Martin Bryant showed troubling behavior from early childhood, marked by aggression, learning difficulties, and social isolation. As a teenager and young adult, his instability worsened, and he formed a strange dependency on wealthy heiress Helen Harvey, with whom he later lived in Tasmania.
After Harvey died in a suspicious car crash in 1992—leaving Bryant as her sole beneficiary—and his father was later found dead in an apparent suicide, Bryant inherited large sums of money. Increasingly isolated, heavily drinking, and stockpiling firearms, his mental state deteriorated further.
On April 28, 1996, Bryant carried out the Port Arthur massacre, killing 35 people in the deadliest mass shooting in Australian history. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
The tragedy led to sweeping national gun law reforms, including bans on semi-automatic weapons and a massive buyback program, dramatically reducing gun-related deaths in Australia. The massacre remains a defining moment in the country’s history and gun control debate.