Tasmanian massacre remembered 10 years on

On April 28 each year, Tim Goddard drives to Port Arthur, Tasmania, armed with grapevine clippings and flowers to honour the memory of his friend, New Zealander Jason Winter.

This year, the Australian winemaker plans to avoid the crowds expected to gather for a ceremony commemorating the 10 years since Martin Bryant calmly and deliberately shot 35 people, mainly at the historic site.

Mr Winter, 29, was one of the first shot in the Broad Arrow cafe, where he was with wife, Joanne, and 15-month-old son Mitchell on a break from his work as a winemaker at Moorilla Estate Winery.

Mr Goddard, the winery's chief executive, had known Mr Winter for several years and hired him only five months before the shooting, based on his reputation and potential as a winemaker.

Mr Winter was part of a new team enlisted to make over the struggling winery.

He trained in Australia and returned to New Zealand to work but leaped at the opportunity to work at Moorilla.

"He was a striking person, highly talented and respected, and he was obviously going to go a long way. He had massive potential," Mr Goddard said.

His potential was left unfulfilled when the gunman from Hobart armed with three automatic firearms and a large quantity of ammunition robbed his parents of a son, made his wife a widow and left his son to grow up not knowing his father.

Before reaching Port Arthur, Bryant had entered the home of a local couple he knew just north of the township and shot and killed them both.

He then drove to the historic site, enjoyed a meal outside the Broad Arrow cafe and re-entered at lunchtime, took a rifle from his bag and started shooting.

Within 90 seconds, 20 people died and 12 were injured.

Bryant moved to the adjacent carpark, where he shot and killed four more people and wounded a number of others before shooting indiscriminately at people in the grounds of the site.

Bryant then got into his car and drove up the former main entrance road, to the original toll booth, and killed seven more people in two separate incidents.

He abandoned his car and stole that of one of his victims.

Bryant then drove north and stopped outside the general store.

He killed one person and took another hostage, then drove back to the house where the first killings had taken place, firing random shots at vehicles along the route and injuring a number of people.

At the house, Bryant set fire to the stolen car and took his hostage inside.

Through the afternoon and into the night Bryant exchanged shots with police officers.

He killed his hostage during the siege.

In the morning he set fire to the house and was captured by police as he fled from the burning building.

At first Bryant, 38, pleaded not guilty to 72 charges but days later changed his plea to guilty on all charges.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment with no eligibility for parole.

He lives in a hospital ward at Hobart's Risdon Prison, and his mother recently described him as an "overweight zombie".

Joanne Winter will not be among those at the commemorations, although Australian Prime Minister John Howard and some of the survivors and those who lost family and friends will be.

Ms Winter, now separated from her second husband and living in Auckland, said her family, including son Mitchell, would mark the day privately.

Barry Winter, father of the slain man, would say only that the events of the day were as sad now as then.

Official New Zealand representatives will be absent from the service as it is considered an Australian event.

Port Arthur Historic Site spokeswoman Wendy Kennedy said they would like to have kept the ceremony low-key. However the organisers were treating it as an opportunity for closure for the community and those touched by the shootings.

"There have been no invites sent out except for the official party but we will have seating for 1000," she said.

The theme for the service - Looking Forward-Looking Back - seems to reflect the community's wish to bring closure.

The cafe where much of the carnage unfolded still stands but is part of a memorial site, which includes a garden, reflection pool and memorial cross.

Today, candles will be placed in the pool at the service in memory of those who died. The service starts at 12.30pm (local time).

- NZPA