Koroit Opal Mine

Koroit Opal Mine Another amazing opal spot in the Yowah region

jeg besøgte Koroit opal mine tilbage i 1968. Det var på en ejendom kaldet Boobora Station. Hvad tiltrækkede mig mest af alt, da vi raslede langs den gamle bølgede vej mellem Cunnamulla og Charleville, western Queensland was the beautiful streams of hot crystal clear water gushing from bore heads.

We stopped and drank in the scene more than the water, to see the contrast between this glassy pool of reflective fluid, and the dried out terrain of the Australian outback.

Selvfølgelig, back in those years, Renate and I knew very little about the history of the bore drains, installed by the old station owners to water their sheep and cattle. Even less about the amazing opal stones that were cleaved from the harsh ground.

Somewhere I have a photo of myself, glaring down one of these holes dug by old opal miners dating back to the 19^th århundrede. They must have been on to something, judging by the amount of work they did. We didn’t find any opal during that visit, and it wasn’t until the mid-eighties that we returned for further investigation.

My mate Roger and I decided to take our families on a little vacation to the Queensland opal mines. We were invited to stay in an old shearer’s camp for a couple of weeks. The kids had a wonderful time gathering wood for fires during the day and lighting up the old wood burning fire at night.

The food was good and in between potato throwing fights at night and lots of fossicking in the old opal dumps during the day, it gave them an experience that they have never forgotten.

When we first starting digging at Koroit opal mine, we were looking for full-color stones without any ironstone inclusions.

We acted in ignorance, not realizing that various people have different opinions about what looks better in opal.

Many people, particularly Europeans and Scandinavians in particular really like the interesting patterns, shapes and often ‘pictures’ seen in these beautiful pieces containing precious opal and ironstone mixed.

All sorts of attempts have been used to describe this combination of earth’s materials. Expressions such as ‘Matrix’, meaning ‘A situation or surrounding substance within which something else originates, develops, or is contained’. Or in feminine terms ‘womb’ from which the word ‘maternal’ or ‘mother’ originates.

This word was applied to this special stone to describe small precious flecks of opal captivated or held by mother ironstone. The varieties of this matrix are endless. I have coined the expression ‘Abstract’ opal to describe interesting patterns and shapes within the stone which have no recognizable similarity, but like an abstract oil painting, can be so fascinating to observe.

Other types gems found in the Koroit opal mine, similar to Yowah and boulder opal from further north, can be described as picture stones in that they present a pattern or shape that has a similarity to something known in nature, be it clouds, animals, heavenly bodies, sea creatures, etc.

The diggings in Koroit have become much more extensive in recent years. I visited there back in the 60’s when they were still digging with picks and shovels. At the time there was no one there. The field had been abandoned. But the whole area is opening up again.