Friday 4th March
Coober Pedy- Whiteman's Burrow
Opal mining
Mad max viewpoint
Gallery and Kangaroo orphanage
Driving to William Creek- population: 12 people and a dog.
Distance:
Total Distance:
Coober Pedy was a close approximation for what the local nomadic Aboriginal people called the area which, around the time of the First World War, became Australia's Opal Fields. The name has been translated as Whiteman's Burrow. His was due to the way the funny foreigners were choosing to live.
Men had been exploring this area of desert for only a short time. They struggled to find anything. Much of Australia is a barren wasteland of deserts with few watering holes and minimal vegetation. In an area with no water, however, someone found Opals! Previously most of the world's opals had come from one mine in Eastern Europe. These would turn out to have far more colour than he European one's though, at fi st making them harder to sell to the world.
The opals are here due to the inland sea that once filled central and eastern Australia. Here animals and plants lived and died, leaving behind remarkable fossils. Over time the sea level fell. This drained the region. Overtime the sandy shores were still washed by rainwater though. This washed silica from the sand, which flowed down into the earth, and collected in cracks and crevices in the rocks. These would crystallise becoming opals.
Millions of years later these were found by Europeans. Being highly valued, despite the inhospitable, hot, dry, waterless conditions, men were drawn here. However, the opals are random in there formation- there is no specific strata, seam, or area. Thus people can dig for years without finding any, then hit a jackpot collection. This is given as the reason why, even today, no large mining company wants to risk its shareholders rath risking opal mining. In stream it is left to teams of individuals.
Mining started during WWI. Yet it was the returned servicemen from the trenches who made it what it is today. Having spent years digging trenches and living in comfortable, temperate, burrows underground they came to Coober Pedy. There are no trees in this region. Any for of house had to be carried in over the desert. Instead men started building their homes underground- primarily in their mines. This gave them a pleasant home, but also allowed them to watch over their mines even at night- it would have been too easy for a thief to come in and try to steal opals from an unguarded mine. Thus Coober Pedy got its name and the towns lifestyle was set- one that continues to this day.
Our own accommodation was an underground hostel next to an underground hotel. At the front was a veranda. Two doors went into the bathrooms. These were ridiculously hot, being under a steel roof. The third door though ran much further back and into the hill. At the front was the kitchen - apparently all the amenities are near the front of a house in Coober Pedy. Thus water and most electrical lines don't have to be run too far, nor are repairs too difficult. Further back was a rabbit warren of dorm rooms with 2-6 beds, all carved into the claystone rock. It was consistently 25C, blissfully cool compared to the 41C outside (though that was cool compared to the bathrooms!)
We had dinner at the local pizza restaurant then headed over to the underground bar at the hotel. The rest of the town doesn't look to be up to much. It was were the original Mad Max films were shot. There was even a vehicle that had been in the film's outside our hostel. It still maintains that 80s dystopian look and feel today. Nothing is thrown away, and no ones going to ship it out. There are ancient shells of vehicles in scrap yards, holding walls made out of of tyres, anything that can be reused has been. Yet the hotel looks like a modern take on 80s glamour. The front is huge, made out of stone. Inside the tunnels have been dug into the claystone. Edges have been left mostly rough, with corners properly squared, and doorframes fitted. Inside are jewellery and souvenir shops, a bar and a slot machine room. We spent the evening in the cool of the bar playing pool.
In the morning we took a tour of the museum next door. We were taught the history I've written above, and show around historic homes and the mine. This mine was closed some time ago. Due to the risks of cave ins to people's homes mining is no longer allowed in the town. Though this hasn't stopped the odd "renovation" when people want a new room, dig more, and maybe find a fortune.
The mining has changed over the years. At first it was all picks, shovels, and leather buckets of dirt which were winched out. People started bringing in dynamite, or made the Coober Pedy Sausage- diesel and fertiliser mixed then made into a sausage shape with fuse attached. Tunnelling machines were brought in. Small machines like a commercial Bobcat or a small tractor. Two arms at the front hold a spinning drum covered in cutting blades. These steadily cut away the rock. Lots of light is needed to watch the cut- and flash of colour could be an opal and need to be looked at carefully.
For a time all the waste was still removed by hand. Then a kiwi arrived and invented the "Blower". This is basically a giant vacuum cleaner with a hopper attached and a telescopic hose. The hose is attached to the front of the tunnelling machine, sucking up all of the waste. This goes to the hopper which fills to be tipped onto a spoil heap.
Not every opal is noticed. There can be some left in spoil heaps. So people go "Noodling"- looking through spoil heaps for cast off opals. There are even a few grading machines about to help. It looks like a cylindrical cheese grater on an odd angle. Rotating the spoil rolls down the cylinder, small enough particles passing throughthe holes. This leaves only a certain size of rock that need to be checked for opal.
Each miner has a claim area with a permit bought from the council. They range from 50m X 50m to 200m X 100m. Old claims can be rebought by new miners who might find something the first guys didn't. Some area have nothing, some fortunes. It all luck, apparently. The permit is relatively cheap- around $250. The main costs are equipment and time. Over a quarter of a million could be sunk into a first time mine and one still might not find anything for a few years. The average age of miners is now 65. Some complain this is because young people can't deal with the hard work. I suspect the prospect of trying to find $200,000 doesn't help either. One needs a house to sell before you can attempt to die rich.
Before we left our second visit was a viewpoint. Here is Coober Pedy's first 'tree'- parts from a destroyed truck welded together. New trees have started to spring up in little gardens, but these are small and few. Dpfrom the top of the hill we could see no natural vegetation. Everything outside of the town is spoil heaps and mine remnants. In the town there are steel shacks which might be anything from a garden shed to the entrance of an underground mansion- after all, despite appearances some people have a made a vast fortune here from the dirt.
Back in town we dropped into the art gallery. Here many forms of Aboriginal art are on display. The main reason for us going though was behind the scenes. Terry and Josephine run a wildlife orphanage. The area they take personal responsibility for, without government support, is the size of Germany. The majority of their charges are Kangaroo joeys. Mothers get run over or are hunted by traditional Aboriginal groups. Joeys found in the pouch are retrieved and find their way to the orphanage. Here they are fed a specific lactose free milk every 4 hours and helped to develop into young, hopping, Roos. Afterwards they can be sent to a local sanctuary to grow up and hopefully, be released into the wild. We fed banana chips and wasabi peas to the three pet adults they have who couldn't be released into the wild. Then Terry brought his new Joey- a tiny boy called Nigel, who lives in a synthetic "pouch" and has his regular feeds from a tiny bottle. He was gently pushed out of the pouch and onto the concrete floor. Here he stood on his toes, shook himself, rested back on top his feet (important as it shows he's legs tendons are developing properly), then began to groom himself. He was all legs and not much else, an alien rabbit.
After Coober Pedy we drove all afternoon to get to William Creek- a place with a pub and an airfield doing scenic flights over Lake Eyre. There are 4 people in the township, 1 dog, and 8 new pilots. We more than doubled the population! It is sat on the world's largest cattle station- 8 times bigger than the largest in Texas, it's the size of Belgium, and presently on the market for about $300 million. However you'll be lucky to see any cattle- there's not much to eat or drink so they're all spread out thinly.
The pub was built in the 19th century and has various 'gifts' given by travelers, as well as notes written on the walls. We had a great night chatting away and playing more pool. Lovely people in the middle of nowhere.
