Like great steel birds they descended on Canberra yesterday - an aircraft convoy bringing a tiny Tasmanian mining town to the national capital for its moment in the sun.
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Parliament House's Great Hall had not seen anything quite like the Beaconsfield community and its helpers who pulled off what will go down in Australian history as one of the country's great escapes.
The mining accident that buried Larry Knight, Brant Webb and Todd Russell nearly a kilometre below the West Tamar gold mining town tested the strength and resilience of its 1000 residents and the emergency support crews that raced to Beaconsfield on Anzac Day to help.
In one of biggest receptions held in Canberra's Great Hall, more than 800 of them moved Prime Minister John Howard to choose words usually reserved for legendary Australians to describe their two-week marathon to bring two of the three miners home alive and to thank the ordinary Tasmanians for their extraordinary efforts.
"This was an event that touched the hearts of millions of Australians and indeed, people around the world who saw in the rescue of Brant and Todd ... guts, resilience and courage, they saw strength and enormous endurance," Mr Howard said.
Most of Beaconsfield hadn't seen anything quite like the marble-pillared grandeur of the new Parliament House and high tea in the Great Hall.
But the same laconic response that helped them survive a town invasion by more than 200 national and international media as the world became intrigued by the rescue drama going on under their town carried them through the special, formal Canberra thank you.
Most of them had left home, dressed in their best just after breakfast, especially the Beaconsfield people who caught the buses all the way to Launceston Airport.
By the time they climbed off the 17 coaches that carried them from the chartered jets to Parliament House in Canberra it was already three in the afternoon, closer to tea time.
Tamar Valley paramedics Paul Heppel, Chad Clark, Colleen Boyd and Shane Viney waited nervously for the Great Hall doors to open.
For Mr Heppel, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
"I've never been here before, never been in the Great Hall," said the Tasmanian Ambulance Service officer, of George Town.
Colleague Ms Boyd, of Beaconsfield, looked forward to seeing everyone involved again.
Still emotional about the part that she played as the local paramedic bringing Larry Knight's body out of the mine, she regarded the official afternoon tea as "a bit of closure".
Geoff Eastoe saw the event as recognition from the Government as a job well done.
"Not just the guys down the mine but the others working elsewhere, filling shifts, all the paramedics and volunteers," he said.
Mr Eastoe was one of the paramedics team that kept vigil, in shifts, at the other end of the communication channel with Mr Webb and Mr Russell while they waited to be rescued.
Yesterday, he still marvelled at the men's strength.
"Their sense of humour was not expected and if they had not been so jovial, it would have been much harder," he said.
Tasmania Police forensics unit officer Mark Forteath said it was good to see Government appreciation of the emergency services and community support.
"It's nice to be recognised," he said.
Mr Webb's mother-in-law Julie Kelly was looking forward to seeing him again as she queued with the huge Tasmanian contingent to get through Parliament House security and into the Great Hall.
"I haven't seen the two of them (daughter Rachel and Brant) yet," she said.
"But we had a good trip - it was pretty exciting.
"And I'll never forget Rex, the miner, who came racing in to see Rachel in his dirty mining gear to tell her they'd found Todd and Brant - I just grabbed him and kissed him."
Beaconsfield Mine manager Matthew Gill melted into the Beaconsfield crowd as they entered, evading the waiting media for a few minutes.
When pressed, he said that the event was good for the community, a chance to catch up with people and share experiences.
Mr Russell's mother and father, Kaye and Noel, and brother Stephen were ushered quickly inside as the media contingent recognised them but not before Noel "Nobby" Russell declared that it was "good to be here."
Insp. Paul Reynolds, who took charge of the emergency services rescue operation, believed that the special afternoon tea would bring closure for some guests.
"Particularly for the Knight family, I hope," he said.
Australian Workers Union national secretary Bill Shorten gave the huge queue outside Parliament House something to watch as they waited to get through security, reading out a statement from some of the miners involved in the rescue.
"They were working shift in, shift out to rescue Todd and Brant ," he said.
The miners welcomed the chance to come to Canberra to give thanks for the rescue of their two colleagues and to remember Larry Knight.
"But we also come with a message to the Parliament of Australia and the Government of Australia - most of us are likely to lose our jobs in the next two weeks.
"None of us are losing our employment because of anything that we've done as miners ... but because using the current methods at Beaconsfield Mine is not safe," Mr Shorten said.
The miners are still waiting for a satisfactory explanation for the Anzac Day rockfall, he said.
On the way in the door of the Great Hall, Rachel Webb's sister-in-law Natalie Kelly and her son, Jack, couldn't believe that the Beaconsfield disaster had happened nearly a month ago.
Jack said that his uncle Brant talked more since his life-changing experience.
The huge crowd representing every group, unit, department and community organisation that helped with the rescue gave a huge cheer as the official party appeared on a specially erected dais at the front of the hall.
Todd Russell, Brant Webb and Lauren Kielmann, representing her father Larry Knight, were flanked by Mr Howard and Opposition Leader Kim Beazley and behind them sat West Tamar Mayor Barry Easther and Mr Knight's mother, Pearl.
Mr Russell's three children, Liam, Madison and Trent, fidgeted in the crowd, Liam holding his mother Caroline's hand, as the speeches dragged on.
Five-year-old Liam was spirited away for a Coca- Cola and a bag of chips while Madison sat on the floor of the Great Hall beside her mother.
Brant's daughter Zoey said that it had been a wonderful day and she was looking forward to sitting down the next day and thinking about it all.
Cr Easther received a commemorative plaque from Mr Howard on behalf of the West Tamar Council and told the crowd how proud he was of his community.
"We rode a roller-coaster ride of emotions and I believe we did it with dignity," he said.
Beaconsfield's Catholic Sister Frances McShane was fascinated by the symbolism of the day.
"I've found out that the old Parliament House was opened on May 9, 1927, the new Parliament House was opened on May 9, 1988 and our boys were brought out on May 9, 2006," she said.
"It's been a fantastic day to see these people together and see all the people in and around Beaconsfield thanked."
State Mines Minister and Deputy Premier Bryan Green stood in the crowd and said that the day had sharpened the whole rescue effort for him as an important rescue nationally.
It was left to miner Darren Geard to mention a small group that the world seems to have forgotten in the huge international hype now surrounding the two trapped miners as he hurriedly left the building.
"At the end of the day, everyone has forgotten the other 14 (miners)," he said.
Mr Geard was one of the team of 14 who scrambled into a rescue unit deep below the surface as an earth tremor triggered the rockfall that trapped Mr Knight, Mr Webb and Mr Russell, on Anzac Day.
