1987: The Hoddle Street Massacre: Seven Dead in Melbourne Shooting Rampage
On the evening of 9 August 1987, 19-year-old Julian Knight opened fire on motorists and pedestrians along Hoddle Street in Clifton Hill, a suburb of Melbourne, killing seven people and seriously injuring 19 others. Knight had been discharged from the Royal Military College, Duntroon just 16 days earlier following a fight and stabbing at a bar. He returned home to find his girlfriend had left him and his mother had converted his bedroom. Armed with multiple weapons, he took to the street.
After a police chase lasting more than 30 minutes, Knight was caught in nearby Fitzroy North and arrested. He was later sentenced to seven concurrent life terms, with a non-parole period of 27 years, for what the presiding judge described as ‘one of the bloodiest massacres in Australian history’. As Knight neared parole eligibility in 2014, the Victorian Government amended the Corrections Act to prevent his release unless he was in imminent danger of dying or physically incapable of causing harm.
