Umoona Opal Mine and Museum - Coober Pedy: Ali goes down the mine in the Outback region of South Australia
More often than not in Coober Pedy it's a case of everything old is new again... as Yanni Athanasiadis and I venture into what was once a working mine. Today, it's Yanni's multi-million dollar interpretive centre and opal show room. But wonder through this maze of underground corridors and you come to the story of the beginnings of Coober Pedy as an opal mining town. On the walls - pictures of the old miners, many of whom came here from the world war one battlefields of France where trenching and tunnelling were the order of the day. Those skills were put to good use as the ex diggers created a life underground.
Life in the early dugouts was tough, with few creature comforts, but for some it could prove to be extremely lucrative. Yanni tells a story about a bloke living underground who went a little stir-crazy - confined in his subterranean world, fearful that others would steal his find.
The Umoona Opal Mine complex is now your one stop shop for Coober Pedy's history. If you are lucky Yanni will give you an opal cutting demonstration. He first came to this outback community as an opal miner 35 years ago and he's still meticulous about his craft.
Opal is really a colourless stone. It's the alignment of spheres of silica within the stone that's most important. If aligned in a regular pattern, these spheres refract white light into the colours of the spectrum... providing a brilliant show.
It's a mystery, which has captivated miners and buyers for generations, and the story of such glistening colour goes back eons. In the display cabinets are fossilised reminders that an inland sea once covered much of outback Australia. And while cockles may have thrived in this primordial soup so too did other more fearsome creatures like the plesiosaur. This underwater killer would have put the great white sharks of today's southern oceans to shame.
While opal dominates the story of Coober Pedy today the story of the region's indigenous people goes way back - long before the miners got here. And in the showroom two artists, Maureen Williams and her niece Gillian bring to life - on canvas - the Dreamtime stories of the Yangkutjatjara and Eastern Arrente people.
The story of this vast open land - of the opal miner and those who were here long before - is told here at the Umoona Opal Mine and Museum in the heart of Coober Pedy. It's in Hutchison Street. Rex runs regular flights to this outback community. To book contact 13 17 13 or log on to their website - rex.com.au
Umoona Opal Mine and Museum
Hutchison Street
Coober PedyREX Airlines
Bookings 13 17 13Published 23rd Sept 2007
