INTRODUCTION
In the deserts of the South Australian outback, in one of Australia’s harshest regions and hottest climates, is the town of Coober Pedy. It’s one of Australia’s most unusual places. In fact, it’s called the world’s strangest town.
In summer the temperature can reach 50 degrees Celsius, and the residents have come up with a novel way to keep cool and avoid the burning heat. They’ve gone underground. Much of the town has been built beneath the blistering hot surface. Houses, cafés, shops, hotels and churches are all underground.
Coober Pedy is also known as the ‘Opal Capital of the World’. Most of the world’s opal comes from this tiny Outback town. Today, we’re going underground in this opal mining town in search of treasure – buried treasure – and maybe, just maybe, together we’ll discover real treasure, the treasure of life.
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COOBER PEDY
Coober Pedy is called the opal mining capital of the world and is located in the harsh outback of South Australia. The town is 845kms north of Adelaide and 685 kms south of Alice Springs, along the Stuart Highway.
You know you are nearing Coober Pedy when you see shafts, opal mining trucks and thousands of mullock heaps from mining activities that make the desert look like a lunar landscape. Also, as you enter the town, perched on top of the town sign is the symbol for this town – an old opal mining truck.
About 95% of the world’s precious opals come from Australia. And 85% of them are found right here in the 70 opal fields in the region of Coober Pedy. But it’s not only famous for opals, but also for its unique accommodation, and legendary stories of courage and endurance.
The climate here is harsh. Coober Pedy has a hot desert climate, with temperatures often climbing towards 50’ C in the summer months. The town is surrounded by a flat, stony, treeless desert. With low rainfall and low humidity, residents have found a novel way to keep cool.
LIVING UNDERGROUND
About 50% of the 2,500 residents prefer to live underground or in caves dug into the hillsides that are called ‘dugouts’.
But these aren’t just ordinary caves or caverns. Many of them are well-furnished and have all the creature comforts that make life pleasant and cosy. Here in Coober Pedy, you can even stay in an underground motel that provides luxury accommodation. And if you’re lucky, you’ll find a vein of rich opal in the wall of your room.
There’s even an underground camping site. There are also underground churches, shops, cafés, businesses, and of course the mines.
It is believed that some of the soldiers who returned from the trenches of France after the First World War came to Coober Pedy in search of treasure. They began the idea of living in the underground homes to escape the harsh summer heat.
Because the climate underground has an even temperature of 19-25’C all year, the ‘dugout’ homes are very popular. A standard three-bedroom cave home has a lounge, kitchen, and bathroom excavated out of the rock.
Apparently, the cost to build an underground home is a similar price to building a house on the surface and of course you save on your power bills because you don’t need air-conditioning in summer or winter.
18 HOLES, AND COUNTING
One of the ten most unusual golf courses in the world is found here in Coober Pedy. It’s an 18-hole, 72 par, grass-less golf course. The course traverses the desert flats and gibber hills of Coober Pedy. The greens are black and the fairways are white. You can even see the usual golf course sign, ‘Keep Off the Grass’ even though there isn’t a blade of grass in sight!
This land has long been the home of the Aboriginal people who were hunters and gatherers and lived a nomadic lifestyle in this desert landscape. In 1975, they adopted the name Yamuna meaning ‘long life’.
The first European explorer in the area was John Stuart in 1858, and the township was first named after him. But in 1920 it was renamed Coober Pedy, which comes from the Aboriginal words ‘kupa-piti’, which are commonly thought to mean ‘white man in a hole’.
The reason the white men were in holes is really the story of Coober Pedy. Just over 100 years ago, a small group of men named the New Colorado Prospecting Syndicate were unsuccessfully searching for gold just south of Coober Pedy.
On 1 February 1915, the group camped in a dry riverbed near this area and went looking for water. While the adults went in search of water, the young 15-year old William Hutchinson, son of the leader of the men, picked up some surface opals lying on the ground.
Instead of gold, they had found the rare coloured gemstone – opals. Eight days later the first opal claim was pegged. But due to lack of water and the extreme summer heat, the group left Coober Pedy for William Creek.
OPALS
The name Opal comes from the Latin and Greek word Opalus, meaning ‘to see a colour change.’ It’s also known as the ‘Fire of the Desert’ by the local indigenous people. They believed the colours of the Opal were created when a rainbow touched the earth.
Opals are one of the most beautiful gemstones in the world. They have an amazing display of fiery colours with mesmerising patterns and are considered a symbol of hope and good fortune
When news of the opal discovery broke, the O’Neill brothers and Fred Blakeley from Tarcoola arrived in Coober Pedy and became the pioneers of opal mining here. Due to the inhospitable conditions of the desert, they soon moved underground.
The opal boom began in 1917, when the Trans Continental Railway from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie was completed. Then, just after the end of World War I, thousands of soldiers returned to Australia and were looking for work. They flooded to the opal fields, hoping to make their fortune quickly.
During the Great Depression of the late 1930s, opal prices plummeted. Mining and production almost came to a standstill until Tottie Bryant, an Aboriginal woman, found opal within 20 centimetres of the surface at the Eight Mile field in 1946. This caused a great sensation and was a turning point in the history of opal mining here.
And then, in 1956 one of the most valuable and famous opals ever discovered, named the ‘Olympic Australis’ was found at the Coober Pedy Eight Mile opal field. This stone weighs approximately 3.4 kilos and is exquisitely beautiful. The discovery rekindled an interest in opal mining.
But conditions were extremely harsh in the early opal fields. Water and provisions had to be brought in over great distances and under very difficult conditions. Water was especially scarce, and it was strictly rationed.
MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS
But despite these hardships, by the 1960’s, opal mining had developed into a multi-million-dollar industry and Coober Pedy became a modern opal mining centre. The opals here are mined in an area called The Coober Pedy Precious Stones Field which covers an area of almost 5,000 square kms.
Now the simplest form of opal mining used is to sink a shaft with a pick and shovel. A shaft is a vertical tunnel dug down about 10m below the surface. Once in the clay, they carefully dig a tunnel along that level as they search for the fiery coloured stones.
Each miner then carefully sifts through the clay, centimetre by centimetre, until he finds a patch of dirt that has the promise of that glimmer of stone. Some of the miners call it a ‘rainbow in the dirt’. Then they delicately use a screwdriver or sharp implement to extract the fragile opal.
Since the 1970’s, there’s been a rapid increase in the use of mining machines. Most shafts are now dug by a Calweld-type drill to excavate a 1-metre-in-diameter hole using an auger bucket. These drills can dig to a depth of 28-30m.
Today most opal fields look like a moon landscape and are pitted with abandoned Calweld shafts and mullocks or mounds of waste material. These abandoned prospecting drill holes are up to 30m deep. It is estimated that there are over one and a half million open shafts in the area. Many signs warn visitors of this danger.
The tunnelling machines with revolving cutting heads are called ‘boggers’. Once they have cut the tunnel, smaller bulldozers remove the exposed dirt but not before spotters check the site for the fiery gemstone.
All land waste was originally transported to the surface by a hand windlass. Now a power winch or automatic bucket tipper does the job.
The process of searching through the heaps of discarded mullock for pieces of opal missed by the miners is called ‘noodling’, and you can often see tourists trying to find their fortune in these mullock heaps.
AUSTRALIA’S NATIONAL GEMSTONE
But finding opal is only 20% of the work. 85% of all opals found are called potch, or an opal without fiery colours, which has very little worth. Only 10% of opals have the vivid fiery colours that are so valuable.
The process of getting the stone cut, polished and designed is lengthy and requires a high level of skill. The trickiest process is shaping the opal to display the best colour. The most sought-after colour is the bright red, it’s like a fire in the desert.
Opals are classed according to their quality, brilliance, clarity, variety and pattern. And there are three main factors in determining their value: base colour, brilliance and patterns. The highest priced opals have a black base, have red fire colours and the harlequin colour pattern.
The most expensive opal was found here at Eight Mile in Coober Pedy. It is said to glow in the dark and is worth well over $1million.
The brilliant colours of opals are considered so unique and valuable that in 1993, the opal was named Australia’s national gemstone. And there are legendary stories of courage and endurance associated with searching for them.
OUTBACK ATTRACTIONS
But opals aren’t the only thing of interest in the outback. Just 15 km north-east of Coober Pedy you can see part of the 5,300km dingo fence. It’s the world’s longest continuous construction and stretches from Surfer’s Paradise in Queensland to the cliffs at Ceduna in the Great Australian Bite along the Nullarbor Plain.
The Dingo Fence or Dog Fence is a pest-exclusion fence that was built in Australia during the 1880s. Its purpose is to keep dingoes out of the relatively fertile south-east part of the continent and protect the sheep flocks of southern Queensland.
Now, just 33km north of Coober Pedy there is the conservation park called The Breakaways. The striking rock landscape of flat-topped mesas is home to a wonderful array of Australian fauna and flora.
There are kangaroos, wallabies, emus, a variety of reptiles including lizards and snakes, as well as numerous varieties of desert birds such as eagles, parrots and finches.
IRON MAN JIM
Back in February 1920 a rugged-looking, muscular man, over 1.8m in height and weighing 102 kilograms stepped off the train at Tarcoola.
Iron Man Jim Shaw had travelled all the way by train from Western Australia, and he asked a man how he could get from there to Coober Pedy.
He was told that the only way was to wait for the station truck and pay for a ride to the opal field. But the truck had left yesterday and wouldn’t be back for a while, so he’d just have to wait around Tarcoola.
Well, that didn’t suit Jim. He couldn’t wait to find his share of buried treasure in the opal fields! So he decided to push his wheelbarrow the 241 kilometres across the desert, all the way to Coober Pedy.
Pushing a wheelbarrow was apparently a common form of transport for miners back then. They would put all their possessions and mining tools in their wheelbarrow and off they’d go. And there were a lot of stories of them dying next to their wheelbarrows, too.
Jim’s wheelbarrow was no ordinary wheelbarrow. He’d riveted the 12-gauge iron tyre for sand country and he’d lubricated the bearing with graphite. Into the wheelbarrow he piled a prospector’s outfit of pick, shovel, 2 rock drills, a hammer, a blanket roll, some spare clothing and a small calico tent.
He also had a billy can, frying pan, food, a waterbag for immediate use and a gallon tin as a reserve. He was carrying around 5 litres of water. One onlooker said that it looked as if he was putting a horse out of a job!
ENDLESS SANDHILLS
Jim would have to push his wheelbarrow across endless sand-hills and desert in temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius during the day, and approaching freezing at night. The Tarcoola locals tried to talk him out of it, but Jim was adamant.
When he came to his first sand-hill, he discovered that it was impossible to push his loaded wheelbarrow up these sandhills. So he unloaded everything and carried all of his equipment and food up the hill in a number of trips, then he pulled the empty barrow up to the top and reloaded it for the downhill trip.
Eventually, after countless sand-hills, and completely exhausted, he arrived at Bulgannia Station homestead. The manager of the station couldn’t believe his eyes and quickly gave Jim some water with which to drench himself.
Refreshed from his overnight stay at the homestead he headed off the next day. The track was now a bit better and the weather was cooler. But the flies were worse than ever.
Eventually, Jim reached Ingomar Station, where the manager tried to convince him not to continue as he still had more than 80 kilometres to go and it was madness for him to continue in the middle of summer. There were also long stretches with no water, but Jim would not be deterred.
KEEPING ON KEEPING ON
Jim thanked the manager but told him that he would continue on his journey. Jim asked if he could stay for a few days and have some leather to resole his shoes as they were just about worn out from the sand and stones. Jim set off from Ingomar in the afternoon and walked again until late at night. He was even beginning to doubt that finding opals was worth what he was putting himself through.
He was dismayed to see that the wheel of his barrow was buckling due the heavy load and the very rough conditions. His feet were also very sore from walking. He was still 48 kilometres from Coober Pedy, but Jim just kept on going.
Despite the flies, heat, stones, and sand, he finally made it to Coober Pedy and the Opal fields with his wheelbarrow and equipment.
Many of the miners had heard of Jim’s amazing journey and were waiting for him to celebrate his arrival. And that’s how Jim Shaw came to be known as ‘Iron Man’ Jim Shaw, a true legend of the outback – the man who pushed his wheelbarrow 241kms across the desert to search for buried treasure.
HIDDEN TREASURE
What happened to Jim after that? Well, he settled in Coober Pedy and worked several opal claims. But for all his hard efforts to get there, sadly, he never found much. It’s an epic story of a man who risked everything to find buried treasure in the opal fields.
However, there is a sure way to obtain treasure, real treasure, the treasure of life. Jesus told an epic story about buried treasure also. Here it is in Matthew 13:44
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” (Matthew 13:44)
People didn’t have banks in the same way as we do today, and they didn’t use safes to protect their money. Instead, they would choose a spot under their house, or often just an unlikely spot in an open field. They would dig a hole and bury their money there.
And what would often happen is that the owner would die and no one would know where he’d buried the money. Everyone used to do this, including the rich. That’s why it’s quite common even today for people to find buried treasure caches in random places across the lands of the Bible.
And back then it was basically ‘finders-keepers’! If you found treasure, it’s yours, especially if you owned the land. Now, let’s use our imagination a little, as we think about this story that Jesus told.
Here is a man who is perhaps just ploughing a field, when his plough jams against something solid. When the man digs down, he finds a box, and immediately he’s excited, because he knows that it’s buried treasure! And when he opens the box, he finds that it’s a horde of treasure beyond his wildest dreams. Immediately he buries it again to keep it safe, because he knows what he has to do.
The man goes to the owner of the field and says to him, “I want to buy your field. What will you sell it to me for?”
“It’s not for sale,” he’s told.
“Everything’s got a price. I’ll give you whatever you want for it. Name your price.” The owner gives him a price. “That’s ridiculous!” the man says.
“That’s my price.” the owner replies.
WHATEVER IT TAKES!
Even though the price is exorbitant, the man decides that he will do whatever it takes, because he must have the land.
He starts off by selling his own house and land, but it’s still not enough. He then sells off his donkey and his work tools, but it still isn’t enough. Finally, he sells all his household contents. His family and his neighbours think he’s mad, but he doesn’t care, because he knows what he’s doing. He counts his money and he has just enough to buy the field.
And so he hurries back to the owner, pays him the money, and buys the field. And instead of suffering from buyer’s remorse, he’s over the moon with joy. He can’t believe his good fortune!
Everyone thought that he’d gone mad! After all, he had sold his own seemingly good property, and everything else that he owned, even the clothes off his back, to buy this field. He had paid a price that was far higher than anyone else could ever have thought it was worth.
But he did it because he knew what was buried in that field. It was a treasure that was far, far more valuable than the one Iron Man Jim Shaw was looking for in Coober Pedy.
You see, the treasure buried in the field in Jesus’ story represents the treasure of salvation – eternal life – a treasure that is worth far more than anything else we could ever look for on this earth. Notice what Jesus said, in Matthew 16:26,
“For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”
THE GREATEST TREASURE
Here, Jesus is talking about the real treasure of life – the treasure that is really worth everything, which is life itself. What he’s saying is that people go to enormous lengths to gain the world, but miss the real treasure.
Why do they miss it? Well, first of all, because it’s buried in a field. You have to dig a bit deeper than the shallow stuff with which our society surrounds us every day.
But the other reason why so many people miss the real treasure of life is that, like Jim, they think that they’ll find it by pushing wheelbarrows. In other words, by working hard for it. So, people can work hard all their lives but never become truly rich. They can live amazing lives, and be good people, but never find the greatest treasure of all: eternal life.
The reason is that you don’t find it by pushing wheelbarrows. You find it by simply accepting it as a gift from Jesus Christ. How do you accept the free gift? By admitting that you are a sinner and that you need Jesus, and asking him to forgive you and to come into your life. Then you’ll have eternal life.
Really, when you consider the incredible efforts by people like Iron Man Jim Shaw to find some shiny stones in the ground, you have to ask yourself if you’re satisfied with the way your life is now, and what you’d be willing to do to have something better?
And when you realise what Jesus is offering you, there’s no sacrifice that would be too much for the gift of eternal life – a forever life of happiness and peace.
Except what’s most amazing about God’s offer to you is that he isn’t asking you to pay any money or to push wheelbarrows. He’s offering you salvation as a gift!
SPECIAL OFFER AND CLOSING PRAYER
So, if you’re sick of pushing wheelbarrows in life, and you’d like to say to Jesus that you accept his free gift of the greatest treasure of all, then I’d like to recommend the free gift we have for all our Incredible Journey viewers today.
It’s the easy to read booklet, Finding Treasure – A Beginner’s Guide. This small book will share with you the way to find the most important treasure in life. It’s our gift to you and is absolutely free. I guarantee that there are no costs or obligations whatsoever. So don’t miss this wonderful opportunity to receive the free gift for you today.
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If you’ve enjoyed our journey to Coober Pedy to see the opals – ‘the fire of the desert’ – along with the story of Iron Man Jim Shaw, then be sure to join us again next week when we’ll share another of life’s journeys together. Until then, let’s ask God to lead us to our own buried treasure that He has prepared for us in Jesus Christ. Let’s pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the beauty of Opals, the fire of the desert. Lord, we’re all interested in buried treasure, but may we always focus first and foremost on the greatest treasure of all, Jesus and the gift of salvation that He offers us, and the inner-peace and happiness He brings. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
