A MAN whose wife and two daughters were murdered at Port Arthur appealed yesterday for a ban on the type of semi automatic rifles used in the massacre.
Mr Walter Mikac, a Tasmanian pharmacist, from the central eastern coastal town of Triabunna, said in a televised interview that his life had been destroyed by the sight of his wife Nanette, and two children Alicia (6), and Madeline (3), lying dead on the road.
"In an afternoon my whole life has been erased," he said.
Asked what he would tell their killer, he said "I would show him the pyjamas of my wife and two daughters and ask him how on earth I'm going to keep living without them.
I actually went to the site yesterday morning to see my wife and children lying on the road.
"And people who have got guns and say we need to have these things ... He [Bryant] could not have killed 20 people with a normal firearm."
Another couple who survived the massacre said they find it hard to understand why their lives were spared.
"We're doing fine, physically. Psychologically, it's going to take a long time, I know," said Mr Dennis Olson, a US citizen.
"The first thought you have is it is not really happening. Then when you realise it is, you think about how you were going to be killed, then wonder why you weren't," he said.
Mr Olson (54), a lorry driver from Vancouver, Washington, survived the shooting by crawling through the back door of the restaurant. His wife, Mary (49), a gift store manager, pretended she was dead, and prayed.
"From the beginning to the end, there is no way to describe how you feel when you are in the middle of imminent death," Mr Olson said.
At Port Arthur's historic prison ruins, they had stopped at the Tasmanian holiday site's only cafe for lunch.
While they were standing in a queue for sandwiches, there was a loud bang.
I thought something in the kitchen had blown up, a pressure cooker or something," he said.
"Then everyone started yelling to get down and that someone had a gun. The shouting suddenly died down, apparently because people didn't want to draw attention to themselves.
"My wife lay down on the floor on her stomach. She couldn't move and do anything else but he there and play dead Mr Olson said.
The couple were behind a barrier separating the serving line from the cafe.
"I kind of got down in a low crouch, moving back and forth, because I didn't feel I could lie down," Mr Olson said.
He then looked over the barrier, heard a shot, ducked and realised he was bleeding.
Mr Olson crawled over to a man hiding under a table to see what was happening. His wife, he said, remained frozen on the floor, "lying there and praying".
Mr Olson heard the man next to him say, "He's gone," thinking that the gunman had left.
But he had only paused from his random firing. The gunman was three feet away and the other man's words drew his attention to the table, Mr Olson said.
"The gunman fired at him and killed him," said Mr Olson.
After the man was shot, Mr Olson said, he crawled back to his previous position and noticed a rear door in the serving area.
"I took off through the back door, wondering if the gunman would see me," he said.
As he crawled up a hill through bushes and trees, he heard more gunfire outside the cafe.
When he realised the gunman was some distance away, he returned, thinking his wife was probably dead.
"It was a tearful reunion," he said.
Mr Olson, who suffered minor shrapnel wounds to his left collarbone and forehead, was treated at a Hobart hospital and released. Mrs Olson was not injured.