Life on the West Island - History repeats

History repeats itself. So you might wanna pay attention - Quavo

In 1972 and 1977, two kidnappings took place at small West Island rural schools. The circumstances were eerily similar and captured the nation’s attention. Each was at a tiny school in a remote rural area of Victoria, with less than 10 students and a single young teacher. And in both cases, the kidnapper demanded a substantial ransom. What they also had in common was one man – Edwin John Eastwood.

The story began at Faraday, a small settlement about 40km south of Bendigo, with a population of less than 150 people. In October 1972, the Faraday Primary School consisted of just six girls aged between five and ten and their teacher 20-year-old Mary Gibbs. The school was housed in a single granite building dating back to 1869.

Around 3.30 pm on 6 October 1972, two armed offenders burst into the schoolroom, brandishing a shotgun, knives and chains. Edwin John Eastwood and Robert Clyde Boland then committed what became known as “the crime of the century,” as they bound and kidnapped the first-year teacher and her young students, driving them to a ditch some 60 kilometres away. Early next morning the Melbourne Age reported:

Six young schoolgirls and a teacher have been kidnapped at Faraday, six miles from Castlemaine and 70 miles from Melbourne. The kidnappers are demanding $1 million ransom. At midnight last night, the State Government announced it was prepared to pay the ransom.

Early today police had no idea where the children were being held. Assistant Police Commissioner “Mick” Miller said: “It’s the gravest situation of this kind in the history of the Victoria Police Force.”

Police have no idea if the kidnapers left the school by car or on foot. They left behind a ransom note written in ballpoint pen on white paper. The note read: “Delivery will be arranged. Will contact Lindsay Thompson (Education Minister) at police headquarters at 7.25 p.m. “Will not waste time making threats, but any attempt to apprehend will result in annihilation of hostages.”

The note demanded that $500,00 in $20 notes be put into three separate suitcases. The kidnapper also demanded the other half million be put into six suitcases in $10 notes.

In due course, the kidnappers nominated a drop-off point for the ransom, and the Education Minister was driven to the scene by Assistant Commissioner Bill Crowley masquerading as the minister's driver and armed with a hidden pistol. Future Chief Commissioner Mick Miller was concealed under a blanket in the rear of the car with a high-powered rifle. Thompson waited to personally deliver the ransom, but it was not collected. In the early hours of the next morning, the kidnappers told Gibbs they were going to collect the ransom and left her and the pupils.

When they were gone, Gibbs managed to kick the door panel out with her heavy, platform-heeled leather boots and escape with the children in the dark, finding help a few kilometres away. Eastwood and Boland were tracked down and captured by heavily armed Victoria Police officers after an extensive manhunt.

Both were tried for their crimes. Eastwood pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment, while Boland contested the charges and received a 17-year sentence. In 1973, Mary Gibbs was awarded a George Medal for bravery. But the story does not end there, with a repeat of history in the making.

On 16 December 1976, Eastwood escaped from Geelong Prison after stealing a car. Eight weeks later, he kidnapped a teacher and nine pupils from the tiny Wooreen State School in Gippsland. While making his getaway with the hostages, he collided with a truck and held the driver and his partner captive. Twenty minutes later, he waved down another logging truck before taking the driver and passenger hostage. He then commandeered a campervan with two female occupants and also took them hostage.

Finally, with sixteen hostages, he demanded a ransom of US$7 million, guns, 100 kilograms of heroin and cocaine, and the release of seventeen inmates from Pentridge Prison. But before any ransom was paid, one of the hostages escaped and notified police. Meanwhile, Eastwood had fled in the campervan with the remaining hostages. When the van was disabled by police gunfire at Woodside, Eastwood was shot in the knee and recaptured.

Eastwood pleaded guilty to 25 charges, including 16 counts of kidnapping. He was sentenced to 21 years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of 18 years, with Justice Murray ordering that the sentence was to be served concurrently with the balance of the sentence from the Faraday kidnapping; thus, the total effective sentence imposed in respect of both kidnappings was 25 years and 11 months' imprisonment with a non-parole period of 22 years and 11 months.

On 30 April 1981, Eastwood strangled convicted rapist Glen Davies in the exercise yard of Pentridge Prison and was charged with murder. He was subsequently acquitted on the grounds of self-defence, having been stabbed 10 times during the incident.

He was released on parole in 1990 but was soon back in jail after being convicted of a suburban factory burglary. He was eventually released in 1992 and now reportedly works as a truck driver.

So, did the West Island authorities learn from history repeating itself? Heritage Victoria reports that these abductions are said to have focussed attention on the lack of security for isolated single teacher schools and hastened the closure of rural schools with small enrolments. The Faraday school was shut down in 1976 and Wooreen closed a few years later. However, today there are still many small schools in isolated rural areas with only one or two staff and little security. Consequently, there is still a risk of history again repeating itself with another school kidnapping. Fortunately, no students or teachers were killed or seriously injured at Faraday and Wooreen, but perhaps if there is another such crime, the result might be more tragic.