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Mass shootings are rare in Australia. Here is a look at some previous attacks

SYDNEY (AP) — At least 11 people were killed Sunday in a shooting attack during a Jewish holiday celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, police said.

Mass shootings are rare in Australia, where gun ownership has been tightly controlled since a massacre in 1996.

Here is a timeline of some recent shootings.

April 28, 1996

Gunman Martin Bryant killed 35 people and wounded 23 in a rampage at the Port Arthur tourist precinct in the state of Tasmania.

In the wake of the attack, the federal and state governments agreed to ban semiautomatic and pump-action shotguns and rifles. A gun buyback scheme saw more than 700,000 firearms surrendered.

In the decade before the massacre, there had been 11 mass shootings with at least four dead victims. There were none in the decade that followed.

Sept. 8, 2014

A farmer shot his wife and three children near Lockhart in New South Wales state before killing himself.

Dec. 16, 2014

Three people died when police stormed the Lindt Café in Sydney, where an Iranian-born self-styled cleric had taken 18 people hostage. The dead included hostage-taker Man Monis, shot by police, a hostage hit by fragments of a police bullet, and one who was shot by Monis.

May 11, 2018

A farmer killed six family members before turning a gun on himself in Western Australia state.

June 4, 2019

A man who was out on parole fatally shot four men and wounded a woman in the northern Australian city of Darwin.

Dec. 12, 2022

Six people died in a gunbattle at a rural property in Wieambilla, Queensland state. Two police officers were shot and killed by extremist Christian conspiracy theorists; the three shooters and one of their neighbors were shot dead by police.

Dec. 14, 2025

Gunmen opened fire during a Hanukkah ceremony at Bondi Beach, killing at least 11 in what authorities called a terrorist attack targeting the Jewish community.

Australian court bans man from contacting Norwegian princess studying in Sydney

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A 63-year-old man was banned on Wednesday from contacting Norway's Princess Ingrid Alexander or her family for two years as she studies at a university in Australia. David James Cook appeared in court where he was issued with a two-year Apprehended Violence Order that prevents him from entering the Sydney University campus, searching the 22-year-old royal online or contacting her or her family. Such orders are intended to prevent an individual from subjecting another person to acts of violence, intimidation or harassment. Cook told reporters as he left the Newtown Court House, in Sydney, that the order stemmed from a card he sent to Ingrid, who is second in line to the Norwegian throne.
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