AUSTRALIANS were reeling last night from the worst massacre in the country's history after a young gunman went on a rampage in a busy Tasmanian tourist park killing at least 32 people, including some children, and injuring 18. The man was arrested by police following a siege at a guesthouse near Port Arthur.
Anti firearm lobbyists claimed the gun laws in Tasmania were far too lax, and that such legislation should be enforced by the federal government in Canberra.
Yesterday's carnage stunned the normally quiet settlement of Port Arthur. The Right Rev Phillip Newell, the Anglican bishop of Tasmania, said: "The police, the chaplains, the doctors and nurses have given a tremendous amount. The rest of the community is expressing its grief and love. They're passing through the valley of the deepest shadow."
The normally quiet township of Port Arthur, once a penal settlement and now the island's leading tourist attraction, was turned into a slaughter house as the gunman walked into a restaurant near the ruins of the 19th century prison and started firing indiscriminately with a high powered rifle.
The most violent day in Tasmania's history since colonial times began just after 1.30 p.m. yesterday, like most Sundays the busiest day of the week at the tourist centre, when the gunman arrived at Port Arthur in a Volkswagen car with a surf board tied to the roof. Eyewitnesses said he had blond hair and "surfie appearance". They said he carried a tennis racket case in which he concealed his murder weapon.
One eyewitness said: "He said `There are a lot of WASPS [white Anglo Saxon Protestants] around today. There aren't many Japs, are there?' Then he started muttering to himself, walked inside band started firing."
The gunman's first target was local people working in the tourist restaurant. Then he walked out to the car park and its toll gates, firing at tourists arriving in buses and cars, and onto the nearby Fox and Hounds Hotel, where he shot more people.
Ms Karen Jones, a visitor from Hobart, the Tasmanian capital about 50 kms north of Port Arthur, said: "He went to the toll gates and shot at everyone who was coming in." Mr Phillip Millburn, also from Hobart, said: "He would line people up before shooting them. It was something smaller than a .303 rifle, and it was meant to kill."
Ms Sue Hobbs, an employee at the Port Arthur Tourist Centre, said: "It's shocked us. Many of the 100 people employed here have come in to help even if they were rostered off today. It's a quiet community. You can imagine how this has rocked everyone. Our start are remaining very calm. It's unbelievable to see how people have put their own fears and concerns aside to help the general public."
The Australian Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, said he was "shocked and appalled" at the murder of innocent people. Mr Kim Beazley, the opposition Labour Party leader, said: "This is a terrible tragedy, a shocking waste."
The premier of Tasmania, Mr Tony Rundle, said: "All Tasmanians and all Australians will be sick at heart at this dreadful massacre. We express sympathy to the bereaved and pray for those in hospital fighting to survive."
There were further calls for tighter national gun laws last night in the wake of the massacre. Outside the island's infamous 19th century colonial massacres of aborigines, yesterday's horror was easily Australia's worst mass killing of modern times. The worst previous incident was in August 1987 when a 19 year old former army cadet shot seven people dead and injured 19 while firing indiscriminately at motorists in Hoddle Street, Melbourne. In August 1991, a 33 year old taxi driver armed with an assault rifle killed seven shoppers in a Sydney shopping mall then shot himself dead.
Since these killings, Australia's federal and state governments have clamped down on gun ownership and banned the import and sale of semi automatic weapons. Thousands of guns have been anonymously surrendered after several "gun amnesties".
But the gun lobby is still politically powerful, particularly in rural areas, and critics accused the governments of not being tough enough. Yesterday's shock will give ammunition to those calling for a blanket ban of guns.
Ms Rebecca Peters, of the Australian Coalition for Gun Control, said: "We have waited long enough for state governments to get around to doing something about the fact that the gun laws are different in every state. In Tasmania, they are far too slack. There's no record of who owns guns because there's no central registry. It's just not good enough."