Angaston Opal Fields (1849).

The First Recorded Discovery of Opal in Australia by German Geologist Johannes Menge on Tarrawilla Station near Angaston South Australia.

 

It was said in a Government Report released in 1950 that - 'Indirect evidence suggests that the earliest discovery of precious opal in Australia was at a locality near Anaston. South Australia, by a German geologist named Mingaye (or Menge). In the discussion which followed presentation of a paper to the Australian Institute of Mining Engineers in 1894, 

(Gipps, 1894) a member named Serjeant stated that in 1849 he had been shown the site at which Mingaye had found opal near" Tarrawilla," the head station of Mr. Angas, M.L.C. He did not state that it was the precious variety, but as some opal from Angaston was sent to the London Mining Exhibition in 1890, it may be assumed that it was precious opal and that it was obtained at or near the locality discovered by Mingaye.

 

If this assumption is correct, the existence of precious opal in Australia was likely known before 1849 by local and Aboriginal People.

 

 

Queensland Boulder Opal Fields (1869).

The Discovery of Opal in Queensland was a long and historically overshadowed unearthing of by happenings in the south i.e The White Cliffs. It took the discovery of 6 fields and almost 20 years for the first marked parcel to reach the offices of F.E Harris in Silverton NSW in 1887. The 'Listowel Downs' discovery, made north east of Advale in 1869, an area we all commonly know as Blackall, and at 'Springsure' in 1872 were the forerunners of many other discoveries in a region 250 Miles wide and 550 Miles long extending from Hungerford in the south of the State to Kynuna in the North (Cribb 1948) with more recent ventures reopening alot of these Pioneering Fields to Modern Means of Extraction. However no commercial production prior to (Craggs 1888) and (Dunstan 1913) was recorded.

 

This immense minefield of Boulders, Nuts, Pancakes is the largest opal field in Australia and produces some of the most captivating effects the eye can behold second most to the rare Virgin Valley Opal found in the USA due to the settlement of Iron Rich Minerals, Sedimentary Silts, Silicas and other Organic Materials present during the worlds natural processes of change much the same as other opal deposits.

 

 

Lightning Ridge Fields (1873).

The earliest discovery in New South Wales was on Rocky Bridge Creek near its junction 

with the Abercrombie River, in the Trunkey district, some time prior to 1877 (Pittman, 1901), but the most significant finds were made just prior the 1880's when opal was recorded on 'Muggarie Station', now known as 'Anlgedool'  by Robert Moore, a former Ravenswood Gold Miner.

 

The next reported find was in 1880 when Aboriginals brought topaz to the Parkers, the owners of Bangate Station. Mrs Parker, thinking they were diamonds, sent her brother, Ted Field, and a station hand named Hudson, to investigate the area around Lightning Ridge where she suspected the Aboriginals had found them. They discovered nothing as clear as the Aboriginals' stones, but found a number of other attractive stones - however, the variety of the stone and its value were not followed up.

It wasn't until 1887, when a piece of opal was discovered in a gravel pit which is now part of the famous Nine Mile field, that it came to the notice of the Mines Department.

 

 

White Cliffs Fields (1884).

The White Cliffs discovery was made by a couple of stock-hands, kangaroo shooting during the drought, on Moomba Station in north western NSW. The Shooters sent a sample of the colourful rocks they discovered, to be analysed in Adelaide. These beautiful stones were directed to the geologist Tullie Wollaston, who couldn’t believe his eyes and embarked immediately on a journey to meet the shooters and to visit the area where the rocks were found. When he met the shooters he offered 140 pounds for the first samples. The shooters couldn’t believe their ears and so eagerly accepted the offer.

White Cliffs opal was unique in that it was the first commercial seam opal to be discovered. Forming in flat stones, in the mostly softer sandstone, it was easier to clean, grade and cut into the prized gemstone jewelry known around the world today.

For about 30 years from 1890, a small settlement grew once commercial mining began supplying the world with the precious gem. In that time fossils were excavated ranging from: opalised wood, snails, pippie and scallop shells and belemnites through to more major opalised fossils: dogsharks, plesiosaurs, ichthyosaur and the unusual ‘pineapple’ crystals. Unfortunately there was only a small market for such curios and so most of these fossils were cut into jewelry. The opal, displaying such vivid colours that had never been seen before, surpassed the quality of Hungarian opal. As a result of the succession of opal strikes the township grew to some 2000 miners with many others providing services for them. It seemed like opal was everywhere you dug a hole.

After 1903, the town slowly dwindled as the richer area of the field was mined out and the conditions proved too harsh. White Cliffs also suffered from the advent of World War 1 as the miners were called to fight the Germans - who happened to be the biggest buyers and dealers of opal at that time. Trading halted with Germany, and as a result, White Cliffs opal fields never really recovered.

The conditions were harsh, Building Materials were scarce and water shortages meant that water was brought in with horses or camels from some 100 km away. Others began to live underground, converting their old mines into homes, the White Cliffs’ residents living underground in beautiful dugouts. The graves of many women and children, their headstones still standing, tell the tales of their hardships. The cholera-infected water took its toll, mostly upon the young. History also notes cases of typhoid.

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Mintabie Opal Fields (Circa 1910).

It has been well told and documented that Aborigines were selling a semi black type of opal at Coober Pedy that was obviously not from Coober Pedy. It rivalled the best Semi -Black Stones seen in the Ridge and so general concensus is that it most likely was Mintabie Opal. Many failed attempts over a ten year period were made to track the Aboriginies to their Opal Discovery. Finally, the miners succeeded. Around 1920 a well digger by the name of Larry O’Toole is attributed with finding the first opal at Mintabie. Opal miners seem to have discovered the Mintabie opal fields some time just after world war one. However, due to the extremely harsh conditions and lack of water not much mining was done until heavy machinery was bought in later on.

 

The sandstone at Mintabie opal fields is very hard (much harder than Coober Pedy) and the upper level the early opal miners worked was extremely difficult to mine with old fashion hand mining and discouragement would have come easy.

 

In the late 1970′s a Croatian miner named Milan started a major rush to Mintabie by finding a huge pocket of opal on the escarpment. Following Milan were opal miners such as Yakka, Sarge, Drago, Stan, Joe, Tony, Ned, Ted, Russian Spy, Bruno and so many more pioneer opal miners of the era. Collectively, they were responsible for the development of one of Australia’s major opal fields. The 1980′s saw the Mintabie opal fields become the biggest producer of opal in terms of value in the World. In fact there were several years when it produced more Opal in volume than every other Australian Opal Field put together. At its peak, Mintabie boasted the highest rate of Diesel Consumption per Capita than any other Town in Australia. Upwards of 70 Bulldozers - D9 and Larger operated in open cut pits as deep as 100ft in the further corners from the pit's approach.

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Mintabie opal has a unique advantage over opal from other fields. It is the hardest of all Australian opal. Perhaps this is because the host rock is older (Ordovician) than the host rock of other opal fields (Cretaceous). Perhaps it is because of the harder and more compact host sandstone. In any case it means a more robust opal that resists scratching a little more then other opals.

 

 

Andamooka Opal Fields (1930).

Andamooka was one of the later opal fields found in Australia. Opal was first found on the Andamooka Station in 1930. The most commonly accepted story is that Roy Shepherd and Sam Brooks, who were working at the Andamooka Station and shifting camp from one place to another, discovered opal in the area now known as Andamooka Opal Creek. They had climbed a hill to watch their horses and to fill in time were throwing rocks in a challenge to see who could throw the furthest. One of the rocks was covered in opal.

 

On the 29 th August they showed the opal to the then Manager of Andamooka Station Bruce Foulis who was very interested. He sent people out to investigate and did everything to keep the find a secret. The field was worked for 2 years with hardly anyone aware of it. Alan Treloar, one of the men sent out originally was the 1st person to take out a search licence for opal at Andamooka. He was the storekeeper at Andamooka Station.

 

Around 1932, news of the find reached the miners at Coober Pedy and a small group set off to investigate. As they did not return it was rightfully assumed they had found opal and more miners left Coober Pedy for Andamooka. The Town boomed with Dugouts, Lean-To's and Dwellings popping up everywhere.

 

Many problems were faced by early miners with the extreme heat in the summer period exceeding 45 degrees celcius forcing many of them to depart during the worst months when plagues of flies and mosqitoes made life almost unbearable. Obtaining food was also very difficult as roads were almost non existent. The mail man originally brought in food supplies once per week by camel and later by two ton truck. He had to battle numerous sand dunes and dry swamps and was prevented from traveling when rains filled these swamps. Life was certainly not easy in these days.

 

When opal was first discovered it was found quite near the surface. As the field developed miners progressed up the hills and shafts were up to 30 feet deep which is relatively shallow compared to some other fields. Andamooka was a rich field with very stable opal. Many different types of opal were found including crystal, white opal, small quantities of black opal and matrix opal. Originally only the opal with red colour was considered valuable and the green and blue opal was often left in the dumps as was the matrix opal which early on had no value also.

 

Even in 1957 Andamooka was a very isolated town. There was only one shop and the owner did not sell food. This still had to be brought into town by the mailman. This shop was built of chicken wire, empty cartons and other miscellaneous items. It had a dirt roof which used to sag whenever it rained heavily.

 

 

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THE MAJOR DISCOVERIES OF AUSTRALIAN OPAL.