Choosing Health After Hurt

In this second and final part of our conversation, and the first episode of What Would They Say, Rob reflects on the life that followed those two days in 1977 and the quiet, complicated aftermath of surviving something so public and so traumatic. He speaks about the years that came after the siege in Wooreen, Victoria, the lingering impact of being taken hostage by escaped gunman Edwin John Eastwood, and the responsibility he carried long after the headlines faded. But this chapter is not defined by fear. It is about what Rob calls “Health after hurt” — the deliberate, ongoing work of healing, understanding trauma, and choosing growth over silence. Now decades on, Rob shares how that experience shaped not only his life but his purpose, and how he supports others navigating their own trauma with empathy, steadiness, and hard-earned insight. This episode is a story of resilience, perspective, and the profound influence one survivor can have when they decide their pain will not be the end of their story.