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List of school shootings in Australia

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These chronological lists of school shootings in Australia that occurred at primary/secondary public and private schools, as well as at colleges and universities, and on school buses. The list does not include other methods of attack, such as stabbings or beatings with a blunt instrument. Excluded from this list are the following:

  1. Incidents that occurred as a result of wars.
  2. Incidents that occurred as a result of police actions.
  3. Suicides or suicide attempts involving only one person.

20th century

[edit]

20 incidents.

Date Location Deaths Injuries Total Description
6 March 1924 Hurstville, New South Wales 0 1 1 A 13-year-old brought a gun to school from his home and was showing it to 14-year-old James Eldridge when the gun discharged, seriously wounding Eldridge.[1]
18 July 1930 Nailsworth, South Australia 2[n 1] 4 6 After four convicts escaped Yatala Labour Prison, they were pursued by police in a running gunfight and eventually crashed opposite the Nailsworth School. Shots were fired between the prisoners and police in the schoolyard. In total, two perpetrators were killed and two officers and two civilians were wounded.[2][3]
19 November 1931 Longwarry, Victoria 1 0 1 8-year-old Clarence Budick was accidentally shot dead by another student who had found a loaded gun at North Longwarry State School.[4]
23 September 1943 Newtown, New South Wales 1 0 1 11-year-old Desmond Hoddle was accidentally shot dead at the Newtown State School.[5]
18 October 1945 Manly, New South Wales 1 0 1 Manly Junior High School student Robert James Alder accidentally shot 14-year-old Colin Boyd to death inside a classroom.[6]
11 April 1946 Sydney, New South Wales 0 1 1 14-year-old Graham Winslow was shot in the groin in a classroom at Naremburn Intermediate High School.[7]
27 February 1948 Gosford, New South Wales 0 1 1 A 13-year-old accidentally shot himself on the grounds of Gosford Primary School.[8]
31 August 1949 Tardun, Western Australia 0 1 1 13-year-old Charlie Joseph was accidentally shot at school.[9]
16 September 1949 Parkside, South Australia 0 2 2 A 10-year-old accidentally discharged a gun at Parkside School, wounding himself and a classmate.[10]
14 September 1951 Shepparton, Victoria 0 0 0 A person fired a shot into a classroom at Shepparton High School, narrowly missing a teacher.[11]
11 September 1952 near Barnes, New South Wales 0 1 1 A 19-year-old male fired a shot into a school bus from a passing truck, grazing a girl.[12]
6 October 1954 Enmore, New South Wales 1[n 2] 1 2 A man shot and wounded his wife before fatally shooting himself in the music room of Enmore Public School.[13][14]
26 June 1956 Hobart, Tasmania 1 1 2 Someone fired a rifle at students in the schoolyard of Bothwell Area School, killing 8-year-old Frances Gladys Mann and wounding another student.[15]
20 September 1960 Dandenong, Victoria 0 0 0 A 19-year-old man broke into Dandenong High School and barricaded himself in a classroom while firing shots during a three-hour standoff with police. The shooter's girlfriend eventually convinced him to surrender his weapon, and he was arrested.[16]
5 July 1967 Nudgee, Queensland 1 0 1 17-year-old John Francis Treacy was killed by a man at St Joseph's College, Nudgee. The shooter surrendered the following day.[17]
20 March 1968 Campbelltown, New South Wales 0 1 1 A 14-year-old boy shot and wounded another student outside Campbelltown High School.[18]
19 June 1991 Coffs Harbour, New South Wales 0 3 3 A Orara High School student fired a rifle at people on a sports field, wounding two teachers and a 12-year-old before being subdued by other students and arrested.[19]
31 March 1993 Banksia Park, South Australia 0 2 2 A 14-year-old Banksia Park International High School student fired shots into the administration building's doors and engaged in a three-hour standoff before surrendering to police.[20]
11 October 1996 Sunshine, Victoria 0 1 1 A six-year-old child accidentally fired a gun in the playground of Sunshine Heights Primary School after being given the weapon by an adult. Another student was grazed.[21]
3 August 1999 Melbourne, Victoria 1 1 2 A 38-year-old man opened fire at a bar on the campus of La Trobe University, killing a man and wounding another person before being subdued and arrested.[22]

21st century

[edit]

5 incidents.

Date Location Deaths Injuries Total Description
21 October 2002 Melbourne, Victoria 2 5 7 Monash University shooting: A graduate student at Monash University opened fire in a classroom, killing two students and wounding four students and a lecturer before he was tackled and disarmed.[23]
18 October 2005 Yiyili Community, Western Australia 2[n 2] 0 2 A 19-year-old shot and killed a 35-year-old man at a school before killing himself.[24]
7 May 2012 Adelaide, South Australia 0 0 0 A teenager took a revolver to Modbury High School and fired a shot, hitting no one. He and his father were arrested.[25]
24 May 2023 Two Rocks, Western Australia 0 0 0 A 15-year-old student armed with two rifles fired three rounds at Atlantis Beach Baptist College, hitting nobody. Police arrested him at the scene.[26]
30 May 2023 Macquarie Fields, New South Wales 0 0 0 A bullet struck a window of an occupied classroom at Macquarie Fields Public School.[27]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Including two of the perpetrators
  2. ^ a b Including the perpetrator or suspect

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "SCHOOLBOY SHOT". Week. 1924-03-14. p. 10. Retrieved 2025-05-05.
  2. ^ "Two Armed Convicts Shot Dead At Enfield". Register News-Pictorial. 1930-07-19. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
  3. ^ ""PLUMBERS ON ROOF"". News. 1930-07-24. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
  4. ^ "SCHOOLBOY SHOT". Daily News. 1931-11-19. Retrieved 2025-06-01.
  5. ^ "Boy Killed". Bowen Independent. 1943-09-28. Retrieved 2025-06-01.
  6. ^ "Schoolboy Shot". Barrier Daily Truth. 1945-11-07. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
  7. ^ "BOY WOUNDED, IN SCHOOL, WITH REVOLVER". Argus. 1946-04-12. Retrieved 2025-06-01.
  8. ^ "Boy Shot In School Yard". Daily Telegraph. 1948-02-28. Retrieved 2025-07-10.
  9. ^ "Schoolboy Shot". Daily News. 1949-09-01. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
  10. ^ "Boy took revolver from father's cupboard". News. 1949-09-17. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
  11. ^ "SHOT THROUGH SCHOOL WINDOW". Shepparton Advertiser. 1951-09-18. Retrieved 2025-07-10.
  12. ^ "SHOT AT SCHOOL BUS—BOUND OVER". 1952-09-19. Retrieved 2025-06-08.
  13. ^ "2 Shot at school". Courier-Mail. 1954-10-07. Retrieved 2025-06-11.
  14. ^ "Husband Dies After Shooting". Age. 1954-10-12. Retrieved 2025-06-11.
  15. ^ "Two Girls Shot, One Fatally, At School". Canberra Times. 1956-06-27. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
  16. ^ "Migrant Shoots At Police From School". Canberra Times. 1960-09-21. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
  17. ^ Kyriacou, Kate (2015-08-19). "Brisbane crime: The day murder came to Nudgee College". The Courier-Mail. Archived from the original on 2024-02-19. Retrieved 2025-07-10.
  18. ^ "GIRL SHOT OUTSIDE HER SCHOOL". Canberra Times. 1968-03-21. Retrieved 2025-07-10.
  19. ^ "Student Shoots Three Outside His School". Associated Press. 1991-06-19. Archived from the original on 2018-10-23. Retrieved 2025-06-01.
  20. ^ "Student charged after high school siege". The Age. 1993-04-01. p. 5. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
  21. ^ Silvester, John (1996-10-20). "Primary school shooting incident". The Age. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
  22. ^ Foley, Brett (1999-08-05). "Campus shooting death breaks hearts of a family". The Age. p. 6. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
  23. ^ Webb, Carolyn (2024-10-22). "He disarmed a gunman at Monash Uni after being shot twice. Now, he doesn't worry about little things". The Age. Retrieved 2025-05-05.
  24. ^ "Teenager kills man in school gun rampage". 2005-10-19. pp. Irish Examiner. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
  25. ^ "Shot fired from gun taken to Modbury High School". news.com.au. 2012-05-11. Archived from the original on 2013-08-01. Retrieved 2025-06-01.
  26. ^ "Australia jails first student for a school shooting". 2024-02-29. Retrieved 2025-05-05.
  27. ^ "Bullet breaks Sydney primary school window while children inside". ABC News. 2023-05-30. Retrieved 2025-05-05.
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