UMOONA MINE & MUSEUM: Coober Pedy

Late afternoon and the fading light weaves its spell in The Breakaways, 22 kilometres from Coober Pedy. Here the beauty above ground lures travellers from around the world. But come daybreak and nearby Coober Pedy stirs to the sounds of those heading out in search of that beauty which lies beneath - Opal. The blowers which dump the rock from below are everywhere, proof that the search is relentless.

Here partners George and Minas enter a labyrinth of tunnels worthy of that mythological underground beast the Minatour. Both these blokes would know that story only too well. Minas is from Crete and made his way to Coober Pedy in the 70s - like so many others. Today they've had some luck with these specimens pointing the way to hopefully more colour further along this seam.

And while this is hard work, the mechanised approach of today would have been bliss to those who first ventured into what was then called the Stuart Ranges. That story is told here in the Umoona Mine and Museum.

"Now the story of opal itself, though the story of opal in Coober Pedy is relatively recent?"

"In Coober Pedy especially, it was only 1915 when Willy Hutchison found the first opal here".

By the time the diggers returned from World War One the word was out, and many headed here with a gleam in their eye, expecting riches and finding plenty of hard work. Soon an army of diggers was burrowing underground, so many that the local aboriginal word for the district finally stuck.

"They called it Coober Pidy, as it sounds, that's an aboriginal word meaning white man in a hole".

"Which is pretty apt"

"I think it suits the town perfectly".

Down here hard work did have its benefits, if you failed to find opal, well at least you'd carved out a place to live.

"Yanni, it was back breaking in more ways than one? Why is it so low?"

"They used to make the drives as low as possible so they can shift less dirt. And that's why I said Ron, when you see big drives and open drives that means they found a lot of opal".

"And this is how they got it out?"

"That's how they got it out?"

Yanni now spends much of his time in the cutting room but he remembers well that special feeling when you strike colour down below.

"You have to be there. You have to feel it. You have to dig it out of the rock to have that feeling".

The Umoona Opal Mine and Museum is located in Hutchinson Street in Coober Pedy and is open daily from 8am to 7pm. Admission is free. Special tours of $6 per person. The Coober Pedy Opal Festival is on during the Easter Weekend. For more information email info@postcards-sa.com.au