Port Arthur Massacre: commemoration will balance the fascination with a killer

Wars lend meaning to violence perpetrated on a mass scale, and we turn out en masse to commemorate them. Senseless violence committed by individuals is different. The impulse to forget is often stronger than the urge to commemorate. On the 20th anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre, the importance of remembering is stronger than ever. In 1996 a mass shooting, which left 35 people dead and 23 wounded, derailed the everyday business of commemorating the painful past of convict punishment at Port Arthur. Heritage authorities at the historic site were suddenly thrust into the role of managing the shock and grief that rocked the local community and gripped the nation