Webb rescued again, reveals new details of Beaconsfield disaster: ‘He rescued my mind, the other guys rescued my body’
Beaconsfield mining disaster survivor Brant Webb says now is the right time to reveal details he left out of his book after an alternative therapist ‘saved’ his mind. WATCH PART OF HIS SERIES HERE>>
The Launceston News
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BEACONSFIELD mine collapse survivor Brant Webb has been rescued again, but says this time it was his mental health that was in crisis.
Webb told the Mercury he is sharing new details of the 2006 disaster and his life afterwards in a YouTube web series called ‘Beaconsfield Mine – Brant Webb, 14 Days 14 Years On’.
He was working almost 1km underground at the gold mine in Northern Tasmania at 9.26pm on April 25, 2006, when a small earthquake caused a rock fall that trapped him and colleague Todd Russell in a cage and killed Launceston man Larry Knight.
The collapse and 14 day rescue operation that followed made global headlines.
The first 10 minute episode of Webb’s new series was published to YouTube on April 26 this year – the day after the Anzac Day anniversary of the disaster.
Three more episodes have been uploaded since.
Webb’s “friend”, “hero” and “rescuer” Peter Missen – a havening practitioner from Melbourne – interviews Webb in each episode.
He has been treating Webb for post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety over the past nine months using the alternative therapy method ‘havening’, which is aimed at reducing anxiety and depression by altering the way memories are stored or recalled.
Mr Missen introduces the opening episode saying; “In these current times of isolation and uncertainty, Brant has agreed to share his story with us about how he survived those 14 days underground, and following being rescued, the highs and the lows of life afterwards and further more, how he’s been able to move past some well-publicised battles with post-
traumatic stress”.
READ MORE:
- BEACONSFIELD GOLD MINE COULD FIRE BACK TO LIFE UNDER NEW OWNER
- TRIUMPH AMID THE HEARTACHE AS HUNDREDS GATHER TO REMEMBER BEACONSFIELD MINE DISASTER
- STICK TOGETHER TO GET OVER ORDEAL, SAYS BEACONSFIELD MINE COLLAPSE SURVIVOR TODD RUSSELL
- THE DISASTER THAT UNITED BEACONSFIELD
“This is Brant’s story of those 14 days, 14 years on. We hope it helps.”
In that episode, Brant reveals he should never have been working where he was the day of the rock fall as he had “taken a pay cut” after two previous “near misses”.
He also said pressure had been allowed to build in the rock after the mining company “did a bit of a deal with the council not to fire any explosives”.
“As miners know, and anyone who’s worked underground knows, you’ve got to keep firing to release the pressure of the rock,” Brand says in the episode.
He also reveals he was drawn to mining in 2000 because of the “phenomenal” amount of money he could make.
Webb told the Mercury the new series will cover the day of the disaster and the two weeks underground before shifting focus to the “highs and lows” of the following 14 year’s and eventually overcoming his battle with mental health this year.
He said that over the past 14-years since his “worst nightmare”, he has been haunted by crippling anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder until he was “saved” by Mr Missen who has “joined the ranks of [his] heroes”.
“He rescued my mind, the other guys rescued my body.”
Webb asked his new “rescuer” and the man he says has saved his mind over the past nine months to interview him for the series.
He said nothing is off limits in the series now that he is able to speak freely about the disaster without mental anguish.
“I wanted to sort of get to a bit of stuff that wasn’t in the book and I haven’t done much talking in Tassie.
“Most of my community have been there and supported me for 14 years and I thought it’s about time I give something back and I’m in the right frame of mind, so it’s the right time.”
Once episodes on the disaster and the years since have aired, Webb will turn the tables on Mr Missen and interview him about havening.
The four episodes to date have been posted on Mr Missen’s YouTube channel, ‘Clearer Thinking’.
Webb says he has finally been able to return to work after years battling his mental health and now works at a bottle shop at Beauty Point.
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