yeah, sometimes you win sometimes to lose, right, it's just how it goes.
He's feeling like he had He needs someone to blame though, Yeah, for his dad's.
Death potentially, and for why he's so alone and why he's miserable.
Yeah.
Now, for many people, they point to this as the major moment that brought this horrible incident, this massacre to fruition Ky.
But honestly that it kind of makes sense, I guess the end of it, but doesn't make sense him starting and killing all those people before. It doesn't. Okay, that doesn't make sense.
I'll touch on it here.
Yeah.
Yeah, So, regardless of his motivation, with the money Martin had lining his pockets, he soon began stockpiling guns and ammunition he had purchased from anyone he could. Even though he didn't have a license, Martin just began stockpiling and stockpiling, and eventually, on April twenty eight to nineteen ninety six, Martin began his killing spree, not by heading to the cafe, but by heading to the Seascape Cottage.
Oh he had started there.
Here. Martin would kill the the owners of the cottage, David and Neeline, before pairing himself and heading off to Port Arthur and beginning the rest of his rampage.
Okay, so they were already Yeah, I didn't see that coming at all. No, not even in the slightest Well.
That's what happened. He killed them, went off to Port Arthur, took his hostage, went back to this escape cottage where he had already moved ammunition and rifles and stockpiling into the cottage. Wow, And from there had the eighteen hours stand off with police. In some point in time within those eighteen hours, killed his hostage, lit the place on fire, catching himself on fire consequently, and exiting to get arrested.
So he had already killed these owners and then went to this pier, had some fucking lunch and then just went a vote it correct. Uh that is something yeah, no kidding total.
So, while awaiting trial, Martin underwent several different examinations. Forensic psychologist Ian Joblin determined that Martin was borderline mentally disabled, with an IQ of sixty six, equivalent to that of an eleven year old. Court appointed psychiatrist Ian Sale concluded that Martin exhibited a mix of conduct disorder, attention deficit,
hyperactivity disorder, and traits associated with Asperger syndrome. Psychiatrist Paul Mullen, brought in by Martin's legal counsel, found that Martin was both socially and intellectually impaired. However, Malin did not find evidence of schizophrenia or mood disorder. He concluded that quote, though mister Brian was clearly a distressed and disturbed young man, he was not mentally ill. He was found fit to stand trial.
Really, okay, I'm finding that very surprising.
Now. He initially pled guilty, sorry, pled not guilty to the thirty five murders.
During this trial five lives.
Thirty five, but near the end he suddenly decided to change his plea to guilty. He was sentenced to thirty five consecutive life sentences plus one thousand, six hundred and fifty two years in prison for his crimes, or, to put it simply, never to be released, Australia's maximum sentence.
Okay, Well, honestly, that's like good. I feel like that's how many sentences should be.
I agree, locked up for life?
Well, I mean, if you're taking that many lives, like, you can't just.
Like reform only goes so far.
Well, and you can't just like document one life like I think you do need to like consecutively. They're all, you know, lives.
You can't be tried for a single Like if you kill thirty five people, you need to be held accountable for thirty five murders.
Yes, yeah, not just.
Be like okay, well we're gonna like wave off thirty four if you plead guilty to one like.
Fuck no, yeah, or you can't just have the max like twenty five years. It should be twenty five years for each person.
Yeah, I think I fully agree with you.
Yeah.
Now, the Broad Arrow Cafe that's located in Port Arthur, where the mass shooting started, has been turned into a place for reflection and immemorial in the hopes of preventing similar crimes. Gun control laws in many areas of Australia were significantly strengthened in the aftermath of the tragedy. So I am a strong advocate for safety, having a professional background and occupational health and safety. There is a saying that I've heard through my profession, and it's that safety
regulations are written in blood. Yeah, meaning often takes someone to get hurt or killed for change to finally happen for that legislation to be written so it takes their blood for that to be written. So SA written in blood. So in nineteen eighty seven, nine years before the shooting, the premiere of New South Wales declared this quote, it will take a massacre in Tasmania before we get gun
reform in Australia. Within days of the Port Arthur massacre, Australian Prime Minister John Howard announced that the country's gun laws would undergo significant change.
Gosh, that's not good. That's not good.
Nope, it's difficult for people to take a proactive approach because hey, nothing's gone bad yet.
Yeah, but I mean you can't you can't, like, you can't live like that.
Nope.
But I mean also you anticipating the world happening too, was you know someone? Is also not a good way to live.
Yep. So the new regulations banned automatic and semi automatic long guns. Additionally, gun owners were required to apply for license and provide a quote genuine reason for owning a firearm excluding personal protection. Australia also initiated a gun buy back program, which successfully reduced firearms suicides by seventy four percent, saving approximately two hundred lives annually. That's good since support
Arthur massacre in nineteen ninety six. Australia has not experienced a single mass shooting.
I just have to say though, too, he had so much money right like there, and money can buy things, whether they're legal or not. Yeah, So I mean this that might have not even fully stopped him.
Right, It's true, that's true. So Martin Bryant remains in solitary confinement in prison to this day. He killed thirty
five people and wounded twenty three more. The following is a list of those killed in the shooting that he committed at Port Arthur Winnifred Joyce Alfin fifty eight, Walter John Bennett sixty six, Nicole Luis Burgess seventeen, Sue Leang Chung thirty two, Elva Runda Gaillard forty eight, Zoe Ann Hall twenty eight, Elizabeth Jane Howard twenty six, Mary Elizabeth Howard fifty seven, Sarah Kate Lawton fifteen, David Martin seventy two,
Noel Sally Joyce Martin sixty nine, Pauline Georgina Masters forty nine, Elena Luis Meekak six, Madeline Grace Meekak three, Ninette Patricia Meekak thirty six, Andrew Bruce Mills thirty nine, Mary Rose Nixon sixty, Glenroy Peers thirty five, Russelled, James Pollard seventy two, Jeanette Kathleen Quinn fifty, Helen Maria Salzman fifty, Robert Graham Salzman fifty seven, Kate Elizabeth Scott twenty one, Mervin John Howard fifty five, Ronald Noel Jerry seventy one, Tony Vadiliu
Kristen fifty one, Leslie Dennis Lever fifty three, Peter Brenton Nash thirty two, Gwenda Jones Ninder sixty seven, William zen Nigg forty eight, Anthony Natandale forty four, Kevin Vincent Sharp sixty eight, Raymond John Sharp sixty seven, Royce William Thompson fifty nine, Jason Bernard Winter twenty nine.
Oh, that is just like such a like a blood chilling list.
Yeah, wow, that is the case of the Port Arthur massacre.
I can't stop thinking too like so many on that list where I feel like probably retired, like exploring.
Yes, you know, And because of that, it was hard for them to initially react when he started shooting, to get up out of the chair. Oh to run.
Oh okay, yeah, wow, yeah, thanks, sorry, because here I was just thinking, like they're exploring, traveling, living their life, but I didn't think that. It's like their bodies were not allowing them to get away.
I don't think they would have gotten away, but it made it just that much harder to react quickly because I know when the cafe, I read some articles about that, because many in like the cafe and gift shop and stuff were of like an older age that the reaction time was not as swift.
Okay, well my heart was kind of already in my stomach and now it really is, sorry, foot brutal.
Yeah, so that that was a whole lot of information on that case. I really just threw it all out there for you guys. Hopefully you were able to soak it all in. I realized I might have at one point said that the case that the events took place in ninety eight, it's ninety six. So yeah, just clarifying that. And yeah, I honestly, I know there's a lot of people against different gun laws because there's stuff that's been happening here in Canada over the past few years regarding that.
I don't know, and I don't think anyone knows how to correct the situation. Yeah, how to make sure that you know, people don't get shot. But clearly having some sort of reform program does make a difference.
It does make a difference. But I also, like, I like, we live in such a fucked up world that I mean, if there's a will, there's a way.
That's true.
That's very true, which is such a bummer to say, but like which.
Offers the counter argument of well, if I don't have a gun, and the people who have the will and find a way do have a gun, how can I defend myself? Like, I totally get it. So there's two sides to this coin, and it's I can't. I don't know the answer, Like I said, I don't think anyone does.
But I mean, it does stop. It definitely does stop some.
It does stop some, but it won't stop all. Yeah, And if it can't stop all, then how are you going to defend yourself against those Because those that do end up having the firearm if you don't, others are going to look upon that and be like, well, if I do that, I could then rob someone or do what I want to, and then that number is only going to grow. Yeah, so it's you damned if you do, you damned if you sort of situation, which is really unfortunate.
Yeah, I do. I do kind of think tho if people had this guns and stuff more readily available, that there would be more things.
We should just get rid of guns entirely and just have nerf guns.
Oh my gosh, that would be fun. Could you imagine? Okay, so I have to give me all your money. I have like a canux fwag on my vehicle just caring for them, and someone the other day was like honking at me and thumbs down, and can you imagine just pulling on a NERF gun.
And be like, you know, just to drive by nerfing? Wow, Like that.
Would be bringing hilarious. Like it didn't make me mad. I was just kind of like, oh, Canucks go, but it would just be like hilarios.
Yeah, I would be which Unfortunately, the Canucks are officially out of the playoffs.
Yeah.
We just prior to watching recording this, we watched Game seven and they were beaten by Edmonton Oilers three two.
Really too bad.
It is too bad, but there's always next year, which next year we can potentially say the same thing, and then after that, after that, but eventually Lee or like.
My grandma says, we'll get over it.
We'll get over it.
Like I'm like, I'm so sad, and she's like, we'll get over it.
Yeah, Like, oh my gosh, get over it.
That's a good We'll get over It's true.
We will, It's true, say la Vie.
Right. Yeah, anyway, good job. That was a doozy.
It was a doozy. Like I said, I could have done a two partter on yeah, but I really wanted to push through get it done in one. We appreciate you guys being here for the full episode on this hopefully enjoyed it. If you want to check out any of the information on this podcast, whether it's more of our socials or anything, Patreon links are down below, including YouTube all of it, all the good stuff, all the good stuff, feel free to check us out and give
us a rating. We appreciate it and it really helps the show. We are an indie podcast. We are produced by us. No one owns this podcast. It's us in our tiny home. No one else live in our life, so we do not record in a big studio. We did not have a corporation overseeing us. We research, we write, we record. It's just us and our dogs and chickens and our cat Kiwi.
Yeah you have them, yeah of course. So anyway, until uh until next week, until next
Week, stay wicked,