Brant Webb is cracking jokes and taking photos with star-struck tourists from the mainland.<\/p>\n
Standing only metres away is the yellow steel gate from which he and Todd Russell emerged into the frigid Tasmanian morning air almost two decades ago, embracing their loved ones as the nation rejoiced in their rescue.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Brant Webb became a household name after his rescue in 2006. (ABC News: Morgan Timms)<\/p>\n
“Time flies when you’re having fun,” said Mr Webb, 57, reflecting on the past 20 years.<\/p>\n
Late on Anzac Day in 2006, a minor earthquake caused a rockslide that claimed the life of Beaconsfield goldmine worker Larry Knight and triggered a two-week search and rescue effort that will live long in Australian memory.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tasmanian miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb emerged on May 9, 2006, after being trapped underground for 14 days. (Ian Waldie\/Pool: AAP)<\/p>\n
Mr Webb and Mr Russell became household names when news broke that they had been found alive, precariously trapped inside a cage deep beneath their shell-shocked community.<\/p>\n
In the years since, there have been films, books, countless interviews \u2014 and an unlikely friendship with rock ‘n’ roll royalty<\/a>.<\/p>\n Beaconsfield miner Larry Knight died in the rockfall.\u00a0 (Supplied: Knight family)<\/p>\n But despite his “low-level celebrity” status, Mr Webb has always tried to stay grounded.<\/p>\n He is now a proud grandfather who earns a living renovating houses, having found a way of processing the ordeal.<\/p>\n “The worst time is when your mind’s racing and you can’t sleep and you don’t understand why \u2026 but I’ve got a fair handle on all that now,” he said.<\/p>\n “It’s pretty amazing \u2026 your brain actually tries to get rid of a lot of stuff that isn’t good.”<\/p>\n He has not lost sight, though, of how lucky he is to be alive.<\/p>\n “When the seismic activity was all going, there were a couple of times when we thought \u2026 this is all going to fall in,” Mr Webb said.<\/p>\n “The rescuers are just phenomenal \u2026 for them to keep us alive for two weeks is pretty good.”\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘It can all just fall in’<\/p>\n Twenty years ago to the day, Greg Crowden was at home in Beaconsfield when he received a desperate late-night knock on the door.<\/p>\n But no amount of mine rescue training could have fully prepared him for the next fortnight.<\/p>\n “Initially, we just got some remote boggers [loaders] in and started bogging as far as you could into the mine \u2014 to the telehandler \u2014 where we thought we’d find them,” he said.<\/p>\n Greg Crowden has remained friends with Brant Webb.\u00a0 (ABC News: Mackenzie Heard)<\/p>\n Mr Crowden was “quite shocked” when they found two of his colleagues still alive, but “devastated” by the discovery of Mr Knight’s body.<\/p>\n He said the complexity of extracting the trapped pair could not be overstated.<\/p>\n “Imagine that a heap of rocks are just bound up on top of a basket, and if you pull a keystone out, it can all just fall in,” he said.<\/p>\n “Every time we fired to get to them, it was rattling all the rocks and that sort of thing \u2026 they were scared themselves in there.”<\/p>\n Greg Crowden embraced Brant Webb soon after he walked free from the mine in May 2006. (Supplied: Greg Crowden)<\/p>\n Mr Crowden was among the first people to communicate with his entombed colleagues after contact was made, passing on messages to Mr Webb \u2014 a close friend \u2014 from his wife, Rachel.<\/p>\n “It made my hair stand on end,” he said.<\/p>\n “Just to hear their voices, and having a chat … was just amazing.”<\/p>\n Mr Crowden said the rescue operation should be remembered as “a big team effort” with help coming from across the state and country.<\/p>\n “Everybody put their heads together to resolve a situation that was never done before,” he said.<\/p>\n ‘Shocked’ town bands together<\/p>\n A short and picturesque drive along the Tamar River from Launceston, Beaconsfield’s population in 2006 was about 1,200.<\/p>\n The goldmine was its economic backbone.<\/p>\n The then-West Tamar mayor Barry Easther was never a morning person, but for an unforgettable two weeks, he had little choice.<\/p>\n Barry Easther says he is proud of how the Beaconsfield community responded to the event.\u00a0 (ABC News: Morgan Timms)<\/p>\n A large part of Mr Easther’s role was dealing with the community’s unprecedented media attention.<\/p>\n Some national news crews were already descending on Tasmania for the 10th anniversary of the country’s deadliest mass shooting at Port Arthur.<\/p>\n “The number of media outlets that were represented here in Beaconsfield was just absolutely amazing,” he said.<\/p>\n “And I spent quite a deal of time speaking with them, starting very early in the morning.” In 2006, then West Tamar mayor Barry Easther was regularly updating the media pack.\u00a0 (Supplied)<\/p>\n Mr Easther remembered the palpable mix of shock, anxiety and relief among locals, who banded together to support the rescue effort through meals, beds, prayers and any other means necessary.<\/p>\n When the moment finally arrived, before dawn on May 9 \u2014 “Freedom Day”, in the words of Brant Webb \u2014 Mr Easther was speechless.<\/p>\n “They walked out with their arms in the air \u2026 and it was just something I couldn’t believe had happened,” he said.<\/p>\n “It was remarkable.”<\/p>\n Bill Shorten says his role as AWU secretary was largely to ensure rank-and-file miners were not blamed for the incident.\u00a0 (AAP: Dale Cumming)<\/p>\n In April 2006, Bill Shorten was a 38-year-old national secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union.<\/p>\n He was overseas when news spread of the rockfall. He still describes the subsequent fortnight in Tasmania’s north as among the “most massive events” of his life.<\/p>\n “You couldn’t walk past a tree without a cameraman falling out of the branches,” said Mr Shorten, now vice-chancellor of the University of Canberra.<\/p>\n He said his role was to be “an umbrella to deflect the blame” from rank-and-file miners.<\/p>\n Bill Shorten, now vice-chancellor of the University of Canberra, says the Beaconsfield mine rescue was a remarkable event in Australian history.\u00a0 (ABC News: Mark Moore)<\/p>\n The former Labor leader said Mr Russell and Mr Webb had “kept their end of the bargain” in the two decades since they walked out of the mine.\u00a0<\/p>\n “They have repaid their families who believed in them,” Mr Shorten said.<\/p>\n “They’ve repaid their workmates, they’ve repaid Australians who were cheering them on.<\/p>\n “The reason why they survived looks them in the mirror every day.”Museum honours mine’s past<\/p>\n In their own ways, both men have remained involved in the Beaconsfield community.<\/p>\n Mr Russell recently retired from the volunteer fire brigade after more than 30 years of service.<\/p>\n Brant Webb says the Beaconsfield community has supported him and his family over the past two decades.\u00a0 (ABC News: Morgan Timms)<\/p>\n Stream I Was Actually There on ABC iview<\/a><\/p>\n This bold six-part documentary explores defining moments of our recent history through the eyes, ears and voices of those who witnessed them firsthand.<\/p>\n Mr Webb still lives at Beauty Point \u2014 just down the road from the goldmine which ceased operations in 2012 and is now a popular museum.<\/p>\n Tourists have replaced the hard hats and hi-vis of yesteryear.<\/p>\n “Putting us back on the map, mate,” laughs Mr Webb.<\/p>\n He is “a regular” at the museum, mainly due to the requests for tours he receives from visiting family and friends.<\/p>\n His grandfatherly role is one he takes seriously.<\/p>\n “I’m just happy if I can see my grandkids and my kids, and have part of their life,” he said. The Beaconsfield mine stopped operation in 2012 and is now a popular museum. (ABC News)<\/p>\n His smile vanishes when discussing the death of his friend Larry Knight, which he described as a “catastrophe” that should never have happened.<\/p>\n “We cannot thank our rescuers enough,” Mr Webb said.<\/p>\n “I’ve got to take my hat off to them again \u2026 because without them, I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you.”<\/p>\n Listen to the extended conversation<\/a> with Todd Russell on the I Was Actually There podcast or stream the entire series of I Was Actually There<\/a> on ABC iview.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brant Webb is cracking jokes and taking photos with star-struck tourists from the mainland. 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