Hoddle Street Massacre 1987

The Hoddle Street massacre occurred on the 9th of August 1987, in Clifton Hill, Victoria, Australia. It was perpetrated by 19-year-old Julian Knight. He killed 7 and injured 19, mostly by firing at cars that drove by. He was captured by police, and sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 27 years. Shortly before he was eligible for parole the Victorian government made an amendment to prevent his release.

This particular massacre is significant in that it was the first of its kind in Australia, and likely inspired the Hungerford massacre and Queens Street massacre. There is also a documentary on the massacre that is relatively well made.



While I don't condone his actions I do find Julian Knight to be an interesting character. He had always been obsessed with joining the military and being in combat. He got into the Royal Military College, Duntroon at the start of 1987. He didn't get along with people there and was bullied. This culminated in the stabbing of a fellow cadet, which Knight was expelled for. Once he got back to Melbourne his girlfriend wouldn't see him and he found himself in financial trouble. The car which he was going to sell ended up breaking down. He walked to the pub, back home, got his guns, and started firing. Unlike most mass shooters who planned their shootings, Julian Knight snapped. Although it's no surprise that he snapped in such a way as he had been fantasizing about combat for most of his life.

The massacre received a lot of media attention in Australia, which Julian Knight loved. Apparently he reacted quite badly to the Queens Street massacre and Port Arthur massacre as it took attention away from him. It also brought his "military expertise" which he bragged about into question, as Frank Vitkovic and Martin Bryant both got a higher kill count without military training. Not to mention Bryant's IQ was 68 whereas Knight's IQ was 132.

He still pops up in the media from time to time and has a reputation for wasting taxpayer's dollars. He has made many legal challenges and thus been declared a vexatious litigant. He also has an iexpress page where he has written a number of articles, one of which is about his treatment at Duntroon. You can email him, though if you do, don't expect a fast response. I'd also refrain from mentioning the massacre if you want your email to be received.

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Also noteworthy is that he has written about the massacre from his perspective, which I personally haven't seen from any other mass shooter. However, I haven't been able to find the full piece, only what I have below.

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This is a somewhat brief overview of the Hoddle Street massacre and it's perpetrator, but I think it's quite overlooked considering it's significance at the time for Australia and the potential influence it had on other mass shootings that occurred the same year.

Interesting. I prefer Frank though, I wish there was more information on him. Julian is still interesting though. Especially that note. People would've expected him to write it like this:
[REDACTED]

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Knight says something to that effect at 35:34-35:54 in the documentary.

And about Frank Vitkovic, I've always found it odd that he is almost unheard of despite having killed more than Knight. He is also rather unique in that he killed himself by jumping out of a building rather than shooting himself.

I think people (and the media) found it easier to dismiss Vitkovic because he was insane, and dead.

log_1987 wrote:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Knight says something to that effect at 35:34-35:54 in the documentary.

And about Frank Vitkovic, I've always found it odd that he is almost unheard of despite having killed more than Knight. He is also rather unique in that he killed himself by jumping out of a building rather than shooting himself.

I think people (and the media) found it easier to dismiss Vitkovic because he was insane, and dead.

If I recall correctly I think people tried to disarm him and he fell out while trying to break free? It's also odd that he got a larger kill count with such a bad weapon, because I think he was constantly messing with it because something was wrong with it or something. His diary is also pretty interesting, you should read it if you haven't already.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] You're right that he fell off after breaking free, but what I read was ambiguous about whether he intended to fall off or not. Considering the fact that he was disarmed and that he intended to die that day, I've always interpreted his fall as intentional.

I'm not surprised that Vitkovic got a larger kill count than Knight despite having a faulty weapon, since the people he shot at couldn't escape. And about his diary, he reminds me of Elliot Rodger and Seung-Hui Cho. He laments about his loveless life like Rodger, and has a persecution complex similar to Cho, however, Vitkovic's writing appears more ordered than Cho's.

I was always more interested in Julian Knight more than Martin Bryant, probably cuz it reminds me a little bit of Hatred and happened during the night on a road? Idk, its just the setting of it all that interests me.