 | This article possibly contains original research .(November 2023) |
This is a list of terrorist incidents in Australia where an organised group, or an individual claiming an association with such a group, attempts or plans an act of violence targeting innocents.
| Date | Type | Dead | Injured | Location and description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 September 1972 | Bombing | 0 | 16 | Sydney Yugoslav General Trade and Tourist Agency bombing - The bombing occurred in Haymarket, Sydney and injured sixteen people. [1] The perpetrators of the attack were believed to be Croatian separatists. [2] |
| 13 February 1978 | Bombing | 3 | 11 | Sydney Hilton Hotel bombing - a bomb exploded outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, which was hosting the first Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting. Two garbage collectors and a police officer were killed and eleven others were injured. As a result of the bombing, ASIO's powers and budget were greatly expanded. It was also a motivation for the formation of the Australian Federal Police. [3] |
| 23 December 1982 | Bombing | 0 | 0 | Sydney Israeli Consulate and Hakoah Club bombings - The two bombings occurred within the first five hours of each other. The initial case led to a single arrest though charges were later dropped. In 2011, the NSW police and Australian federal police reopened the case citing new leads. [4] [5] [6] [7] |
| 23 November 1986 | Bombing | 0 (+1 perpetrator) | 0 | Melbourne Turkish consulate bombing - a car bomb exploded in a carpark beneath the Turkish Consulate in South Yarra, Victoria, killing the bomber who failed to correctly set up the explosive device. Levon Demirian, a Sydney resident with links to the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, was charged over the attack and served 10 years. [8] |
| 17 June 1995 | Bombing | 0 | 0 | 1995 bombing of the French Consulate in Perth, Western Australia - terrorists firebombed the French Consulate in Perth. [9] |
| 16 July 2001 | Shooting | 1 | 0 | Abortion clinic attack (2001) - Peter James Knight, described as an "obsessive anti-abortionist" who lived alone in a makeshift camp in rural New South Wales, attacked the East Melbourne Family Planning clinic, a privately run clinic providing abortions, carrying a rifle, and large quantities of kerosene and lighters. He shot and killed a security guard at the clinic before his capture and arrest. He was charged and convicted of murder, and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 23 years. Though Knight was not charged with any specific terrorism offences, Australian terrorism academic Clive Williams listed the attack amongst incidents of politically motivated violence in Australia. [10] |
| 29 May 2003 | Attempted Hijacking | 0 | 3 | QantasLink Flight 1737 - An afternoon Australian domestic flight from Melbourne Airport to Launceston Airport, which was subject to an attempted hijacking. |
| 4 August 2009 | Planned Attack | 0 | 0 | Holsworthy Barracks terror plot - Five arrested for an Islamist terrorist plot uncovered in August 2009 targeting Holsworthy Barracks—an Australian Army training area with automatic weapons. Given lengthy prison terms, the judge called them an ongoing threat to society as long as they were unrepentant of their jihadist attitudes. Connected with the Somali-based terrorist group al-Shabaab. [11] |
| 23 September 2014 | Stabbing | 0 (+1 perpetrator) | 2 | 2014 Endeavour Hills stabbings - 18-year-old Numan Haider stabbed two counter-terrorism officers in Endeavour Hills, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He was then shot dead. He had just recently had his passport canceled for fears he would join ISIL. Haider was carrying two knives and the Black Standard flag. [12] |
| 15 December 2014 | Hostage Crisis and Shooting | 2 (+1 perpetrator) | 4 | 2014 Sydney hostage crisis - Man Haron Monis, a lone gunman, held hostage ten customers and eight employees of a Lindt chocolate café located at Martin Place in Sydney, Australia. The Sydney siege lead to a 16-hour standoff, during which 3 gunshots were heard from inside over a period of time. The first two shots were fired in the general direction of fleeing hostages and were left unopposed by on scene police command, however police officers from the Tactical Operations Unit stormed the café after reports the third shot was the execution of hostage Tori Johnson. Hostage Katrina Dawson was killed by a ricocheted bullet fragment in the subsequent raid. Monis was also killed. Three other hostages and a police officer were injured by police gunfire during the raid. |
| 2 October 2015 | Shooting | 1 (+1 perpetrator) | 0 | 2015 Parramatta shooting - 15 year old Farhad Khalil Mohammad Jabar, an Iraqi-Kurd, shot dead Curtis Cheng, a civilian employee of the New South Wales Police, before being shot dead by a New South Wales Police special constable during a shootout. [13] |
| 7 April 2017 | Stabbing | 1 | 3 | 2017 Queanbeyan stabbing attacks - On 7 April 2017, a pair of 15 and 16-year-old boys entered a service station in the small town of Queanbeyan in NSW and stabbed 29-year old Zeeshan Akbar of Pakistani descent and Zeeshan soon died at the scene. Three other men were also attacked and injured at the scene. The 16-year old's mother had told police that she believed that her son had been radicalised in recent weeks and that he sympathised with Islamic State and had also posted concerning posts on Facebook. |
| 5 June 2017 | Hostage taking, shooting | 1 (+1 perpetrator) | 3 | 2017 Brighton siege - Yacqub Khayre shot dead a Chinese-Australian receptionist in a serviced apartment complex and took a sex worker hostage in Brighton, Victoria. Police officers were involved in gunfight with Khayre who was shot dead and three officers wounded. ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull described the incident as terrorism, however Victoria Police warned that there was no evidence to suggest he was acting on orders given from overseas. Khayre had previously been charged in relation to the Holsworthy Barracks terror plot but was acquitted in trial. He had recently been released on parole. [14] |
| 9 November 2018 | Stabbing | 1(+1 perpetrator) | 2 | 2018 Melbourne stabbing attack - An attack that took place in Melbourne, when Hassan Khalif Shire Ali set fire to a Holden Rodeo utility on Bourke Street in the city's Central Business District. He then stabbed three pedestrians, killing one and wounding the other two. During the attack, the Holden "exploded" from the fire. Hassan Khalif was shot in the chest by a Victoria Police officer and died in hospital. |
| 12 December 2022 | Shooting | 3 (+3 perpetrators) | 2 | Wieambilla shootings - A religiously motivated terrorist attack which involved the ambush and killing of police constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow, and neighbour Alan Dare, at a rural property in Wieambilla, a locality in Queensland. The three perpetrators, brothers Gareth and Nathaniel Train, and Gareth's wife, Stacey Train, were subsequently shot and killed by responding police. The shootings were labelled as Australia's first fundamentalist Christian terrorist attack. [15] |
| 15 April 2024 | Stabbing | 0 | 5 | 2024 Wakeley stabbing - A 16-year-old assailant stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel during a service at Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Sydney, Australia. The incident was broadcast live. While investigations are ongoing, authorities suspect religious motivations behind the attack. |
