Story summary
In 1996, Port Arthur experienced Australia's worst mass shooting, resulting in the deaths of 35 people. Wendy Scurr, a first responder and former St John's ambulance officer, played a crucial role by training staff in first aid to help save lives during the event. However, after the tragedy, Scurr struggled with PTSD and felt abandoned by society as media attention waned. She became an advocate for mental health support for herself and other first responders but later embraced conspiracy theories online.
Jared Nicholson, co-director of a documentary called Aftermath, discovered Scurr's story while in his own dark place, influenced by far-right podcaster Alex Jones. He found that Scurr's experience mirrored the emotional harm felt by many after such tragedies, especially regarding insufficient support systems. Nicholson emphasizes the impact of these events on survivors and helpers alike, noting how online echo chambers can exacerbate existing mental health issues.
Written for “Rebuilding After Mass Shooting” on 2026-10-13,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
There was a time when Aftermath co-director Jared Nicholson was in a dark place, getting most of his "news" from far-right podcaster and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
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Nicholson → be → Jones
"You're in this echo chamber," he says.
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he → say → chamber
"It formed my entire worldview."
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It → form → worldview
It's how he first encountered video footage of the late Wendy Scurr.
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he → encounter → Scurr
She was a first responder during the Port Arthur massacre on April 28, 1996, which remains Australia's worst mass-shooting event in modern Australian history, claiming 35 lives.
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which → remain → lives
Scurr worked at the historic site's information centre.
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Scurr → work → centre
A former St John's ambulance officer, she trained many of the staff in first aid.
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she → train → aid
They fought to save as many people as possible.
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"She was a hero," Nicholson says.
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Nicholson → say → ?
Taking a dark turn
The event left a long shadow for survivors and those who aided them.
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who → take → them
As the news cycle moved on, Scurr felt abandoned.
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Suffering from PTSD and unable to work, she campaigned for proper mental health care for her and her fellow first responders.
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she → suffer → her
Tragically, Scurr fell down a rabbit hole, following wildly untrue conspiracy theories that sprung up in the wake of Port Arthur.
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that → fall → Arthur
It was while in a similarly dark online space that Nicholson encountered Scurr.
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Nicholson → encounter → Scurr
"Every time there was a mass-shooting event, people would share this video of Wendy," he says.
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he → be → Wendy
While Scurr was offline, Nicholson managed to track her down.
"
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Nicholson → manage → her
Then began this three-year process of unpicking her story, becoming close and getting lost in everything."
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process → begin → everything
Premiering at the Adelaide Film Festival, the often-confronting Aftermath explores how a stoic, sensible woman like Scurr could find herself believing in such astonishing untruths.
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herself → premier → untruths
It's equally the story of how Nicholson withdrew from the abyss that threatened to swallow him too.
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that → withdraw → him
Nicholson's parents split when he was three.
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he → split → ?
His father was an evangelical zealot who talked in tongues, filling his young son's head with the terrifying promise of the rapture alongside conspiracy theories about Y2K and 9/11.
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who → talk → Y2
"I've got a son who's five years old," Nicholson says.
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Nicholson → get → son
"Had I said the same stuff to him, I could see how messed up he would be."
In documenting Scurr's story.
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he → say → story
Nicholson became increasingly troubled by her unfounded beliefs, pulling him deeper into a paranoid quagmire.
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Nicholson → become → quagmire
And then Scurr fell ill.
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Scurr → fall → ?
"I just had this belief that Wendy f***ing survived everything, she's going to survive whatever's next," he says.
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he → have → everything
"Then you get the call saying that she's passed."
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she → get → call
Telling tricky stories
Mourning Scurr and feeling increasingly lost, Nicholson turned inwards, examining his own fraught childhood and experiencing mental health issues.
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Nicholson → tell → issues
"I had my mental reckoning, a year or so after Wendy's passing, and that was when I started to reflect on my own childhood and go, 'Wow'."
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I → have → childhood
He reached out to seasoned documentarian Ben Lawrence (Ithaka, The People vs Robodebt) for help in shaping Aftermath.
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He → reach → Aftermath
"Ben was that person to try to help me make sense of what the hell this thing could be."
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thing → try → sense
"When Jared first approached me, the story kind of scared me," he says.
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he → approach → me
"I certainly went in thinking this was going to be a really difficult story to tell.
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this → go → ?
But difficult does not equal unworthy.
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difficult → equal → unworthy
"It's critical that we, as filmmakers, tell stories that frighten us," Lawrence says.
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Lawrence → tell → us
While that was a very different scenario from that shown in Aftermath, some of the harm caused has parallels, particularly around what some people feeling the lack of sufficient support.
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some → show → support
"When something like this happens, you need society to be able to rush in and take care of the most vulnerable," Lawrence says.
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Lawrence → happen → vulnerable
When that doesn't happen, otherwise sensible people can find themselves warped by disturbing conspiracy theories that can bend them out of shape.
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that → happen → shape
"It consumed Wendy," Lawrence says.
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Lawrence → consume → Wendy
"And then Jared tells me about his childhood, so you have these two characters in freefall.
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you → tell → freefall
…and 13 more, not listed.
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