Martin Bryant

Martin John Bryant (born 7 May 1967) is an Australian mass murderer who shot and killed 35 people and injured 23 others in the Port Arthur massacre on 28 and 29 April 1996. He is currently serving 35 life sentences, and 1,652 years without the possibility of parole, at Risdon Prison in Hobart, Tasmania.

Early life

Martin Bryant was born on 7 May 1967 at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Hobart, Tasmania. In 1979, at age 12, Bryant was hospitalised at Royal Hobart Hospital from an injury caused by a firework accident. While in hospital, he was interviewed by a local television station.

Locals later recalled abnormal behaviour by Bryant, such as pulling the snorkel from another boy while diving and cutting down trees on a neighbour's property. In 1973, at age 5, he started primary school at The Friends' School in Hobart. There, Bryant was a disruptive and sometimes violent student who suffered severe bullying by other children. He was described by teachers as being distant from reality and unemotional. After Bryant was suspended from New Town Primary School in 1977, psychological assessments noted that he tortured animals. He returned to school the following year with improved behaviour but persisted in teasing younger children. He was transferred to a special education unit at New Town High School in 1980, where he deteriorated both academically and behaviourally throughout his remaining school years.

Psychological and psychiatric assessments

Descriptions of Bryant's behaviour as an adolescent show that he continued to be disturbed and outlined the possibility of an intellectual disability. When leaving school in 1983, he was assessed for a disability pension by a psychiatrist who wrote: "Cannot read or write. Does a bit of gardening and watches TV ... Only his parents' efforts that prevent further deterioration. Could be schizophrenic and parents face a bleak future with him." In an examination after the massacre, forensic psychologist Ian Joblin found Bryant to be borderline mentally disabled with an IQ of 66, equivalent to an 11-year-old.

While awaiting trial, Bryant was examined by court-appointed psychiatrist Ian Sale, who was of the opinion that Bryant "could be regarded as having shown a mixture of conduct disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity and ... Asperger's Syndrome." Psychiatrist Paul Mullen, hired at the request of Bryant's legal counsel, found that he was socially and intellectually impaired. Furthermore, finding that he did not display signs of schizophrenia or a mood disorder, Mullen concluded, "though Mr Bryant was clearly a distressed and disturbed young man he was not mentally ill."

Bryant later sold the Copping farm for AU$143,000 and kept the former Harvey mansion.

Port Arthur massacre

Bryant has provided conflicting and confused accounts of what led him to kill thirty-five people at the Port Arthur Historic Site on 28 April 1996. It could have been his desire for attention, as he allegedly told a next-door neighbour, "I'll do something that will make everyone remember me." His defence psychiatrist, Paul Mullen, former chief of forensic psychiatry at Monash University, said Bryant became fascinated with the Dunblane massacre in Scotland: "He followed Dunblane. His planning started with Dunblane. Before that he was thinking about suicide, but Dunblane and the early portrayal of the killer, Thomas Hamilton, changed everything." owned a bed and breakfast guest house called "Seascape." The Martins had beaten Bryant's father in purchasing the bed and breakfast his father had made great efforts to secure financial support to purchase, and his father had complained to Bryant on numerous occasions of the damage done to their family because of that purchase. Bryant apparently believed the Martins bought the property out of spite towards his family and blamed them for causing the depression that led to his father's suicide. Suffering burns to his back and buttocks, Bryant was captured and taken to the Royal Hobart Hospital, where he was treated and kept under heavy guard.

Imprisonment

Bryant was judged fit to stand trial, which was scheduled to begin on 7 November 1996. He initially pleaded not guilty but was persuaded by his court-appointed lawyer, John Avery, to plead guilty to all charges.

For the first eight months of his imprisonment, Bryant was held in a purpose-built suicide-prevention cell in almost complete solitary confinement. He remained in protective custody for his own safety until 13 November 2006, when he was moved into Hobart's Wilfred Lopes Centre, a secure mental health unit run by the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services. The 35-bed unit for inmates with serious mental illness is staffed with doctors, nurses and other support workers. Inmates are not locked down and can come and go from their cells. Exterior security at the facility is provided by a three-wall perimeter patrolled by private contract guards.

On 5 July 2003, an incident occurred that led an inmate to spray a cleaning solution into Bryant's eyes, resulting in his transfer to Royal Hobart Hospital. On 25 March 2007, Bryant attempted to end his life by slashing his wrist with a razor blade. On 27 March he cut his throat with another razor blade and was hospitalised briefly. Bryant is currently housed in the maximum-security Risdon Prison near Hobart.

Media coverage

Newspaper coverage immediately after the massacre raised serious questions about journalistic practices, and criticism was directed toward Australian media. Photographs of Bryant published in the newspaper The Australian had his eyes digitally manipulated with the effect of making him appear deranged and "glaring." Despite the criticism, the manipulated photographs continued to be used in media reporting a decade later. There were also questions as to whether the photos had been obtained from Bryant's house after it had been sealed by police.

Tasmania's director of public prosecutions warned media that the coverage compromised Bryant's right to a fair trial, and writs were issued against The Australian, the Hobart Mercury (which used Bryant's picture under the headline "This is the Man"), The Age and the ABC. The chairman of the Australian Press Council at the time, David Flint, argued that because newspapers regularly ignored contempt-of-court provisions, this showed that the law, not the newspapers, needed change. Flint suggested that such a change in the law would not necessarily lead to trial by media. Australian newspapers also came under critical scrutiny of their accounts of Bryant and how the kind of identity responsible for his and other similar kinds of killing might be understood.

Political aftermath

As a response to the massacre, Australian state and territory governments introduced extensive restrictions on all firearms, including semi-automatic centre-fire rifles, repeating shotguns (holding more than five shots) and high-capacity rifle magazines. In addition, limitations were imposed on low-capacity repeating shotguns and rim-fire semi-automatic rifles. Though the measures caused controversy, opposition to the new laws was lessened by media reporting of the massacre and mounting public opinion.

In popular culture

In March 2012, Sydney artist Rodney Pople controversially won the AU$35,000 Glover Prize for his landscape painting depicting Port Arthur with Bryant in the foreground holding a firearm. In 2019, the massacre was referenced in the lyrics of Pond's song, "The Boys Are Killing Me", featured on their album Tasmania. The 2021 film Nitram, directed by Justin Kurzel, is based on Bryant's life, with Caleb Landry Jones in the role of Bryant. Jones won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his portrayal.