Naked City podcast: Country school kidnapping: A first-hand tale

The Naked City podcast will take a journey into the dark depths of the Australian criminal underworld. In this series you will hear recordings of some of Australia's most dangerous criminals, all of whom have been remarkably frank in their recollections.

There couldn’t be a more peaceful spot for a violent crime. It was the little Gippsland town of Wooreen where the one-room school had a rookie teacher and nine students and was an ideal place to grow up.

That was until on February 14, 1977, when prison escapee and convicted kidnapper Edwin John Eastwood turned up with a plan to abduct them all.

Teacher Rob Hunter with his class of nine students at Wooreen Primary School.Credit: The Age

The man in the balaclava walked into the school grounds and pointed the handgun straight at teacher Rob Hunter’s chest and said, “Don’t try anything f---ing smart or I’ll shoot you.”

It began an agonising and life-altering journey for the young teacher and his students – kidnapped at gunpoint and chained together by a prison fugitive who had done this before. In the next 21 hours they would experience a car crash, a night imprisoned at a remote campsite, an escape, a police pursuit, a shootout and a wounding before final rescue.

The children – six girls and three boys from six families – ranged from seven to 11 years old and grade two to six. They were, according to Hunter, “a dream – co-operative and well-behaved, from families who loved them dearly ... All different in their own ways, all full of potential. They were all so keen to please, eager to impress, willing to work and hungry to learn.”

Eastwood’s planning was so poor he tried the kidnapping at another country school but was spooked by the number of cars outside, before randomly choosing Hunter’s class. His ransom note had the name of his original target, Allambee, crossed out and replaced with Wooreen.

Before they were rescued he collected another six adult hostages – one, truck driver Robin Smith, would turn out to be the hero. He escaped from Eastwood’s rough camp and ran 10 kilometres in the dark to raise the alarm.