For the Love of teaching is a podcast brought to you by T starter, we think teachers hours each week by creating quality downloadable teaching resources for their classrooms visit teach starter.com to make your classroom Buzz warning this episode or for the love of teaching contains content. That's not suitable for children, please if you've got kids with you save this one for a little bit later welcome Rob and thank you so much for joining us on for the love of teaching. Thanks Bronwyn. It's great to be here. It's my honor. Oh good on you. Thank you. You're a great supporter of our new little podcast. So we really appreciate that. Now. The first thing I wanted to ask you is if you could tell us a little bit about your first teaching job. So how did you feel when you Finished at Teachers College and landed your first job straight off the bat great question. Yeah. Well, I done three years of what I thought was excellent teacher training at Bendigo College of advanced education and I was excited about my appointment to this one teacher school. Just out of Lee and gather in South gippsland Victoria. I knew I had nine children. I visited the school before Christmas and then I started my appointment. At the end of January started February met the school council president the first few days of school were awesome beautiful bunch of kids Keen as mustard diligent Cooperative. No fighting. No backbiting sounds like a dream class 9. Well the pretty much daily idealistic. Yeah. Oh, that's lovely. And so you studied for three years at College. How old were you the one? I'd finished. Yeah, my teacher training at the age of Thud started at 17 Vinnie you 12 at 17 and then started teacher teacher training at 17 finished at 20. Wow. So you're 20 years old. You've got this great job beautiful class idyllic country is location and one teacher school. So that's um, that's pretty exciting and it's all you in one teacher school, isn't it? That's right. Teacher PE teacher music teacher. Yep. Stir the works You're The Specialist of everything. So when when you found this dream job, what was the school like was at a big school was it? What's the location? Like? Yeah. So we're fairly remote. It was a very remote Area 15 kilometers north of Lee and gather bling gather was just a small town of about 6,000 people 5,000 people Dairy farming Community. The only thing This community was the school now the holes not church now tennis courts anything really just the school in the middle of this farming community. Did you ever feel isolated those first few days or was it you had the kids there and it felt busy enough. Well, that's right. The parents were in and out a bit. They weren't very far away. They had been welcoming. We'd had a welcome barbecue the in the second the second Wednesday of school, you know, I didn't feel lonely. My I had an older brother who'd already done a rural School schools, and I'd visited him in his settings now, I didn't feel real. I didn't feel lonely. Well, that's good. Okay, so now getting to getting to the day that changed your life forever as a twenty-year-old. So on your night stay of teaching February 14th 1977. Can you explain to us what happened on that day? Yeah, so I guess I should go straight to the crunch on it the children out for recess at 10:30 a.m. As normal and only seconds later. They came running back inside saying mr. Hunter. Mr. Hunter. There's a man outside with a gun. Ml which the door thinking not too much of it thinking that they were making a fuss about not too much and I was met by this balaclava hooded man with a gun pointing straight at my chest. Sweating profusely. He was puffing panting. He was a scary scary look get back inside or I'll Suture. Oh my gosh how terrifying to be confronted with that so unexpectedly. So how old how old was say the youngest child in your group you had two great one boys and for grade six children to grade fives. Yeah, those great one children were only six years of age. The grade sixes were eleven years of age. We're nine children altogether. Do you think that at that moment they fully The stood what the impact could possibly be with someone with a gun on the premises of their school? No, not at all. None of us had any idea what was happening. We just took it at face value and we none of us had any experience anything like this. We just thought that it was a bit weird. So we just had to fly by the seat of our pants Bronwyn and and essentially we did what we were told. Yeah, which actually probably Is the safest thing to do and the most and staying calm was your biggest savior? I guess what really looked after you with all those kids. So what happened next what he says he told you to get inside and then what happened next? Yes. So we all went back inside. We sat down in our seats. He instructed me to sit in a particular seat. Don't move my or I'll or I'll shoot you then he began to speak to the children and explain. What he wanted I think it all went over my head. But essentially he was saying that he was going to take us away because he wanted some demands met and then before too long he chained us all up starting with me. My wrists were chained by this what I described as a dog chain with a padlock. I was forced to lie down on the floor in the front of the school while all the children were watching and then he They chained me up. It's horrifying chewing my chain to the sunshine. Oh my gosh side come prepared. He had the all this Gear with him. Yeah, very well prepared and because he'd already done this same feat five years previous at farraday Primary School neerja Long he'd escaped from prison to do me now. Yeah, he was well-prepared. He had his locks and his chains and ropes. It's and although that morning. He had gone to a previous another school to kidnap them that body but when he got there, there was extra Personnel so he thought okay, I can't do this one. I'll head to this next school which was called Halston and he took a wrong turn and ended up at my school. So I was third cab off the rank really bad luck, isn't it? You weren't even the plan B you are. Accidental plan say exactly and for something so life-changing, you know, you don't want sort of turn of events to put you in it. Like that's actually really incredible even that the fact that he hadn't planned to visit you and your kids so you mentioned that he'd already held up a school a country School previously five years previously gone to prison escaped prison. This is just unbelievable. This would never happen these days like it just seems so incredible that he He'd already I guess somewhat successfully done this but he hadn't had his demands met. What were his demands like this time? Where they what I reasonable demands or were they ridiculous demands? Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely ridiculous unreasonable ridiculous far-fetched and impossible to be met really by the state it included and perhaps the most ridiculous one was it included 17 prisoners friends of his that he wanted Revenge. Released from prison in to admit Aureus criminals including his accomplice from the previous kidnapping so so is quite you can sort of tell by this point when he's demanding things like having these criminals released is listed them by by name and some other things like a certain amount of drugs and some cleanly laundered money in a huge amount like you you're sort of thinking this guy's really unhinged he's not he's not right. That's right, and I didn't Realize it. I didn't know what those demands were until after the event actually so okay. Yeah, so he wasn't talking to you about this kind of stuff. He was just giving you the orders. Is that right? Pretty much it. He did say to me at one stage after while we were traveling sort of half an hour down the road. Do you think I'll get $40,000 ransom for you and just to show my naivety I when he set used that word Ransom, I'm thinking what's he talkin about? What's That mean yeah, it was just random left field out of my experience. I was as green as they come as a 20 year old had a fairly sheltered upbringing excellent teacher training. I thought I was going to be a great crash shot teacher, but I was not prepared for that day in 1977. No and most will no one would be really like, honestly you could have the best teacher training available and be the most amazing educator, but when it comes to protecting Acting nine kids that aren't yours, but they are kind of in your care. So they become almost like yours who really would be prepared for something like that. It's just it's just the mind boggles. Like I just can't imagine what was going through your head. So he's got you all in these chains and then he's decided he's going to take you somewhere. So how what sort of Transport did he have to take you so he has a utility the one-ton truck reminded of the Old State electricity commission vehicles of the time open. Always at the back at the last minute. He separated me from the children. He took my chains off and then blindfolded me and gag me and tied me up with my hands behind my back and I was thrust into the front of the vehicle and the children were thrust into the back ordered to lie down. I was on the floor of the front so that I couldn't be seen and then he drove and we drove for a good two plus hours before we had this accident that very nearly killed us all yeah, because he's absolutely Christ and he's driving along with 10 people in a you and I can imagine it would have been quite chaotic. There's little kids just fearful and terrified and and you're sort of powerless to help them. Well the kids like I've got little kids and I don't think my kids would last two hours in a car without a toilet trip. So were they like calling out do they need help to they need anything with a thirsty? Yeah. Well this This was the worst part of the whole trauma. I think Braun it was awful. We're going on a dirt road the whole time. We're pretty much on a dirt road called the Grand Ridge Road, which is on top of the stress Leckie ranges in in that part of South gippsland down around going miles too fast skidding around corners the children were I get I could hear them. Banging against the side as they were flung unsolved aside and similar things were happening for me on the floor as well. Yeah, but it wasn't wasn't long before we all we were vomiting a lot of the children vomited. I vomited in the front. Yeah, we made messes ourselves and it was the children are though they were calling out and saying stop stop will be on a drink of where we're bombing. When are we gonna get there? But we only went and he just had no regard for anyone else in that vehicle. Just totally fixated on his own agenda. It sounds like correct, correct. Yeah, so I was talking to you a little bit and then when you finally did arrive at the destination, he'd pre-planned where he was going to take you that's right. So not far from well, that was I guess that's another that's a second part of it, but we we drive. For almost two and a half hours and we plow into this logging truck. Oh gosh. Yes, I forgot about this whole incident. Yes the and this becomes a game changer up until that point. He had the children and I at his Mercy really we were his and things had been on his terms and I was feeling incredibly helpless and very much alone, and I didn't know What on Earth was going to happen and I actually thought I was going to get killed or got rid of pushed out the side of the vehicle may be a bullet through my head or or something like that, but we came across this hairpin Bend. I don't know what's happening here because I'm blonde blindfolded by this stage the gagged come off my mouth so that he could have these conversations with me. And thankfully I was able to vomit without the gag, but we go around this hairpin Bend and we ran it run into this timbered. Gingka armor on a precipitous Road where there's a massive drop down the side and our left half the left hand side of our vehicle is hanging over the edge of the road Godly by of solid or a five inch square White Post stopped us from going over the edge we done they're all got killed at that point that the driver of that truck. His name was Robin Smith and he becomes the hero not at this moment. Site waited for his time. But the nine children. I love this man because he risked his life, but some hours later to save us and he is a hero. Yeah, so he actually bought it his time for a little while very sensibly. So he what happened to Robin Smith. Did he leave that scene and you guys continued on? Yeah. Well, no, they he was kidnapped along with the rest of Of us then the we're in the vehicle at what at this accident we can't get out children are locked in the back. I'm locked into France Eastwood the kidnapper kidnaps the tube these two truck drivers two blokes in that truck. Also, Robin had a passenger yet. Robin had his little brother with him that day which was once again a random thing. Yep wasn't planned of just a spontaneous that he had his little brother with him. So here that those two were kidnapped forced to lie down on the road. And ultimately the chains that would been around the children within attached to those two trapeze and I was forced to lie down on the road with them. Once it got me out of the vehicle. Those three men lying on the road and we waited children at by that stage been got out of the vehicle through a side know that he has smashed to get them out, but he couldn't get to the back of the vehicle. It's hanging out with Griffin a precipice and Glass Broken Glass had gone. On anywhere everywhere in that that process of getting them out and we waited and then another truck came along with two more men that they got kidnapped as well five men chained lying down face on the dirt road and he still wielding his gun around and threatening you that's right. I'm thinking oh he's going to give up now or you'll go home and you'll give up your leave because there's five men nine children and him and his Vehicle for him to continue his because our vehicles wrecked. Yeah. The logging trucks are no good for an taking us all we waited for another hour. And that's how remote we were in this spot. What's up, Rob? What time of day was this by now? Yeah about two o'clock by now that's been going on for four hours five hours. That's right. So it ended their classroom at 10:30. Yep. We thought we'd left the school at about five past ten past eleven. It's now 2 p.m. And we're wondering have on it. This is going to end what sort of vehicle could possibly come along that we could eat stay together or that he I'm sure he had no idea either but thankfully and this is all incredibly providential two beautiful women to what I call in the book that I've written two angels came along. Yes, perfect description. In a camper van and a Combi van and pile the stall him to he was able to pile us all into that van with those two women. So now he's got seven adults captive and nine children taste crazy just he must have just thought he was invincible at that point. It's just crazy stuff. It's unimaginable everyone who he is this thinks this is so ridiculous. It's just the weirdest story, you know. They say truth is Stranger Than Fiction. This is just a beautiful story I've ever heard. So okay. So the two women the five men and the nine kids are all in this little Combi van and there's a picture of it in in your book so day9 at worry in which if anyone wants to purchase that book it's online on your website kidnapped teacher talks.com you guys in the combi van what happens next? So we drive for another almost two and a half hours to his Appeared campsite near a place called Woodside but which is not too far from yerim in the middle of a forest Mullen Jung State Forest and we thought we were pretty remote all day. Well this but was even probably just as remote and the middle of a state forest. That's scrubby bushy quite a bit flatter than the previous mountains that we've been going through and for kids, that would be a very scary and Environment. Yeah, so we spend the night in this camping spot that he's prepared. The seven the five men are chained around the tree us five minute change around the tree the two women are left with the children, which is just a godsend because they are able to love these kids and the kids have been supported so well by those two ladies, I've been separated the whole time from the children and they are able to bed down for the night with These two mothers if you like. Yeah certain amount of security. I would have been missing their own parents so much by this stage. So it really is amazing that they had had them there to just I guess Sue's them like a like a mom like an angel in your book. Yeah. That's it. That's it. So we spend the night there and it's during the night that Robin Smith very heroically and smartly. It's explained. It's a long process to explain but he's able to get his chat hand out of the chain without the Eastwood knowing without the kidnapper knowing and then he will bides his time waits until around about five o'clock in the morning and he's able to creep off when he's fairly confident that Eastwood is is probably asleep. He doesn't know that Beast was asleep. He risks his life at this point and creeps off. Risking a bullet that would have surely been his so for 42 years now Bronwyn, we've been thanked or the nine students and I have been thanking our lucky stars for Robin Smith and we only reunited with him two years ago at a 40-year reunions. We had that's another story in itself really, but we are just so thankful for Him. Yeah, he's a he's a flipping hero. Yes. Well, it sounds like there were a few heroes in this story Rob and definitely Robin was one of them. That was a very very brave move to make and yeah, it paid off in the end. So he's taken off to alert the Police or like obviously there were no mobile phones back then no one had any method of communication. How did he manage to raise the alarm really? So He had to run Arendt in kilometers. He's no long-distance Runner. He's Truckee. He had his work boots on you ran 10 kilometers to the nearest farm house to make a phone call. Yeah, he'd hope that maybe he could get the police back to our campsite before Eastwood woke up, but not caught not knot. So he had successfully made the phone call and got police to come to him and he was Guiding the police to us in the meantime Eastwood woke up and all hell broke loose because he realized it Robin Smith had escaped. Yeah. So we all get bundled back into that Combi van, right and off we said again at ridiculous speeds. So he's Furious by this stage and raged and not really a hundred percent with it anyway, and then he's taken off with you again. Hmm, so it just keeps going. That's true. Right, that's real and very scary and this is probably the scariest moment, but there's a few scary moments, but this was certainly one of them and so to cut a long story short. We have the high-speed chase along the South gippsland Highway with the police in Pursuit, and we're going through roadblocks and there's gunshots being exchanged. So he's shooting at the police cars. He's shooting at the police and the police is trying Stop us by shooting out our tires the police Miss. There's bullets go in places that should never have had bullets go through but did any of us get hit? No, that's a miracle absolute Miracle. We were protected again incredibly thankful for these things and eventually our tie gets shot out and he has to stop along the road and he gets out and surrenders to the police and he's he's he's captured. No that must have just been the most amazing sense of relief for you that you and all of those kids had survived that and how did you feel when you realize that it was over? Yeah, well, I'm very thankful. Incredibly thankful for I'm for Robin Robin Smith, but also for the police who they was just seemed like hundreds of them around it's an exaggeration, but they were everywhere. Yeah, and they were there ready to risk their lives as well to say this. In fact a couple of them did risk their lives to arrest him rest the kidnapper. As it turns out. I don't think they were in terrible danger, but they were ready to be heroes vote. Yeah, we got out of it safe. No, none of the children were physically hurt and I wasn't physically hurt the other kidnapped people weren't physically hurt but we were all traumatized emotionally. Well, that's right. It doesn't sometimes the injuries from something like this don't appear on the surface and sometimes they don't appear. For some time afterwards, it's wrong. Now when you think back to 1977 was trauma or PTSD or any of these terms where they considered where they even around with a thing. That's right. Yeah. We know the answer to that don't we never heard of those things? Nothing. There was no such thing as counseling we weren't offered counseling there was no opportunity. T to talk through what happened there was not well there were psychologists around in those days, but you had to be a had to be a real habit serious issues before you ever went to be referred to a psychologist. And yeah, so we all got back on the horse. I went back to school four days later. That's that is actually when I read that part. I was really shocked because tell us what your Tell us what your Superior said to you about about returning to work after this traumatic event had occurred in your life. So back in those days you had your District inspector or Udi and my DIY his name was mr. Bull and he was a bit scary and I was in or of him I suppose but we got saved on the Tuesday returned to the school Tuesday evening. He met me at the school and said look, I think you should have the rest of the week off Rob the rest of the week Thursday Friday and return to school on the Monday. Oh Rob and no offers of counseling no real time off. So you basically they said to you you you're on your own to deal with this and the kids and the families what we know about trauma now as Educators is that if a child is experiencing trauma as Have places we can refer them. We've got Specialists that we can help them with and and back then it was just all you I guess you had these kids turning back up to school. Some of them return. Some of them didn't did you talk to the kids about what had happened? Yeah, we talked about it a little bit. I really once again, I didn't know how to handle all this because I didn't want to make too much of it. I wanted to get on with things but I didn't want to ignore it either. I can remember us doing a little writing process at one stage. Yeah, which I think perhaps was would like to think was healing for the five remaining children. Only five. Yeah 5 of the four eldest. The cream of the crop went into leading gather the big school in my preparation for high school. Also they left as a result of this occurrence or because they were okay. Yeah. Yeah, they've been they've been some some talk of whether they are some of the children might have gone in the previous year, but out of loyalty to the community that is older kids had stayed at the school. Okay. So in some ways as the timing was right for them to go into the big school. Yeah into lean Gaza. Yeah those for old eldest grade 6 3 grade sixes in one grade 5 went in to linger. Yep, and I guess maybe back then the thought was to just the best healing process is to just move on with your life and to not dwell in the past too much exactly and it's a pretty easy thing. I think to just you know chin up, you know get over it, but my Slowly and mentally that doesn't always happen to be the best way to deal with trauma. So what I'd really love to do is end today now, thank you so much Rob for joining us on for the love of teaching and sharing that incredible story about what happened on day nine at worrying your 9th day teaching and we're going to have you back next week and we're going to talk about how you made the most of this experience and how you're helping others now 200 overcome their own traumas through your kidnapped teacher talks where you go to schools and talk to teenagers about health after hurt. Thanks for awesome Brahmin. Thank you so much. For the Love of teaching is a podcast brought to you by T starter, we think teachers hours each week by creating quality downloadable teaching resources for their classrooms visit teach starter.com to make your classroom Buzz
Before most of us became teachers (and before many of us were even born), Australia was shocked by the brazen country school kidnappings of the 1970s. Rob Hunter, a 20 year old in his first fortnight of teaching, was confronted at gunpoint and kidnapped with his nine young students. Rob's (reluctantly) a true hero of our profession.Find out how his rational thinking and calm demeanour protected his students from physical harm during their captivity. In the absence of any formal trauma support, Rob drew upon his own inner strength to not only rise above his own trauma but to continue devoting his life to teaching in the aftermath of this horrific event. Rob, now retired after 42 years, spends his time educating teenagers on strategies for dealing with mental and emotional hurt in his program Kidnapped Teacher Talks.Rob's book, Day 9 at Woreen, is available on his website and at Booktopia.Have you subscribed to For the Love of Teaching? Don't forget! It means you'll be the first to know whenever a new episode is released.For the Love of Teaching is a podcast by Teach Starter. We make quality, downloadable teaching resources that save teachers hours of time and make their classrooms buzz! 