South Australian Opal Towns & Fields

Coober Pedy - 'Opal Capital of the World'

Coober Pedy – ‘Kupa Piti’ is an Aboriginal name meaning ‘White Man in a Hole’ in the language of the Kokatha people the traditional owners of the area. It was selected from four proposed names by a newly formed progress committee in June 1920.

'Coober', as it is affectionately referred to, by its 3500 or so inhabitants, is also known as the 'Opal Capital of the World'.

The Coober Pedy Opal fields contain the largest concentration of opal bearing ground in the world.  Known for yielding big ‘runs’or patches of full colour ‘seam’ Opal, Coober Pedy has been the single greatest producer by quantity over the last century and was instrumental in making Light Opal (milky,white,grey & crystal) the platform of the Opal industry, in terms of market availability and recognition. 

Discovered in 1914 by Willie Hutchison the youngest member of a gold prospecting party which was desperately looking for water at the time. The 14 year old had disobeyed orders and strayed from camp to search for water in the surrounding foothills. When he finally returned after dark, although exhausted he wore a huge grin on his face and his eyes were brightly lit. Willie had not only located a waterhole, he also had a sugar bag full of Opal to show his much relieved father and crew.

Blower & Elevator extracts dirt from underground	Willie Hutchison

"Coober Pedy suffered during the Depression years when opal prices bottomed out. The discovery of the Eight Mile field in 1945 by Toddy Bryant, an Aboriginal woman, caused a great sensation. Her discovery of Opal within 20 centimetres of the surface was a turning point in the history of the field and went a long way towards establishing Coober Pedy's future prosperity." Len Cram

The desert landscape around Coober Pedy is extremely barren and the climate dry and unforgiving, 45C in summer and as cool as 4C in winter. The mesas and mogul hills are not only prospective for Opal  they have provided low cost, temperate dugout living since the ‘diggers’ returned from the trenches of France in 1918. The exceptional stability of the region’s ancient sandstones makes tunnelling and the excavation of safe and adequate underground homes highly practicable. The temperature in most dugouts only varies about 5C all year round with temperatures inside being from 21C to 26C.

Interesting attractions in Coober Pedy include the mines, the underground churches, the local golf course which is completely free of grass and the ‘Breakaways’ which resemble a mini Grand Canyon.

To complete the outback odyssey and discover the heart of Australia and Opal country visit the Opal Capital of the World where Umoona Mine & Museum is a must see attraction! If you are lucky and speck some good colour you can stay at the Desert Cave, a 5-Star underground hotel!

Underground at Umoona Mine & Museum

The Postman's Place

Major working areas and famous mines include: German Gully, Black Flag and Benitos Folly South-East of town, Olympic and Southern Cross to the West-South-West. Zorba, Larkins Folly, Hellenic Hill and Russos Folly (15km) East of town. Hans Peak, 8 Mile, 10 Mile, Greek Gully, 14 Mile, 17 Mile and Shell Patch (35km) moving North-West of town in that order. Map of the Coober Pedy Opal Fields

Andamooka

Andamooka – Opal was discovered here in 1930 by tank sinkers Roy Shepard and Tim Brooks. Nearby Andamooka station was named in 1858 by John McDouall Stuart, after an Aboriginal word meaning 'large waterhole' which refers to Lake Torrens 20 km away.

The township of Andamooka is located 593 km north of Adelaide and has a population of 400 to 500 people depending on the season. The road into Andamooka off the Stuart highway, was sealed in the 1990's, however the streets within the town remain unsealed and unnamed. The first semi dug-out permanent homes of the early miners and opal buyers are preserved and have been placed on the national heritage list.

The climate is arid, with daytime temperatures in summer (December to Febuary) regularly topping 40 C (104 F) and night temperatures in winter often dropping to zero (32 F) or below. Annual rainfall is extremely low, the average is just 160 mm per year.

 Local tours include inspections of working mines, the historical cottages and magnificent Lake Torrens - the longest salt lake in the southern hemisphere.

Mintabie

Mintabie – although discovered in the 1920's by a well-sinker named Larry O'Toole, it was not until the mid 1970’s that extensive mining began here. As far back as the First World War, Aborigines sold black opal at Coober Pedy which most likely came from Mintabie - 254 km to the northwest.

Mintabie township viewed from the escarpment looking East	Magnificent semi-black crystal seam opal found in 1980 by Peter Blythe

Red sand dunes covered vast amounts of Opal bearing sandstone much of which has been excavated almost exclusively by open-cutting (50mx50m) claims to a depth of 20 meters and as far down as 40 meters. During the 1980’s Mintabie was the major source of crystal opal and produced excellent semi-black opal.

The opal from Mintabie has a reputation for being harder than most, which perhaps bears some correlation to the fact it is found in Ordovician (500 to 440 m.y.a.) rocks, much older than the Cretaceous (144-65m.y.a.) rocks which host most of Australia‘s deposits.

The distinctive creamy-white sandstone found at Mintabie opal fields is much harder and compact than at other opal fields. This exacerbated the challenges faced by the early opal miners and it was not until the late 1970's that a Croatian miner named Milan Rako led the way with heavy machinery; he discovered a mother-load of opal on the escarpment. This started a rush of bulldozers and eager men to Mintabie which lasted more than a quarter century.

“At the peak (mid 1980’s) there were around 70 bulldozers working and Mintabie opal field held the distinction of the highest per capita use of diesel of any town in Australia.” Peter Blythe

The original diggings, known as Mintabie’s Old field, are nearest the township on the south-eastern side of the escarpment which runs north-south. Opal formed parallel to the escarpment for approximately 10 kms and mostly into a system of sand dunes to the west which are permeated by small valleys. Crystal Valley was discovered in the next valley up, followed by the Airport field, Goose’s, Gus’, Kingfisher and Grasshoppers at the northern most end of the scarped ridge.

In October 1981, the Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act came into force and Mintabie township & opal fields are now part of a large area of freehold Aboriginal land.

Lambina

Lambina - Although first discovered in the late 1920's going into the depression years, very little work was done here until the late 1980's when some good finds were made at the Seven Waterholes diggings.

Good strikes of high quality stones in 1996 caused a rush to the field which is 100 km northeast of Mintabie on the eastern side of the Stuart Highway. Some 300 claims were pegged, however, before many of these could be processed, the Wik native title decision halted any new mining. In December 1997, miners were informed that a native title claim would be lodged over the greater Mintabie area encompassing Lambina. Since then negotiations between miners and native title holders have enabled mining to continue.

Lambina produced most of the South Australian White Opal product in the last decade of the millennium, the population has fluctuated from 200 down to around 10 today.