The day Australia lost itsinnocence

Ten years after he committed Australia's worst mass murder, Martin Bryant is still seared on the nation's psyche, his very name prompting a wave of revulsion.

On April 28, 1996, he shot dead 35 people in the island state of Tasmania, laughing in the faces of his victims as he killed them at point-blank range with a semi-automatic rifle.

When Prime Minister John Howard leads the 10th anniversary memorial service today at the Port Arthur tourist site, the killer's name will not be spoken.

'This was not just a tragedy for Port Arthur, or for Tasmania, it was a national tragedy,' said Edward Gauden, who helped counsel the tightly knit rural community that was devastated by the massacre. 'This was pre-9/11. We were pretty naive to the world. Australia lost its innocence that day.'

Today's service at the historic convict site will begin at 1.30pm, coinciding with the moment Bryant left his meal at the Broad Arrow Cafe, took an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle from his sports bag and began firing.

He stalked from table to table, ignoring the pleas of his victims, and killed 20 people in the cafe and adjoining gift shop in 90 seconds.

Bryant, a misfit 28-year-old with the IQ of a child aged 11, continued his killing spree outside the cafe, hunting down people at random in the car park, on tourist buses and the ticket booth, before fleeing to the nearby Seascape Cottage guesthouse, where he was captured after an 18-hour police siege.