2014 Sydney hostage crisis
The 2014 Sydney hostage crisis, also known as the Sydney siege and Lindt Cafe siege, occurred on 15–16 December 2014 when a lone gunman, Man Haron Monis, held hostage ten customers and eight employees of a Lindt chocolate café located at Martin Place in Sydney, Australia. Police treated the event as a terrorist attack at the time, but Monis' motives were subsequently debated. However, the findings of the Coroner in 2017 deemed the event to be a terrorist attack.
M24 Japanese Midget Submarine wreck site
As at 18 October 2012, the M24 was of heritage significance to Australia and Japan and is the only Japanese midget submarine wreck located in Australian waters (the remains of two others from the Sydney attack being recovered). The site is the only in situ identified cultural relic surviving of the attack on Sydney Harbour in 1942. A complacent Sydney population awoke to the realisties of war and the event is strongly remembered today through the wider community. The M24 wreck is representative of Japanese submarine operations off Australia's eastern seaboard during the war and a direct physical reminder of the conflict at Sydney. Internationally, it represents one of only a handful of Japanese midget submarine wreck sites located in their unique underwater contexts. Remains of a further six are retained as static museum or outdoor display exhibits. The archaeological site is therefore of considerable importance in the comparative analysis of midget submarines wrecks discovered worldwide. The site also has the ability to contribute generally to studies of submarines as a specialised class of archaeological site type. Only limited archival information related to these vessels survives and therefore the archaeological record is of added importance. In regard to the three submarines that attacked Sydney Harbour, M24 is the only one retained in its original battle context and undisturbed, apart from the obvious effects of net entrapment and corrosion activity.