Mining opals in Australia in the 1890s

I am back in Australia, this time in the 1890s reflecting on the opal mining fields.

And again it is my old friend June who has shared her knowledge of the history of the opal workings along with some wonderful pictures.

"Well Australia is the source of most of the world's opals. Fire opal, the least common, is mined in Western Australia. 

It is almost transparent and has beautiful flashes of red and orange, hence its name. 

Black opal, the most valuable, is not really black but has a dark background with flashes of every colour of the rainbow. I believe that as a gemstone they are an acquired taste. 

Then comes white opal which has a white background with flashes of all colours. 

Because it is not as valuable as black opal it is sold as solid opal but the valuable black opal is sold as doublets or triplets. 

The opal is cut into very thin pieces and glued to what is called potch, a black stone without colour. 

As opal is very brittle, it is sometimes covered with a thin layer of clear white opal or a type of plastic to protect the black opal.

In Australia opal was considered unlucky so it is not particularly popular here. However the Americans love it and whenever they come to Australia they will not go home without buying opal. 

They were our best customers for opal and, even after we closed our business, Frank's cousin, an engineer with General Motors Holden in Australia, who spent four years in Detroit working for the American GM, often had visitors from the US and whenever they came he would ring us and he would come and select some opals already set for his guests to purchase. 


Sometimes they would buy unset opals but it was quickly discovered that our jewellers were more experienced in setting the opals without breaking them.

Almost anyone, when we went to the opal fields, could prospect for opal simply by obtaining a miner's licence. 

Women also mine for opal and there are lots of different nationalities. 

You pick yourself a likely spot, maybe an abandoned mine or completely new ground and start digging! This was in the 60's but things may have changed since then.

The mines are not all that deep; I suppose 

I was lowered about 20' down into a pit and from that pit was a tunnel with lots of lovely colours. 

The walls were, if I remember correctly, of white-ish stone and you could see the veins of colour running through them. 

At the top of the pit, similar to the early gold mines, there was a windlass and a bucket and very necessary tool for removing the dirt as soon as you start burrowing underground. 

Of course you also need a pick and a shovel and I suppose these days they have pneumatic drills. None of the mines I have seen were very deep. 

There are more trees and Lightning Ridge had more facilities than Andamooka which was quite primitive when we visited it. 

Although some of the houses in Lightning Ridge are partially underground, most of the other facilities are normal. Coober Pedy does have a good camping area.

It is very hot on the opal fields and there is also a shortage of water. 

For this reason the houses and other buildings are dug into the ground, in a hillside if there is one. 

In Coober Pedy there are quite large buildings, shops and restaurants, the hospital and the church, all dug into the hill. 

In the photograph I sent you of the church only the doorway and the steeple are above the ground. 

With the hospital the roof and skylights and the upper part of the walls are visible with windows on the upper part of the walls to let in light.

Two ladies dug out the house which is open for tourists in Coober Pedy. 

They say if you run out of cupboard space it is really quite easy to dig yourself another cupboard, so I think the stone must be fairly soft. 

It also appears to be stable unlike the soil in the gold mines which needed to be shored up with wood. I never tried any digging but Frank and his friend, Gerry, an opal dealer, did."

Pictures; from the collection of June Pound