Brien O’Brien’s carbide lamp has been retrieved from a cave at Yarrangobilly. (ABC South East NSW: Adriane Reardon)

An old-fashioned lamp that once belonged to a man lost underground for three days in the NSW Snowy Mountains has been miraculously recovered.

In December 1953, Brian O’Brien and his friend Fred Stewart went exploring in the Yarrangobilly Caves in Kosciuszko National Park.

But the friends became separated, and although Fred made his way out, Brian spent the next three days lost inside.

“In the cave, he had no food, he had a little flask of water and it was ink black,” Brian’s daughter Ros O’Brien said.

“He wasn’t sure that he was going to be rescued.

“I just can’t imagine being able to maintain a frame of mind that would save your life in that situation.”

Brian, who was 19 at the time, had only a carbide lamp in his possession, and it gave out after a few hours.

He sat in the pitch black, hungry, shivering, and occasionally yelling out for help, while seeking solace in poems, books and music from his memory to remain calm.

During an attempt to find his way out, Brian hooked the lamp onto the rock wall.

But he stumbled and fell, and was unable to find the lamp again.

After 75 hours in the caves, Brian was found by a search party and was returned to the surface where he was fed an orange and chocolate.

“After three days, he heard a cooee, and he cooeed back,” Ms O’Brien said.

“Somebody yelled out, ‘O’Brien is that you?’ And he thought, ‘Who else would it be?’”

Brian went on to become a well-respected space scientist, specialising in studies on moon dust.

He passed away in 2020 at the age of 86.

But he never stopped thinking about his lamp that was left behind.

“He never stopped looking for it,” Ms O’Brien said.

“He always wanted to bring it back from the cave.”

A tough trek

News of the quest to retrieve the lost lamp eventually spread to the caving community.

Brittany Meers and her friend Lachlan Bailey spotted the relic in 2021, but had no idea of its historical significance and left it hanging in the cave.

However, four years later Ms Meers led a group of four volunteer cavers back into the cavern, determined to ensure the lamp would once again see the light of day.

The expedition saw them squeeze between rocks on their stomachs in temperatures as low as 5 degrees Celsius.

“If we’re talking linearly, it was probably 150 metres in, but the obstacles to be navigated were quite time-consuming and quite difficult,” Ms Meers said.

“At one point, we were on a big bank that was almost vertical and we had to scramble our way up it.”

But the group was nothing if not persistent.

“There was so much emotional attachment to it for their family that I just took that on board, empathetically,” Ms Meers said.

“I felt like I had a bit of protection over the whole scenario.”

After about two hours the cavers found the lamp, still hanging from the rock where Brian left it in 1953.

They cheered when it came down in one piece.

“It’s really impressive that it’s been in such good condition,” Ms Meers said.

“It’s super solid and there’s not a lot of corrosion on it.”

The family has decided to entrust the lamp to the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), with plans to put it on display at Yarrangobilly.

“We have a team of conservators and curators who look after a collection of historic relics,” said NSW NPWS area manager Matt White.

“It’s in safe hands.”

Finding closure

Ros O’Brien and her son Bobby Cafagna flew from Perth in from Western Australia to Kosciuszko National Park to see the retrieval take place.

Holding the lamp for the first time, Mr Cafagna found it had to process what his grandfather had been through.

“I’m in awe, I’m seriously impressed that they were able to get it out and it’s still in good condition,” he said.

“I’m impressed that my grandpa did this and he was 10 years younger than what I am now.

“This makes it so real.”

Ms O’Brien agreed.

“The retrieval is always what Dad wanted, and he would just be so thrilled to see it coming out of the cave,” she said.

“It’s a beautiful full-circle moment.”

One of the volunteer cavers, John Brush, said he was pleased to see it meant so much to the family.

“It’s good to be able to bring closure, in a way,” he said.

“People have been searching for it for so long.”