The Opal Days
Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 6:46 pm
The Opal Days
In a way it could be said that I’ve been chasing rainbows most of my life, the urge really took off If I remember right when I was about eight. I’d just heard a story about an uncle of mine who had once picked up a piece of rock with about an ounce of gold in it. He’d been walking along a newly gravelled road, but not knowing for sure if it was gold he just placed on the mantelpiece. It stayed there for some years before someone recognised it for what it was. Despite a frantic search of the area and all the known gravel pits around, no more pieces were ever found. But the story certainly fired my imagination, no stone or piece of rock escaped my attention from then on without being given a thorough examination.
Then in my late teens I wrote to Ion Idriess after reading his book ‘Lasseters Last Ride’; another young bloke and myself had this half baked idea of going out and finding the reef. I’m surprised now that he even bothered answering my letter; perhaps he saw a little of himself as a young chap in us. Anyway he suggested I have a go at opal instead and reckoned Coober Pedy would be a good place to try my luck.
It took a couple of years before I finally took the plunge, my age and lack of funds being the main drawback at the time. I managed to save a few pounds and then worked my way up to Darwin where I teamed up with a Swiss bloke named Hans after convincing him a fortune in opal awaited us. With funds at a premium we hitchhiked to Alice and then travelled on the back of a semitrailer to Coober Pedy. This was in the early sixties and Coober Pedy was a much different place then to what it is today. There were only about 300 people there from memory and apart from the Miners, Traiges and Brewster's stores, plus the Progress Association’s hall there was virtually no other buildings except the Nursing Post in the town.
It was a pretty rough place with lots of heavy drinkers and big gamblers, but unlike in later years you could leave your gear anywhere without fear of someone pinching it.
We started out with a hand auger, long length of rope, pick and shovel, Jelly, fuse and detonators. Our first home was down an eighty foot shaft and entry was via the rope and footsteps gauged on either side of the shaft, it’s amazing one of us didn’t break our necks.
We were fortunate enough to find a little opal from the beginning but were still on meagre rations. It all became a bit too much for Hans who pulled the pin after a few months, as luck would have it another bloke called Gunter (German) had just lost his partner (Manfred) so we teamed up and eventually brought an old Brush Hut out on the Flat for Twenty Quid. We were moderately successful over the years without making anything like a fortune, yet they were great years for a couple of young blokes learning to make their way in life, eventually we bought a fairly humble Dugout. We remain mates to this day, although we don’t get to see much of each other now as Gunter still lives in Coober Pedy
I left in 1968 to get married after meeting Valma on one of my infrequent trips home to the West; but soon started chasing rainbows again searching for gold. The last stanza from a poem about those days probably sums things up
I stir at last, the daydream ends, of opal days and long lost friends,
as young men then we’d grown up fast and learned when down you just bounce back.
A new life now and years speed by still chasing rainbows in the sky,
though memories are always there, of life out in that old brush shack.
© T.E. Piggott
--------------------
In a way it could be said that I’ve been chasing rainbows most of my life, the urge really took off If I remember right when I was about eight. I’d just heard a story about an uncle of mine who had once picked up a piece of rock with about an ounce of gold in it. He’d been walking along a newly gravelled road, but not knowing for sure if it was gold he just placed on the mantelpiece. It stayed there for some years before someone recognised it for what it was. Despite a frantic search of the area and all the known gravel pits around, no more pieces were ever found. But the story certainly fired my imagination, no stone or piece of rock escaped my attention from then on without being given a thorough examination.
Then in my late teens I wrote to Ion Idriess after reading his book ‘Lasseters Last Ride’; another young bloke and myself had this half baked idea of going out and finding the reef. I’m surprised now that he even bothered answering my letter; perhaps he saw a little of himself as a young chap in us. Anyway he suggested I have a go at opal instead and reckoned Coober Pedy would be a good place to try my luck.
It took a couple of years before I finally took the plunge, my age and lack of funds being the main drawback at the time. I managed to save a few pounds and then worked my way up to Darwin where I teamed up with a Swiss bloke named Hans after convincing him a fortune in opal awaited us. With funds at a premium we hitchhiked to Alice and then travelled on the back of a semitrailer to Coober Pedy. This was in the early sixties and Coober Pedy was a much different place then to what it is today. There were only about 300 people there from memory and apart from the Miners, Traiges and Brewster's stores, plus the Progress Association’s hall there was virtually no other buildings except the Nursing Post in the town.
It was a pretty rough place with lots of heavy drinkers and big gamblers, but unlike in later years you could leave your gear anywhere without fear of someone pinching it.
We started out with a hand auger, long length of rope, pick and shovel, Jelly, fuse and detonators. Our first home was down an eighty foot shaft and entry was via the rope and footsteps gauged on either side of the shaft, it’s amazing one of us didn’t break our necks.
We were fortunate enough to find a little opal from the beginning but were still on meagre rations. It all became a bit too much for Hans who pulled the pin after a few months, as luck would have it another bloke called Gunter (German) had just lost his partner (Manfred) so we teamed up and eventually brought an old Brush Hut out on the Flat for Twenty Quid. We were moderately successful over the years without making anything like a fortune, yet they were great years for a couple of young blokes learning to make their way in life, eventually we bought a fairly humble Dugout. We remain mates to this day, although we don’t get to see much of each other now as Gunter still lives in Coober Pedy
I left in 1968 to get married after meeting Valma on one of my infrequent trips home to the West; but soon started chasing rainbows again searching for gold. The last stanza from a poem about those days probably sums things up
I stir at last, the daydream ends, of opal days and long lost friends,
as young men then we’d grown up fast and learned when down you just bounce back.
A new life now and years speed by still chasing rainbows in the sky,
though memories are always there, of life out in that old brush shack.
© T.E. Piggott
--------------------