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

[maxi47.livejournal.com]

I still remember the sheer disbelief and horror something like this could happen in Australia

As do I. There is nothing I could think of that could have prepared us for this. To my thinking, at the time, this was something that happened in other countries, and not here. Has it been ten years? There's been a lot of water under the bridge, and I'm not talking about the increased gun control that happened in the wake of the massacre. All I can hope is that nothing like that never happens again. It's a pity that there are no guarantees. :(

[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).

[lydia-petze.livejournal.com]

God, I remember that day so clearly. It was freezing cold and it came over the news on the tv in my bedroom, and I went out and told Mum and Dad to turn on their telly.

I can't believe that was ten years ago.

[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.

[erilyn.livejournal.com]

I remember the relief when he was taken into custody the next morning - that the killings were over. The way the number of dead had just kept climbing and climbing during Sunday afternoon/evening and the next day.

[lydia-petze.livejournal.com]

I remember the first video that emerged, it was just of people who'd gotten away, or were in an area he'd left, or something. You could still hear the shots going off in the distance. And then later, the stories. The elderly man who died shielding his wife with his body, and the Mikac family. And the Japanese tourist who was called on to testify - Bryant had turned the gun on him and pulled the trigger, but the magazine was empty. I can't imagine what that must have felt like.

There was an article on Bryant in the Australian a few weeks ago - apparently he's practically catatonic. The guy's not right by any means, and I don't just mean because he's a mass murderer.

[erilyn.livejournal.com]

I don't know how I ended up on it, but a while ago, I came across this stuff - conspiracy theorists who think Port Arthur was a 'psyop' (with Bryant either an agent or patsy) for triggering moves to more gun-control. To make Australia more easily invaded. Made me...incredibly angry (plus, the people couldn't construct a decent argument to save their life).

I thought I'd heard that Walter Mikac got remarried a couple of years ago, and I saw something today that mentioned he and his wife have a young child. So glad he was able to find happiness again after what happened.

[lydia-petze.livejournal.com]

I know the freaks you're talking about. I was stuck at a party once with a woman who believed *every word* of that. And detailed it to me. At length.

[krazykitkat.livejournal.com]

Such an horrific event.

I had nightmares for weeks after. I think it triggered memories of my father being involved in the Bathurst bike riots back in 1985, and then not knowing for a few hours in 1986 whether he was alive after a cop was shot dead at Bathurst. I was only 11 then, and while I was old enough to be upset by it, I wasn't really old enough. I think Port Arthur brought it back.

[erilyn.livejournal.com]

No wonder you were freaked out by it. So horrific. We want to be able to tell ourselves that'll never happen again, but who knows?