Martin John Bryant (born 7 May 1967) is an Australian convicted mass murderer who perpetrated the Port Arthur massacre on 28 and 29 April 1996, in which he fatally shot 35 people and injured 23 others. He is currently serving 35 life sentences, and 1,652 years without the possibility of parole, at Risdon Prison in Hobart, Tasmania.
Martin Bryant was born on 7 May 1967 at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Hobart, Tasmania. He was the first child of Maurice and Carleen Bryant. Although his family's home was in Lenah Valley, Bryant spent some of his childhood at their beach home in Carnarvon Bay, adjacent to the Port Arthur Historic Site. In a 2011 interview, his mother recalled that, when he was very young, Bryant was an "annoying" and "different" child who frequently broke his toys. A psychiatrist who examined Bryant told the family that he would never be capable of holding down a job due to his aggravating behavior. 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. 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." Bryant received a disability pension, though he also worked as a handyman and gardener. 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."
In early 1987, when Bryant was aged 19, he met 54-year-old Helen Mary Elizabeth Harvey, an eccentric wealthy heiress to a share in the Tattersall's lottery fortune, while looking for new customers for his lawn-mowing service. Harvey, who lived with her mother Hilza, befriended Bryant, who became a regular visitor to her decaying mansion in New Town and assisted with tasks such as feeding the fourteen dogs living inside the mansion and the forty cats living inside her garage. In June 1990, an unidentified person reported Harvey to the health authorities, and medics found both Harvey and her mother in need of urgent hospital treatment. With Harvey suffering from infected ulcers and Hilza with a hip fracture, Hilza was moved into a nursing home and died several weeks later at the age of 79.
A mandatory clean-up order was placed on the mansion, and Bryant's father took long-service leave to assist in cleaning the interior. The local RSPCA unit had to confiscate many animals living in the house. Following the clean-up, Harvey invited Bryant to live with her in the mansion. The bohemian pair of friends began spending extravagant amounts of money, including the purchase of more than thirty new cars in less than three years. Bryant and Harvey spent most of their time together extensively shopping for various items, usually after having lunch in a local restaurant. Around this time, Bryant was reassessed for his disability pension and a note was attached to the paperwork: "Father protects him from any occasion which might upset him as he continually threatens violence ... Martin tells me he would like to go around shooting people. It would be unsafe to allow Martin out of his parents' control."
In 1991, as a result of no longer being allowed to have animals at the mansion, Bryant and Harvey moved together onto a 29-hectare (72-acre) farm called Taurusville that Harvey had purchased in the small township of Copping. Neighbours recalled that Bryant always carried an air gun and often fired it at tourists as they stopped to buy apples at a stall on the highway. Late at night, he would roam through the surrounding properties firing the gun at dogs when they barked at him. Residents in Copping avoided Bryant "at all costs" despite his attempts to befriend them.
On 20 October 1992, Harvey, aged 59, was killed along with two of her dogs when her car veered onto the wrong side of the road and hit an oncoming car directly. Bryant was inside the vehicle at the time of the accident and was hospitalised for seven months with severe neck and back injuries. He returned to his family's home to convalesce after leaving hospital. Bryant was briefly investigated by police for the role he played in the accident, as he had a known habit of lunging for the steering wheel and Harvey had already had three accidents as a result. Harvey often told acquaintances that this was the reason she never drove faster than 60 kilometres an hour (37 mph). Harvey even allegedly said to a neighbour that "one of these days the little bastard [Bryant] is going to kill me." Bryant was named the sole beneficiary of Harvey's will and came into possession of assets totalling more than AU$550,000 (equivalent to $1,169,352 in 2022). As Bryant had only the "vaguest notions" of financial matters, his mother subsequently applied for and was granted a guardianship order, placing his assets under the management of public trustees. The order was based on evidence of Bryant's diminished intellectual capacity.
After Harvey's death, Bryant's father Maurice, aged 60, looked after the Copping farm. Maurice had been prescribed antidepressants and had discreetly transferred his joint bank account and utilities into his wife's name. Two months later, on 14 August 1993, a visitor looking for Maurice at the Copping property found a note saying "call the police" pinned to the door and found several thousand dollars in his car. Police searched the property for Maurice without success. Divers were called to search the four dams on the property, and on 16 August, Maurice's body was found in the dam closest to the farmhouse, with a diving weight belt around his neck. Police described the death as "unnatural" and it was ruled a suicide. Bryant inherited the proceeds of his father's superannuation fund, valued at AU$250,000 (equivalent to $522,364 in 2022).
Bryant later sold the Copping farm for AU$143,000 (equivalent to $298,792 in 2022) and kept the former Harvey mansion. While living at Copping, the white overalls he habitually wore were replaced with clothing more in line with Harvey's financial status. Now that he was alone, Bryant's fashion sense became more eccentric; he often wore a grey linen suit, cravat, lizard-skin shoes and a Panama hat while carrying a briefcase during the day, telling anyone who would listen that he had a high paying career as a businessman. Bryant often wore a flashy electric blue business suit with flared trousers and a ruffled shirt to the restaurant he frequented. The restaurant owner recalled: "It was horrible. Everyone was laughing at him, even the customers. I really felt suddenly quite sorry for him. I realised this guy didn't really have any friends."