THE ANDAMOOKA OPAL FIELD - Southern Australia.Rockhounding, Lapidary.
This was written by Allan Shultz and Jessica Dow for Rockhoundblog.com. Many thanks to the both of them! Jessica was on a great adventure searching for opals in Australia last month and when I heard about her trek I had to ask her for an update. She has greatfully written a few articles about her journey and her finds and I will be posting them this week. Here is her first article about one of the places she visited and rockhounded. Again thanks Jessica for your time and your interesting stories!
THE ANDAMOOKA OPAL FIELD
Andamooka is about 400 miles north of Adelaide, South Australias capitol by road. The country surrounding the township consists mainly of small hills with rocky outcrops, sandhills and flat dry claypans. The hills are covered with a sparse growth of acacias, small eucalypts and low scrub and fodder plants such as saltbush. Some 15 km east of the township is the northern part of Lake Torrens, a large, usually dry, salt lake bed which is up to 50 km in width and extends nearly 200 km from north to south; it is a featureless and uniformly flat area Andamooka township has grown haphazardly along the dry sandy river bed now called Opal Creek, which winds its way between the low hills which have been formed by the weathering of the flat lying sediments of the area. In the earliest days of the field, wells dug in the creek bed were the main, if sparse, supply of water for the miners. As in the Lightning Ridge area, the scarcity of water apparently was aggravated by the competition between the miners and the graziers. Opals were first discovered at Andamooka by two stockmen in the late 1920’s, whom were caught in a thunderstorm, they were sheltering from the torrential rain sitting under a tree, when by accident one picked up a pretty looking stone later identified as opal, then knowing the value of their find they tried to keep things quiet, but the word did get out and a rush of miners then headed for Andamooka in the 1930’s.
In later years the population fell to a few hundred as opal became harder to find, although some growth has taken place in recent times because of the development of the huge Olympic Dam copper/gold/uranium ore deposit nearby. Unlike Coober Pedy, most of the houses and other buildings were built above ground some were semi-dugouts, being dug into a sloping hillside, the front walls and roof built in conventional fashion, generally with corrugated iron. Later houses were wooden frames covered with corrugated iron or asbestos cement sheeting. As a town Andamooka evolved from the scattered miners camps that set up following the discovery of opal by two station boundary riders in the late 1920s.
Today Andamooka town sits within a Precious Stones Field that occupies 220 sq km of the surrounding Andamooka pastoral lease. The town and station name is derived from local native aboriginal language - the Kuyani words Arndoo-moka which refer to the powerful bone of Aboriginal lore and retribution.Population fluctuates - Some 500 to 600 people live at Andamooka the lack of precision in the total being a product of both extreme summer heat and the irregular lifestyles of people who come to Andamooka both for opal and an unregulated existence.
Andamooka has produced some of the best quality opal in Australia. It occurs largely in a hard, dry environment, and is generally regarded as being particularly stable material ; cracking is rarely a problem. The best material approached Lightning Ridge black opal in quality, with a dark grey background and highly coloured patterns superimposed. In its best years, the value of production rivaled that of the much bigger Coober Pedy field. Excellent specimen material unique to Andamooka could be found in the form of thin veins through quartzite boulders; these split along the veins, leaving a coating of precious opal on the two exposed faces, the so-called ‘painted ladies’. A further type of material, confined to Andamooka, is the so-called ‘opal matrix’,
Andamooka has produced some of the best quality opal in Australia. It occurs largely in a hard, dry environment, and is generally regarded as being particularly stable material ; cracking is rarely a problem. The best material approached Lightning Ridge black opal in quality, with a dark grey background and highly coloured patterns superimposed. In its best years, the value of production rivaled that of the much bigger Coober Pedy field. Excellent specimen material unique to Andamooka could be found in the form of thin veins through quartzite boulders; these split along the veins, leaving a coating of precious opal on the two exposed faces, the so-called ‘painted ladies’. A further type of material, confined to Andamooka, is the so-called ‘opal matrix’,
Good examples of this material can be finished to set make fine jewelry pieces.
Andamooka Is the only place in the world to find this opal type, The Opal was formed Millions of Years Ago, when the Precious Opal Silica was laid down by nature within the Cretaceous Sediments of what was the ocean sea bed when then this area of Australia was part of a huge inland sea. Only a small amount of opal is found now days at Andamooka, as mining activity is low due to high logistical expenses related to the opal fields remoteness. In the 1960’s when Andamooka was BOOMING, a Precious Opal Setting was presented to Queen Elizabeth 2 on behalf of the Australian Citizens by our Government - then it was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Today Andamooka Opals are still World Renowned. Little Andamooka Opal is sold on the gem markets, it has become a rare and unique commodity. Andamooka Opals are special, often they rival Lightning Ridge Black Opals for colors and good buying value.
Check out Jessica’s sites:
Jessica Dow and Martha Borzoni
We are a mother and daughter team
working out of our studio in Tucson, Arizona.
I design one-of-a-kind jewelry using hand-fabricated techniques
with sterling silver, gold and gems we cut ourselves.
I have a great love and passion for my work,
and each design reflects the inspiration I get from these amazing opals.
Both of us have an addiction to working with the beautiful opal
we get from Al & Novi !
We both love doing free-form opal cabochon cutting,
and Martha facets opal and she also does unique opal carvings.
We offer custom lapidary and jewelry design
http://arizonaopals.com her main site
http://www.xanga.com/Jessa1155 Jessica uses this site for networking and portfolio purposes
Martha’s Site~ http://www.xanga.com/MARTHAROCKS
Thanks Ladies, looking forward to more of your articles, Gary.