The Port Arthur massacre was shocking in every way but not least in the manner in which Martin Bryant showed no mercy, shooting Nanette Mikac and her daughters Alannah, six, and Madeline, three, even as she begged for her children to be saved.
On that deadly day on April 28, 1996, Walter Mikac, a young pharmacist, had been playing golf while his family enjoyed a picnic at the historic site on the Tasman Peninsula, not far from their home at Nubeena.
When Mr Mikac learned of their deaths, he decided he just wanted "to go too".
Instead, Mr Mikac became an advocate for gun control and child safety.
Nine days after the shootings, Mr Mikac faxed a letter to Prime Minister John Howard, written on a flight from Hobart to Melbourne.
"I remember thinking, 'I just need to share with someone how devastated - the abyss, I suppose, would be the word - of where I am at the moment. What's the point of me even being here?'," he said, in Canberra on Thursday,
The correspondence that followed between Mr Mikac and Mr Howard gave the grieving father a focus and sparked national reform on gun control in Australia.
One of Mr Mikac's letters to Mr Howard said: "As the person who lost his wife and two beautiful daughters at Port Arthur I am writing to you to give you the strength to ensure no person in Australia ever has to suffer such a loss."
Now aged 61, Mr Mikac on Thursday donated the letters he wrote to Mr Howard to the National Museum of Australia.
He kept the originals for 27 years after faxing them in 1996 to Mr Howard's office. Written on a lined notebook in blue Biro, the letters were kept for almost three decades in an expandable file folder at his parents' home.
Neatly written and remarkably preserved, the letters urged Mr Howard to "be strong and act now".
The letters were received by the museum for its Defining Moments in History archives.
They will also be on temporary public display until July 16 in the Gandel Atrium.
The handover of the letters to the museum took place just days after a meeting of all police ministers agreed to a proposal for a new national firearms register which will be put to national cabinet next month.
Mr Mikac said the register had to be approved.
"It's been 27 years, most of the national firearms agreement has been put into place, but let's get that firearm registry and complete the work. Let's get that work done," he said.
Mr Howard was unwell and could not attend the event at the museum.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton spoke at the handover of the letters, both praising the leadership and courage of Mr Howard in pursuing gun reform and the selflessness of Mr Mikac as he strove for change in the depths of his grief.
"John Howard showed courage and determination in that moment of monumental national change," Mr Albanese said.
The Prime Minister also praised the support for the reforms shown by then-Labor leader Kim Beazley and, crucially, Nationals leader Tim Fischer, who passed away in 2019.
"For the National Party leader, it was particularly courageous to assert what was right in spite of Mr Fischer's base of support being extraordinarily hostile to what was proposed in these reforms," he said.
Sitting quietly in the audience at the museum on Thursday was Melbourne couple Gaye and John Fidler who were in the Broad Arrow Cafe at Port Arthur on the day of the massacre and still carry shrapnel in their bodies after being shot by Bryant.
The couple were on a trip from Melbourne with a big group of friends on the day of the massacre. Three of their mates were killed. They also, by chance, knew Mr Mikac from when he was a teenager, because he went to high school with their daughter.
Mrs Fidler, now 78, and Mr Fidler, 82, recalled running from the cafe and seeing Bryant get out of his car to shoot Mrs Mikac and the two girls.
They wanted to travel to Canberra to see the handover of the letters and support Mr Mikac.
"We're here for Walter," Mrs Fidler said. "He came around to our house a few days after Port Arthur to shed any light on what happened to Nanette and Alannah and Madeline because we were running towards them and I had an asthma attack and couldn't breathe. That stopped us running, otherwise we wouldn't be here either."
One year after the massacre, the Alannah & Madeline Foundation was launched by Mr Mikac and volunteers in honour of his daughters, "driven by the belief that all children and young people should be able to live a happy and safe life, free from violence and trauma".
Twenty-six years later, the foundation still works to protect children, in areas from family violence to online bullying.
In the 2018 Australia Day honours, Mr Mikac was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for "significant service to the community as an advocate for gun control, and to the protection of children through social welfare programs".
He remarried and has a daughter Isabella, now 21, and his partner is Bridgette Pinnock who also attended the museum event.
National Museum director Dr Mathew Trinca said the letters between Mr Mikac and Mr Howard were "incredibly important".
"They exemplify the courage that two men showed at a point of extraordinary challenge and distress in our national life," Dr Trinca said.
"The museum is so proud to be accepting these letters but than that we feel a great deal of responsibility to this history, to Walter Mikac and indeed, to former prime minister John Howard for the courage that they showed at that moment which then changed the course of our lives in this country."
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