NSW Opal Fields near The Grawin

To say that the communities and the people that live in them in the Grawin opal mining area near Lightning Ridge in NSW are unique is quite an understatement!

Hot, dry and dusty is a good summary of both the climate and the working conditions.  It is a dry heat with dust either hanging in the air or settling on everything else.  It is a ‘hard to stay clean’ kind of environment.  The dirt in the surrounding area is red but just below the surface in the opal fields themselves, it is chalky white.  The place is covered in holes and shafts with the heaps of waste rock, called ‘mullock’ that came out of them piled right nearby.  It is like giant wombats or gophers have been allowed to dig unchecked for years!  Opal was first discovered out here in 1905 and after more than 100 years of digging, ‘pock-marked moonscape’ is a pretty accurate way to describe the landscape.

Holes, shafts, diggings and mullock heaps everywhere you look!

I am guessing that not too many folks get rich quickly (some might have gotten lucky but not many), but most that live and try to make a living of it have certainly got a good dose of ‘opal fever’, where a small ‘trace’ or ‘flash of colour’ can be enough to keep you there ‘just a little bit longer’ in the hope of striking it rich.  We did a little fossicking or “noodling” amongst the waste dumps but didn’t find any colour – a couple of plain and dull pieces but nothing flashy enough for us to catch the fever.

Found some very poor quality opal samples on a roadside waste heap!

Plenty of the characters we came across look like they have been there for years – real ‘Bushies’.  I don't think the shaving kit salesman bothered to come out this way much, or if he did, he did a really poor sales job - some of the beards we saw would put Santa Claus to shame!  Anyway, there are three places, other than working on their claim blocks, where you are sure to see the locals – all of these places sell beer, while two of the three also serve food.

The first of these establishments we came across is called ‘The Club in the Scrub’.  It probably started out as a corrugated iron shed but has grown in a ramshackle manner to now be an official ‘members only’ clubhouse alongside the local golf course.

Plenty of 'Bushy Beards' seen in here!

Grant at The Club In The Scrub bar (note: Bushy Beard in background)

The second place is known as the ‘Glengarry Hilton’.  It is comprised of a bar and a separate containerised kitchen from which the locals and visitors can buy a counter meal.  We parked the caravan out the back of the Hilton for the night – the price for doing so was simply to buy something, anything, from the pub.  This also entitled you to also use the attached toilet facilities.  So, in order to cover our obligation, we had dinner and a drink there later that night.


We parked out the back of the 'Glengarry Hilton'.  No valet parking service here!

Heather at the Hilton's 'Opal bar' (Another Bushy Beard was just to the left of shot)

Last in the order we got to them but not least, was the Sheepyard Inn.  Drinks (of course!)and basic groceries were available but they had not been serving food there for the past few days.


Heather at the Sheepyard Inn (note: Bushy Beard at right)

We also came across one of those oddities you sometimes (often?) find in the bush out the back of the Sheepyard Inn.  It is not that unusual to find a 'Shoe Tree' where people have thrown or hung a pair of shoes on the branches of a tree, which over time many other people do too.  However, this time it was a 'Bra Tree'.  There are not too many women out here so not really sure where the all of the adornments came from...who knows?  'Don't ask - Don't tell' is probably the best approach to take with this one!

'Bra Tree'.  Maybe a lonely miner is trying to grow some boobs?

After an enjoyable day and night in the dry opal fields of NSW, we needed to wash some dust off of ourselves.  Stay tuned to discover WTF? – Where are The Farrows?, and where they find a hot bath to clean themselves up in!