Author and survivor Robyn Howarth recently published a book, Faraday - A Community Rediscovered, detailing her experience.
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On October 6, 1972, the small community of Faraday, 70km north of Melbourne, was changed for ever, as two men armed with a sawn-off rifle took the community’s most vulnerable residents hostage.
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Six young girls, and their young female teacher, were kidnapped from their small schoolhouse.
One of those children was Robyn Howarth who, some 53 years later, is on a tour of Victorian libraries talking about her book Faraday - A Community Rediscovered, which tells the story of that fateful event.
In early 1972, the most exciting event in the young lives of the Howarth kids, growing up in rural Victoria, was the day their mother ran over Sally, their father’s prize sheep, with the back of the car becoming airborne.
Although the sheep survived unscathed, the innocence of three young girls was snatched away later that same year.
At the time, the kidnapping was described as the crime of the century.
In an effort to make sense of the events and to shed light on the loss of innocence, the effect of childhood trauma, intense media attention and the loss of her beloved school, Robyn put pen to paper and wrote an account of not only the events of that fateful afternoon but the aftermath of the ordeal.
Faraday - A Community Rediscovered tells the story of one of Victoria’s most notorious incidents.
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The book tells the story of how the innocence of an entire town, perhaps the whole of Victoria, was lost and changed for ever, not only the lives of the children and their teacher, but police and even politicians were transformed by the events.
Robyn has herself become a mother, grandmother, a community leader and a dedicated maternal child health nurse, overcoming the nightmares that invaded her sleep for years.
She has written the story through the lens of childhood trauma and innocence lost, depicting life on the farm with the stories that were important to her family, the heinous crime and its aftermath, and the long road to recovery and justice.
On Thursday, July 3 from 2.30pm to 3.30pm, Robyn will be at Benalla Library to talk about the book and provide insight into her ordeal.
Don’t miss your chance to hear this story told by someone who lived it.
The event is free, but people are asked to RSVP via 5762 2069.
