Overview
- Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff paid tribute to the rescue as a defining national memory and praised the teams who solved one geological hurdle after another to reach the trapped men.
- On Anzac Day in 2006, a rockfall killed miner Larry Knight and trapped Todd Russell and Brant Webb nearly a kilometre underground, and the pair were freed after 14 days on May 9, 2006.
- Rescuers inched through unstable rock under intense media scrutiny, while Russell and Webb’s dry humour during contact with the surface turned them into household names.
- The mine shut in 2012 and now operates as a museum, while Webb has built a quiet life renovating houses and Russell recently retired from decades of service in the volunteer fire brigade.
- Arete Capital Partners, which owns the site, states it aims to refurbish the workings and restart gold production by the end of 2026, a company plan that could reshape Beaconsfield’s economy if it proceeds.