Ms Richards had taken a wrong turn near Rankins Springs when she swerved to avoid a group of pigs which had rushed onto the road in front of her. Her car rolled and came to rest upside down, flattening the passenger compartment and trapping her inside.

A farmer on his tractor had pulled to the side of Eight Mile Tank Ride to let Ms Richards pass three kilometres earlier. When he saw the car on its roof, he raced up to see if the driver was ok.

The farmer only wanted to be identified by his first name, Anthony.

“I checked to make sure she was alive and then I called for help,” Anthony said.“The worst bit was having to leave her to make the call.”

Out on Eight Mile Tank Road, the phone reception is poor at the best of times, so Anthony ran to the top of a nearby hill.

“I called 000 and then went back down to Mia,” Anthony said. “She had trouble breathing, her hair had been caught between the car and the road. I started to cut her hair and then the car shifted and I was able to pull it out from under the car.”

He laid down on the road next to the trapped Ms Richards and talked to her for half an hour while help was on its way. Through the whole ordeal, he said, she was calm while they spoke.

A police car which had been sitting on Griffith’s Banna Avenue, nearly 50 kilometres away, was the first to arrive on the scene. About 10 minutes later, an ambulance arrived and then the Goolgowi State Emergency Service (SES) squad.

The SES crew cut the back passenger-side door off the car, allowing the paramedics to get Ms Richards out of the car. A rescue helicopter landed in a nearby field and carried her to hospital.

Anthony was humble when asked about saving Ms Richards’ life.

“All I did was call for assistance,” he said. “The main thing is she’s alive.”

Soon after the accident, Anthony found a friend of a friend who knew Ms Richards’ daughter and he met with her. He was relieved when he found out she was recovering. Nearly six months later, he was able to speak to Ms Richards after he saw her “help me find my hero” photograph.

“I don’t get into Griffith much,” Anthony said. “But I told her next time I was down I’d say hello.”

Read Mia’s original story here.