Ten years on

[erilyn]

My thoughts are with all those who were affected by the massacre at Port Arthur ten years ago. Thirty five people murdered and eighteen more seriously wounded - I still remember the sheer disbelief and horror something like this could happen in Australia, let alone in a little historic site like Port Arthur.

Comments

[erilyn.livejournal.com]

My vague thoughts on this - There had been some other spree-killings in the 80s and 90s, but in Sydney and Melbourne, and less than a third that number killed at a time. Which is no less horrific, but I guess it is less world-view-shattering than the scale (and locale) of Port Arthur. Events like this were still something we thought of as "only happening in the US" or "only in Europe" or anywhere that wasn't our own backyard.

I'm relieved by the gun-control laws came out of it. Not glad, but it is a positive thing from so much loss.

But still, you're right, there are no guarantees. We can only hope and pray that such evil doesn't occur again, anywhere.

[maxi47.livejournal.com]

I think the thing that got me at the time was Port Arthur of all places. Hadn't it seen enough pain and suffering? It was a place that no-one as a convict would wished to have been sent. To have this happen in such a place...I don't know how to truly express the feeling. I can only cross my fingers and hope that it never happens again.

We like to think of ourselves as a peaceful country. It's scary when we find out that is not the case, and that instead it is only buried. The Cronlla riots are testimony to that, if nothing else. My sister was in Cronulla that day, so she can tell you what it was like... (she told me the tale at Christmas, and it was scary, to say the least).

[erilyn.livejournal.com]

A guy from work (of Indian background) was in Cronulla too, he and his girlfriend were spat upon and harrassed, it's horrible to think they were lucky to escape with only that.

Port Arthur - it does make you feel that events can imprint so much on a place, with past horror being echoed in the present day events.