When a rock fall killed a miner and trapped two others in northern Tasmania in 2006 the small town of Beaconsfield attracted global attention.
But during the tense fortnight that followed it wasn't just Todd Russell and Brant Webb who were battling a kilometre underground in tunnels of brittle and weakening rock.
More than eight years later explosives expert Darren Flanagan, 48, still gets emotional recalling his role in the rescue.
"What we did down there had never been done anywhere in the world. It was terrifying," he told AAP.
Working with three others - Brett Chalmers, Scott Franklin and Jeremy Rowlings - Flanagan was responsible for laying a series of explosive charges to try and free the trapped duo.
"It was probably the most incredible physical and mental stress you could put your body through: being watched by the world with Todd and Brant's kids above (ground) waiting for their dads to come out," Flanagan said of his team's round-the-clock operation which lasted nine days.
Not far from the detonations a group of paramedics was stationed, in constant contact with Russell and Webb by way of radio line and video feed threaded through more than 15 metres of rock.
"Realistically we were expecting it to be a recovery mission rather than a rescue," Launceston-based paramedic Ian Hart, 53, said of when he was first called to the mine.
Along with 10 others Hart tried to care for the miners' physical and mental health.
"We worked to keep their spirits up but had to be mindful not to be too positive, not to get their hopes too high," he said.
The pressure was great at times.
Working shifts of up to 16 hours, Hart recalls thinking to himself at time "what the hell am I doing down here under all this unstable rock?".
"And when we got out there was a fair bit of media pressure."
Trapped for two weeks, Russell and Webb walked from the mine on May 9.
Colleague Larry Knight was killed in the rock fall.
For their efforts in the rescue the explosives and paramedic teams have each been awarded a group bravery citation announced on Monday by Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove.
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