Horror, Sleaze and Trash.

“ “If we could have people like Julian Knight and just keep them in a deep freeze until a war broke out, that would be an ideal solution.” ”

On August 9, 1987, 19-year-old Julian Knight turned Hoddle Street, located near the heart of Melbourne,... “If we could have people like Julian Knight and just keep them in a deep freeze until a war broke out, that would be an ideal solution.” On August 9, 1987, 19-year-old Julian Knight turned Hoddle Street, located near the heart of Melbourne, Australia’s business district, into his personal battleground, injuring 19 civilians and killing seven more. Knight’s “lifelong preoccupation with the armed services” began at a young age after he was adopted into an Army family when he was just 10 days old. He spent his early childhood living on Army bases both in the country and overseas until his parents divorced when he was 12-years-old. He first imagined what it would be like to kill someone at the age of 16 and soon entertained fantasies of dying a heroic death in combat.

 He envisioned himself a soldier in real historic battles, such as a member of the Wehrmacht during the Battle of Stalingrad or a French paratrooper besieged by the Viet Minh in Dien Bien Phu. There was also a desire to fight in ongoing conflicts. “I thought about East Timor, Irian Jaya, Philippines, Thailand, Burma, Afghanistan, Iran, Irag, Beirut, specially wanted to go to South Africa, Central America, anywhere where there was a shit fight on,” he said in his interrogation. To fulfill “his one and only ambition to be an officer,” he began training at the Royal Military College, Duntroon when he was 18. Despite performing decently, Knight did not respond well to authority, and he clashed often with his superiors. He said he was “bastardized” at Duntroon, citing one incident where he and a junior cadet were forced to deliver the senior cadets toast while crawling on their hands and knees across furniture, then made to swallow whole pieces of peanut butter toast. The power struggle erupted in violence on May 30th during a night out at the Private Bin tavern.

Believing he was going to get “bashed,” he stabbed a senior cadet twice in the neck, subsequently putting an end to his military career. Retreating to fantasy once again, Knight described in his interrogation how he hoped the shooting would produce the same result. He denied intending to kill the policemen when he shot at them, but that it was a provocation, so they would shoot back. He also wanted Australia’s special forces unit to arrive because had he been hit by police, he “didn’t particularly want to lie bleeding in the gutter with a .38 slug in my heart, coughing blood. I prefer SOG to take my head right off.” Instead of the honorable death he once envisioned, Knight surrendered and was later sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for 27 years.