Categories: Australian Opal | Opal Fields | Opal Fields Characters
I have just finished reading a book entitled "In Search Of Opal" by Archie Kalokerinos. and thought I would share a summary with you as it clearly shows what it was like to mine opal in the 1950's and 1960's.
Archie accepted a doctor's position in Colleranabri in 1957 and had to travel all around the area to visit patients. Lightning Ridge was one of the places he visited and he actually opened up a once a week surgery there.
At Lightning Ridge he met many miners including Len Cram who has written many books about opal and enjoyed many discussions about opal and eventually became hooked.
Archie's father was born on the island of Kythera in Greece. Archie met up 3 other Greek men with roots in the same island and went on to work with them in the search for opal.
Emmanuel and Bill Petrohelos would talk with Archie for hours about opal and Coober Pedy. After a while Emmanual and Bill decided, with two other Greeks to go to Coober Pedy but had no money. They still set off and arrived after a tedious journey with $50 between them. They built themselves a shack "about the size of a coffin" in an area that was hot and windy and set about mining. This meant sinking shafts with a pick and shovel down through all types of hard ground to depths of up tp 30 metres. The ground was so hard they had dig holes in the rock with hammer and chisel and pack these with gelignite so they could shatter the rock. They then had to remove the rock using a windlass and dump it on the surface in heaps like you see every where in the opal fields.
For the 1st 6 months they did this with absolutely no result. This work was carried out at the Seven Mile field and as it turned out they had missed opal by inches which other miners later found. Bill went back home but later returned with his father and financed by Archie and his father.
When he got back he was met by his friends at the Ten Mile field where they had found lots of opal and crowds of other miners were rushing to this field. They had found 6 good levels with lots of opal and were jubilant.
While all this was going on, Archie was following the progress while at Collarenebri. Together with Emmanuel, he decided to visit Coober Pedy by private plane. Flying by sight over the vast desolate spaces of central Australia they eventually sighted the opal fields and landed on the rough landing strip.
They were met by friends but before driving out to the Six mile they called in at "The Miners store Ltd". Here everything needed by the miners was for sale including gelignite and detonators as well as food and other necessities. The customers were a mixed bunch with the few successful miners flashing piles of notes while the majority had to watch their pennies.
When they arrived at the six mile they were met by Jack and "the boys". Bearded, long haired and extremely well muscled Greeks who were obviously hard workers and looked after by the successful Jack if they were tryers.
Water was very scarce and after washing their bodies the dishes were thown in for cleaning and none of it was wasted. They were a wild lot ,not wearing shirts or shoes and very few speaking English but all were in high spirits.
After this trip they flew back to Collarenebri but trip had made an enormous impression on him. Not long after Bill returned from Coober Pedy after a fifteen hundred mile drive in a wreck of a car that just made it. Archie then started to make arrangements to go back to Coober Pedy ,this time to stay as an opal miner with the hope of all opal miners of finding a fortune in opal.
They drove to Adelaide to meet up with others and then set off to Coober Pedy with six hundred miles of travel on attrocious roads.
Archie was getting a bit worried. He was 37 years old and used to comforts of City living and here he was heading off to live in primitive conditions with a lot of rough,hard working men.
When they arrived at the six mile they saw where they were to stay. A rusty fabrication of old iron and three broken windows surrounded by heaps of discarded old mining equipment. It was full of litter and mice dirt and his first job was to clean it up with the help of his team.
Several other Greek teams worked the six mile at that time. It was decided to sink their first shaft at the six mile but first they had to collect Miners Rights, peg some claims and fix their mining gear. They also had to collect water ration cards and their water allocation. Forty four gallons per fortnight was all they were allocated. They then had to check their equipment: an air compressor. pneumatic hose, jack picks, rock drills and all sorts of miscellaneous gear.