Twenty years after Martin Bryant killed 35 people in Australia's worst mass shooting, the town of Port Arthur in Tasmania remains deeply sensitive about the tragedy. Locals rarely speak the gunman's name, and many were dismayed in March when an actor drove a yellow Volvo around the massacre site for a television re-enactment.
Mayor Roseanne Heyward condemned the stunt as 'extraordinarily horrible,' while Stephen Large, chief executive of the Port Arthur Historic Site, said it 'rocked quite a few people.' The media's focus on the upcoming 20th anniversary has been upsetting for the community, which has endured graphic retellings and conspiracy theories in recent months.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and former prime minister John Howard will attend a ceremony on Thursday, the first at the site since the 10th anniversary. Howard swiftly banned semi-automatic and automatic rifles after the 1996 shootings. Some survivors will return for the first time, and Mayor Heyward said compassion for them made the service necessary.
Martin Bryant, now 48, is serving 35 consecutive life sentences. Many Tasmanians want him forgotten, and visitors to the historic site are urged not to ask guides about the massacre. Local media tread carefully, with Hobart Mercury editor Matt Deighton calling it 'as sensitive an issue as I've experienced in 26 years of journalism.'
Despite the community's reluctance, Large hopes the ceremony will be a positive experience for victims. 'There are some people coming who we know haven't been back to the site for 20 years,' he said, 'so it will be particularly poignant for them.'
