A South Gippsland former school where nine children and their teacher were kidnapped at gunpoint by a prison escapee 46 years ago has sold.
The abduction of educator Rob Hunter, 20, and his nine pupils from Wooreen Primary School on Valentine’s Day 1977 made headlines across the nation.
The ex-Wooreen Primary School site featuring the old school and two sheds just sold for $450,000.
Ray White Leongatha, Foster and Sandy Point director Michael Hanily said the buyer was not too interested in the school’s history but “just loved the old building and the setting”.
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“It was purchased by a buyer who is going to do it up, restore the school and I think they are going to live in it,” Mr Hanily said.
Mr Hunter was on his first posting after finishing teacher’s college when students ran into the weatherboard school building at 590 Yarragon-Leongatha Rd, Wooreen, shouting, “There’s a man outside with a gun.”
A balaclava-clad man standing at the school’s door pointed a gun at the teacher and said, “I’ll f***ing shoot you.”
The man was Edwin John Eastwood, a 26-year-old escapee from Geelong Training Prison.
At the time, Eastwood was serving a 15-year sentence for the 1972 kidnapping of teacher Mary Gibbs and six young girls from a Faraday school, a crime he committed with another man named Robert Boland.
Eastwood later confessed the film Dirty Harry starring his namesake Clint Eastwood gave him the idea to take the children and demand a ransom.
Luckily, Ms Gibbs managed to smash a panel in the back of the kidnappers’ van with her platform-soled boots, allowing her and the girls to safely escape.
After being imprisoned for the Faraday kidnapping, Eastwood and fellow inmate, bank robber Michael Pantic, tunnelled out of their cells using a stolen butter knife.
Eastwood’s second kidnap attempt at Wooreen led to him chaining and padlocking the pupils, gagging Mr Hunter and forcing them into a covered ute.
Driving away from the scene, he collided with a truck driven by Robin Wayne Smith, who was with his brother.
Eastwood held his gun to Mr Smith’s head and took the two men hostage.
A truck driver and passenger who stopped at the collision, along with two women in a campervan, were also captured.
Eastwood ordered his 16 hostages into the campervan and drove them to a remote campsite.
He chained the men to a tree and let the women and children move around, threatening to shoot anyone who tried to escape.
But under the cover of darkness, Mr Smith loosened his chains and ran 10km to a farmhouse to raise the alarm.
In the morning, Eastwood realised he was missing a hostage and drove away with the others.
Police were soon following and exchanged shots with Eastwood, who was injured and captured.
Eastwood was charged and sentenced to 21 years with a minimum of 18 for the kidnapping.
Following the ordeal, Mr Hunter finished the teaching year at Wooreen Primary School and then moved to a new school.
The Wooreen school closed about a decade later when the state government began shutting one-teacher schools, and the 8071sq m block was sold to a man who used it for horse grazing and storage.
Mr Hunter visited the site when he was writing a book about the kidnapping titled Day 9 at Wooreen, published in 2018.
Now a grandfather and chaplain at Leopold Primary School, Mr Hunter also visited the former school’s owner in hospital.
“He sort-of apologised, I think, he felt guilty for letting it become a bit dilapidated,” Mr Hunter said.
He met with his former students, asking for and receiving their permission to write the book.
Mr Hunter said that he thought he had dealt with the trauma of the kidnapping but writing the book “made me go deeper”.
“A couple of times, I was sort of a bit of a mess realising that’s what had happened,” he said.
“My wife came home a couple of times and I was a bit angry and almost in tears.”
Aside from the book, Mr Hunter founded and presents a seminar series, Kidnapped Teacher Talks: Health After Hurt, retelling his story and giving tips to help others with mental health and trauma.
Mr Smith received an Australian Bravery Awards commendation for his actions in 2020.
Eastwood, who changed his name to David Jones, was released from jail in 1993.
In 2001, Queensland police arrested Jones after finding him in a stolen car containing flippers, a boogie board, paint, navigation maps, how-to-sail books, tools, two large knives, a sawn-off shotgun and rifle and an extendible baton.
Jones told police he was planning to steal a yacht and sail to the Philippines.
He was sentenced to seven months’ jail after pleading guilty to 10 charges.
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Originally published as Derelict former school where nine kids, teacher were kidnapped by prison escapee in 1977 sells
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