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Port Arthur

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Convicts made the bricks to make their own prison.

The notorious Australian site where cruelty was an art form

Visiting this Tasmanian World Heritage-listed site can be an eerie, unsettling experience.

  • Riley Wilson

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A memorial ceremony at Tasmania’s Port Arthur, where 35 people were murdered in 1996.

We have disrupted the script used by mass killers before. Today, that matters more than ever

There are more guns in Australia now than at the time of the Port Arthur massacre. Mass murder has returned to this country. And we are losing the legacy of the response to that day 30 years ago.

  • Glynn Greensmith
Crescent Bay is home to a beach that would be rated in Australia’s top 10 (if anyone knew about it).

Remarkable landscape includes one of the best beaches no-one knows about

A hike in southern Tasmania takes in spectacular capes and a beach that should be in Australia’s top 10.

  • Jim Darby
Ireland’s Dromoland Castle and its expansive grounds.

This stunning castle is the birthplace of an unlikely Irish rebel

Ireland’s Dromoland Castle - now a five-star heritage hotel - boasts a fascinating history and an intriguing connection to Tasmania’s Port Arthur.

  • Billy Cantwell
Newspaper clippings from the Port Arthur massacre focussing on the victims, not the perpetrator.

Port Arthur is still a stark reminder to change the script of mass killings

We denied the Port Arthur killer the infamy he sought. We gave it to the Christchurch killer. We shouldn’t. The evidence tells us there is more to our success in keeping mass shootings from these shores than gun numbers alone. We must not lose the lessons we have learned these last 25 years.

  • Glynn Greensmith
Page one of the Sydney Morning Herald on April 29, 1996.

From the Archives, 1996: The Port Arthur massacre

25 years ago, Martin Bryant shot and killed 35 people at a popular tourist site in Port Arthur, Tasmania.

  • Lindsay Simpson, Bronwen Hayes, Staff reporters and AAP
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This year marks the 25th anniversary of the massacre at Port Arthur, Tasmania.

As Port Arthur anniversary approaches, let us never speak his name

A quarter of a century ago, a man killed 35 people in Tasmania. We need to focus on the victims, not the perpetrator.

  • Andrew Leigh
Taika Waititi's Maori heritage would be just one factor working in favour of Jojo Rabbit.

Hitler, terrorism, Port Arthur: Should some subjects be off limits?

The court of public opinion has decreed a film about the Port Arthur shooter should not be made. But is that judgement right?

  • Karl Quinn
Shaun Grant said he knew the film about Port Arthur killer Martin Bryant would be controversial.

Writer of Bryant film: 'Evil repeats itself if we don’t shine a light on it'

Shaun Grant said he knew the film would be controversial but his motivation was to consider why mass shootings happen and how gun control can prevent them.

  • Karl Quinn and Rachel Clun
Port Arthur killer Martin Bryant.

We don't need a film about mass murderer Martin Bryant

A movie about Port Arthur killer Martin Bryant is entirely irresponsible and should be stopped in its tracks.

  • Richard Keddie