Lightning Ridge
Famous opal mining town
Although there are lots of opal mining towns in Australia
there are four which have become household names - Coober
Pedy, Andamooka, White Cliffs and Lightning Ridge. These are
the four which seem to hold some mystery and interest to
people who live in the cities. They are wild and unruly
places surrounded by a moonscape of mullock humps where
people fight against horrendous climatic conditions in their
search for precious gemstones. They are, as one observer
noted 'monuments to the tenacious optimism of all mankind'.
Of these four towns Lightning Ridge is particularly
special because it is now the only place in Australia and
one of the few places in the world where the precious and
highly prized black opal is found. Unlike ordinary opals the
black opal has carbon and iron oxide trace elements in it
producing a very dark stone which still has hints of blue,
green and red.
Located 768 km from Sydney and 72 km north of Walgett,
Lightning Ridge has a population of about 1200 which is
supplemented by over 80 000 visitors who arrive every year
to either try their luck at fossicking or to see what an
outback mining town is really like. This influx of tourists
means that this once rough and ready town now boasts a
number of good quality motels, an endless array of souvenir
and gift shops, some good restaurants, and a veneer of
civilisation.
There is an Aboriginal explanation for the opals in the
area. According to legend a huge wheel of fire fell to earth
and sprayed the countryside with brilliant coloured stones.
The first European to discover these coloured stones was
Charles Nettleton in 1902. Nettleton had been an opal miner
at White Cliffs but his luck and money ran out and he moved
to Queensland. Convinced that there were more opals across
the border he returned to New South Wales and started
seriously prospecting on a hill, later known as Nettleton's
Hill, on Angledool Station. This was to become the site of
Lightning Ridge. The Lands Department later gazetted it as
Warrangulla and it was known as that until World War 1 when
it reverted to its original name.
A number of famous stones have been found at Lightning
Ridge, including the 822 g 'Big Ben' and the 'Flame Queen'
which was sold for £80 because the miner hadn't eaten a
proper meal for three weeks.
The township and the lure of the black opal have been
neatly summed up in Laurie Hudson's poem:
There's a sleepy little township, out beyond the western
plains,
Lightning Ridge, the town of opal, where there's heat and
scanty rains.
The location is not scenic, just rough ridges all around
Nature sired her scenes of beauty, in black opal,
underground.
If you've never seen black opal, you have missed a
splendid sight,
Like quicksilver gaily coloured, slipped through the
shades of night.
Though you've roamed the whole world over, seen most all
there is to see,
There are scenes you've never dreamed of, in the stone of
mystery.
Lightning Ridge boasts a number of social and sporting
facilities, including a golf course, pistol club and archery
club.The town's Opal Festival is held in the
September-October NSW school holidays. Other annual events
are the Great Goat Race at Easter and the Opal and Gem Expo
in July.
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Lightning
Ridge
