Premier who put his life on the line (conservative politician who risked his life for others)

The Australian ^ | 18th July 2008 | Rick Wallace

[naturalman1975]

FORMER Victorian Liberal premier Lindsay Thompson, who has died at the age of 84, was praised yesterday for his humility and decency, but most of all for his bravery.

Mr Thompson, who held the top job for just nine months in the early 1980s, was chiefly remembered for his heroics in two kidnap dramas while he was education minister in the 1970s.

Liberal and Labor politicians also paid tribute yesterday to his integrity, decency and commitment to education.

A war veteran who rose from humble beginnings, Mr Thompson served as state education minister from 1967 to 1979, establishing a reputation for achieving reform through consensus.

.....

Mr Thompson's bravery and selflessness were demonstrated when he twice undertook to personally intervene to save children and teachers taken hostage by the gun-carrying kidnapper Edwin Eastwood.

The first time, in 1972, Eastwood had kidnapped a teacher and six pupils at Faraday in central Victoria. He demanded a $1 million ransom, and Mr Thompson personally delivered it to where Eastwood was holed up with the hostages. However, the hostages managed to escape before the ransom was handed over, and Eastwood and his accomplice, Robert Boland, were later arrested.

Five years later, when Eastwood was released from jail, he kidnapped a teacher and nine pupils in south Gippsland. Again Thompson intervened with the intention of offering himself in exchange for the hostages.

[naturalman1975]

One of my personal heroes. I was only 16 during the Faraday kidnapping and the idea that the Education Minister would personally put his life on the line to protect children in one of his schools deeply impressed me.

[Lancey Howard]

Five years later, when Eastwood was released from jail, he kidnapped a teacher and nine pupils in south Gippsland. Again Thompson intervened with the intention of offering himself in exchange for the hostages.

Hmm. This Eastwood is not exactly the brightest bulb in the knife drawer, is he?

[Uriah_lost]

Nor the sharpest spoon in the socket, I’d say.

This Thompson fellow sounds like a hell of a man though...
I wish I’d heard this story before.

[SolidWood]

It’s noteworthy that the Liberal Party in Australia is a centre-right/conservative party. Looks like the Commies haven’t hijacked the “liberal” in Aussieland yet.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2015027/posts?page=30#30