Port Arthur gunman Martin Bryant's motive revealed in unearthed psychiatrist report
Bryant was just 28 years old when he brutally murdered 35 people and injured 23 others during a two-day rampage around the Tasmanian tourist town in April 1996.
He started his killing spree at the Seascape Cottage, owned by his first two victims David and Noelene 'Sally' Martin.
The violent rampage ended there too when the psychopath set the house alight in a bid to escape waiting police who were camped outside.
Now 58, Bryant is serving 35 consecutive life sentences in Risdon Prison Complex. He will never be released.
News Corp Australia investigation has obtained four reports from interviews Bryant had with mental health experts after the shootings.
One of those reports includes the details of an almost four-hour interview with forensic psychiatrist Paul Mullen about six days after the massacre, in which Bryant said his murder plot started with his hatred for Seascape Cottage owners David Martin, 72, and Noelene Martin, 69.
The initial plan to kill the 'very mean' couple started about 12 months earlier and escalated to mass murder because he was furious people generally didn't like him, News Corp Australia revealed.
The feeling of hatred toward the Martins stemmed from Bryant's father Maurice Bryant's unsuccessful attempts to buy Seascape Cottage, also called Seascape Guesthouse. Maurice died by suicide in 1993. Bryant blamed the Martins for the downfall of his family.
After Bryant killed the Martins at Seascape Cottage, he ate at the Broad Arrow Cafe and then pulled a semiautomatic rifle out and began shooting. He killed 20 people in two minutes.
He shot more people on the way out and escaped in his car.
He then stole a BMW, killing its occupants. Bryant stopped at a petrol station, where he killed a woman and took a man hostage.
He returned to Seascape Cottage with the hostage. The following morning Bryant was caught after the guesthouse went up in flames.
Bryant used a range of semiautomatic weapons and the Port Arthur massacre led to significant changes in Australia's gun laws.
There was a near ban on all fully automatic or semiautomatic firearms, and a gun buyback scheme was initiated.
More than 640,000 firearms were handed in.
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