Johno's Opals
All About Australian Opals
Minnie Berrington -First woman opal miner at Andamooka
Jan 13th
In 1926, Minnie Berrington, a young typist from London arrived at Coober Pedy becoming one of only 3 women on that opal field at that time. Conditions may not look all that good at Coober Pedy today but at that time they would have been much worse.
Access to the town, if you could call it a town then, was appalling. The road from Port Augusta was unmade and was really just a dirt track. Supplies were difficult to obtain and the weather was extremely hot in summer with little shelter and certainly none of the “mod cons” we have today More >
Andamooka Opal Fields -Brian Tansell
Jan 4th
This is a brief story about Brian Tansell, a regular resident of Andamooka since 1968. This story was told to me by Brian himself on 30th June 2011.
Brian is well known in Andamooka and Port Lincoln where he spends the summer months. You may have met Brian and his wife Ronnie at many of the markets around the Port Lincoln area where he sells opal, especially treated Rainbow Matrix Opal, which he has mined and treated himslf. These are sold at very reasonable prices and are beautiful examples of this wondrous stone that is only found at Andamooka.
Brian was born More >
For Sale: Andamooka Rainbow Matrix
Oct 24th
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This is an 85 carat Andamooka matrix opal which has been treated once with sugar and acid before shaping. It has broad red flashes with some blue and green colour. The background will darken with another treatment. It will make a beautiful pendant and is a high quality stone.The stone is 51 mm x 39mm x 7mm thick. The price I am asking is AU $150.
Andamooka Cemeteries – as told to me by Brian Tansell, opal miner.
Sep 10th
old dogs
In the early 1930′s there were a few miners working at Andamooka. One of these miners was an old European who lived in an old dugout away from the main centre. He was regularly seen walking across the hill to collect water from the well in the main centre, but he rarely spoke to anyone. At that time there was a tin store near where the school is now, run by Reg Absalom. During a long heatwave it was realised that no-one had seen this miner for several days, which was quite unusual. Reg went looking for him and found More >
MY FIRST TRIP TO THE OPAL FIELDS
May 13th
In my teens I had a strong interest in fossicking for gemstones. This led to gold panning and gemstone fossicking trips to Beechworth, Walhalla and other similar places,
In 1966 my cousin Ken and I decided we should try and find some opal as we had read about its beauty and the possibility of finding chips and small pieces rejected or missed by the miners at some of the older fields. After some study we settled on an old field called “Pride of the Hills” situated in Queensland west of Cunamulla and east of Toompine. We had no idea of what More >
Andamooka – A Brief History
Jan 9th
Andamooka is situated approximately 360 km from Port Augusta. It can be reached by turning off the Stuart Highway at Pimba and travelling along sealed roads via Woomera and Roxby Downs.
Andamooka was one of the later opal fields found in Australia.Opal was first found on the Andamooka Station in 1930. As in all opal discoveries there are a number of claims as to who first discovered opal in the area but the most commonly accepted story is that Roy Shepherd and Sam Brooks, who were working at the Andamooka Station and shifting camp from one place to another, discovered opal More >
Treating Andamooka Matrix Opal
Nov 15th
Andamooka matrix opal is basically a limestone base rock impregnated with tiny pieces of precious opal. Because the limestone is very pale it is often difficult to see the play of opal colour in the stone and hence a method of darkening the limestone background was developed so the colour of the opal could be seen.
The treatment described here in no way alters the opal component of the stone. It merely allows it to be seen with the naked eye. It is amazing how the stone can be transformed from a pale stone with seemingly little colour to a dazzlingly More >
