It began like any other day
as people milled around
The beautiful Historic site
so still, without a sound ~
Enjoying peaceful stillness
and stepping back in time
To days of convict history
of punishment and crime.

While relishing in penal times
by mid-afternoon
Lunchtime in the Broad Arrow
ended all too soon
When suddenly shots rang out
from a quiet man nearby
Inflicting tears and bloodshed
as he watched the people die.

Screaming filled the cafe room
as he fired at everyone
He continued his deadly rampage
with two rifles and a gun ~
Aiming at the innocent
and shooting all around
He ran out to the parking lot
where he shot more people down.

He chased them as they tried to run
so helplessly away
Then shot them as he fired again
all who were in his way ~
While in the distance others thought
the shots just re-enact
Those days in convict history;
unaware of this bloody attack.

Jumping into a car nearby
still firing at everyone
He drove toward the front gate
in the light of the April sun ~
He saw a mother and her daughters
as they tried to run away
Chasing them he killed them
and left them where they lay.

Driving to the local store
he chose a waiting car
And killed the driver where she sat
while he escaped afar ~
With the passenger as his hostage
he shoved him in the boot
Then drove away leaving a trail
and still prepared to shoot.

He drove to a Bed and Breakfast
some miles up the road
And now he had three hostages
he was not letting go ~
With Police staking the area
as daylight slipped away
All night they watched and waited ~
he was not getting away.

Then in the early morning
police still all around
They saw smoke slowly rising
still inside there was no sound ~
Then in the midst they saw him
with his hands above his head
Walking from the burning Cottage
where his hostages lay dead.

Five years have passed since then
but still the memory
Of what was destroyed that day
was not what you could see ~
The day that changed the history
of Port Arthur Historic site
Where 35 people were tragically killed
that April, in broad daylight.

© Christina
28th April, 2001

"Five years ago on 28th April 1996, lone gunman Martin Bryant stood up in the Broad Arrow Cafe of the Port Arthur Historic Site and began firing one his many automatic firearms at innocent victims eating their lunch. After shooting 31 at the site, he then fled killing 4 others. Many were wounded. He was captured when he surrendered to police after burning down the Seascape Bed and Breakfast cottage in where he held 3 people hostage before killing them.  Among the 35 killed were the mother and her two daughters he killed near the entrance that touched the nation, leaving one man without his family. This man, among others, heard the shots and thought that it was a re-enactment to entertain the visitors. They had no idea. Martin Bryant now serves 35 life terms.

This poem is dedicated to the memory of the 35 who were killed and their families. And to Walter Mikac, who lost his wife and two daughters, and to the memory of them ~ Nanette, Alannah (6 yrs) and Madeline (3 yrs)."