Coober Pedy

As we walk around Coober Pedy, there’s signs everywhere saying “don’t walk backwards”.

Why you may well ask?

Well due to the Giant South Australian Desert Mole which was originally introduced here during British colonisation and has run rampant ever since, there are millions of mole holes everywhere.

I kid you not, there’s very little water in Coober Pedy but 40 metres underground lies the Great Artesian Basin and the remainder of a vast inland sea millions of years ago. So as the mole has an acute sense of smell and can detect water from above ground, he digs a hole prospecting in search of liquid gold. He scratches away at the gypsum sandstone walls with his long dagger like claws, and his diamond edged teeth. the perfect tunnelling tool for the job. He pushes the dirt between his back legs with such ferocity that the dirt shoots up through the hole behind him.

All this digging leaves a large mound of dry dirt on top of the desert floor as you can see in the profile photo and many of the holes are just abandoned as he moves on thinking that the next hole will be the one.

Being highly territorial, the mole claims his patch and no other mole can dig in his allotment of land and often moles can be seen and even heard fighting in dispute over a claim.

He’s not always successful, but persistent to the extent that he becomes addicted to digging as the mere thought of striking water sends him mad with desire. Just like water divining rods, the mole is accurate about 10% of the time so that’s 10 holes for every one success. Even so, the promised big strike of a reservoir full of water can often allude him so he digs and digs and digs.

So that’s why there are millions of holes in Cooper Pedy... in fact 30 million to be precise and that’s why we don’t walk backwards. That’s truly amazing!

Now Coober Pedy is also famous for Opals and it has the biggest opal seams and the best source of opals in the world. The process of extracting them is quite similar to that of the mole so no need to delve deeper...! However, the process on which an opal is created is a natural phenomenon that produces vibrant and colourful translucent gems.

The sand from the inland sea millions of years ago was rich in silica and unique to Australia. The sea water with the silica in it seaps through the sandstone. As the climate changed, the water evaporated and left behind the silica and over time, droplets of the silica containing a small amount of water were deposited to form opal. The water is a key ingredient as inside the opal, the water content reflects light to provide thousands of variations of colour.

With all the prospecting for Opals and all the digging of holes and tunnels, the majority of folk living in town live underground. In fact 70% of homes in Coober Pedy are underground, ventilated from above via shafts and providing a consistent climate and temperature of 24-26 degrees. This is perfect as the temperature here can vary from 40+ degrees in summer to negative degrees at night in winter.

As we we explore town, we soon realise that this place is a bit wacko! Its just like mad max, dry, desolate and harsh yet exciting, interesting and full of signs of ingenuity and survival. We find many a monument to the boom/bust opal industry plus rusty cars, machines, mechanical diggers, dated rusty signs from an era gone by, and other vehicles abandoned, Its certainly eye catching and quirky.

Even the famous bus from the movie Pricilla, Queen of the Desert has its final resting place here.

Jen visits a few underground churches and we both visit the opal museum for a tour and a historical movie about the opal and the pioneers who moved here to dig for them and seek their fortunes.

Although Coober Pedy town centre has stopped digging for opals and is now heritage listed, on the outskirts, we can still apply for a permit to dig, find a patch of land and go prospecting.

So with a pair of water diviners which suppose to pick up the trace elements of water in an opal seam, and a mole in hand, sorry... a shovel in hand, we head off to find some dirt.

“The Walshies are makin a claim”Read more