"Coober Pedy (Digging Around) " Lisa does some noodling in the Outback of South AustraliaCheck out the opal dealers in Coober Pedy and you're soon dazzled by that "fire in the stone" that can only come from gems that have slowly crystallised in the deserts of South Australia over millions of years.
The smooth highly polished pieces belie the sheer hard work for miners like Minar and George to extract this precious material, which the ancient Romans referred to as "Opalus" - the prince of gems because of it's fiery flashes of colour.
It's only when you come to the pock-marked lunar landscape of the Coober Pedy opal fields and its dusty sprawling settlement that you really begin to appreciate just how remote and fascinating this place really is.
When the miners head off each morning they have one question in mind. Will this be the day? Opal miners are gamblers - it's a bit like the poker machine. You know the odds are against you but it's the lure of the big find.
Nowadays Anne Johnson spends winters in Coober Pedy and summers in the cooler climes of the Adelaide Hills. We caught up with her recently in the specially made mine at Opal Field Gems in King William Street in Adelaide for a quick taste of life in the rugged South Australian outback where an independence of spirit is a pre-requisite.
"If you're an opal miner you're your own boss," said Anne. "You have to pay your own expenses but you don't have someone telling you what to do, You don't have to work someone else's hours. You have a lot of freedom and it's a free open country."
It's country that drew Anne under its spell thirty years ago when she first arrived in the town they call the "Opal Capital of the World". Now she's written a book about it and the characters who have come from all over the world to carve out a living and a dugout home in the South Australian desert. Some, like the late German born character Crocodile Harry were notorious. He'd had a few close shaves as a gelignite miner but none closer than one particular Anzac Day when he goose-stepped down Coober Pedy's main street in a German World War Two helmet. To say the locals were unimpressed would be an understatement.
Coober Pedy has long traded on its Wild West image but truth be known it's a pretty civilised place these days with four star hotels and all. But it's also the kind of place where you don't want to cross too many people for fear of a little "gelignite justice".
And when tax time comes around - with the occasional visit from the auditors - Anne recalls hearing of at least one case where a little "tax minimisation shall we say" went horribly wrong.
"Before the inspectors came these people had buried their black money out in the yard," said Anne. "But while the inspectors were inside, the trusty dog was digging up the money and Coober Pedy, being a very windy place saw the money blowing around in the yard when the tax people came out. Luckily, they didn't notice."
With characters with names like Crocodile Harry and Ivan, the Russian Spy you get a sense of what the place is like and according to Anne Johnson, they've all been enticed the by same thing.
"It's such an open beautiful space. You feel like your spirit has freedom."
Coober Pedy is about 900 kilometres north of Adelaide, just off the Stuart Highway.
Anne Johnson's book "Digging Around Coober Pedy" is on sale at all major bookstores and will also be available at the Opal Festival, the National Opal Symposium and the inaugural Coober Pedy Gem Trade Show all to be held in the town in April, 2007. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au
Coober Pedy
Stuart Highway
900 kms north of Adelaide"Digging Around Coober Pedy" By Anne Johnson
Opal Festival
April 7
Gem Trade Show
Coober Pedy
April 6 & 7, 2007Published 4th March 2007
