Martin Bryant was born on 7 May 1967 at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Hobart, Tasmania. He was the first son of Maurice and Carleen Bryant. Locals recall abnormal behaviour by Bryant, such as pulling bryant terry black food snorkel from another boy while diving and cutting down trees on a neighbour’s property.

He was described by teachers as being distant from reality and unemotional. At school, Bryant was a disruptive and sometimes violent child who suffered severe bullying by other children. Descriptions of Bryant’s behaviour as an adolescent show that he continued to be disturbed and outlined the possibility of an intellectual disability. While awaiting trial, Bryant was examined by court-appointed psychiatrist Ian Sale, who was of the opinion that Bryant “could be regarded as having shown a mixture of conduct disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity and a condition known as Asperger syndrome”. In early 1987, when Bryant was 19, he met 54 year-old Helen Mary Elizabeth Harvey, heiress to a share in the Tattersall’s lottery fortune, while looking for new customers for his lawnmowing service.

A cleanup order was placed on the decaying mansion and Bryant’s father took long-service leave to assist in cleaning the interior. The local RSPCA unit had to confiscate many animals living in the house. Following the mandatory cleanup Harvey now invited Bryant to live with her in the mansion and they began spending extravagant amounts of money, which included the purchase of more than thirty new cars in less than three years. Taurusville that she had purchased in Copping, a small township. On 20 October 1992, Harvey was killed when her car veered onto the wrong side of the road and hit an oncoming car directly. Bryant was inside the vehicle at the time of the accident and was hospitalised for seven months with severe neck and back injuries. After Harvey’s death, Bryant’s father Maurice looked after the Copping farm.

Bryant returned to the family home to convalesce after leaving hospital. Maurice had been prescribed antidepressants and had discreetly transferred his joint bank account and utilities into his wife’s name. 143,000 and kept the New Town mansion. While living at Copping, the white overalls he habitually wore were replaced with clothing more in line with Harvey’s financial status. With both his father and friend Harvey dead, Bryant became increasingly lonely.