Photos
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Harry Zac, a German opal miner, lived on pumpkin and wild pig at the Grawin field for 50 years until his death in 1976. His bark hut still stands with examples of his bush ingenuity – hat rack and table are on display at the LRHS. Photograph Lightning Ridge Historical Society
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Watty Vause’s Store, Lightning Ridge, 1910. Lightning Ridge Historical Society
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Miners at Lightning Ridge c.1910. Lightning Ridge Historical Society
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Lightning Ridge School 1916. Lightning Ridge Historical Society
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The Flame Queen opal found by Phillips, Hegarty and Bradley in 1918. Joe Hegarty was American. Walter Bradley was English. Jack Phillips was Australian. Photograph Lightning Ridge Historical Society
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In the 1960s the first prototype of a self-tipping, automatic hoist was invented by a miner crippled by childhood polio, who wanted to work alone and at his own pace. Today, a Super Hoist is linked to a hydraulic digger and small front end loader underground. Lightning Ridge Historical Society
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Miner’s Right 1924. Lightning Ridge Historical Society
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The Shell Oil tin bucket was versatile and common on the diggings. The tin was used to fashion the Heritage Cottage chimney built by an English miner Albert Spicer in 1932. The ‘making do’ attitude has prevailed on the diggings to this day. Photograph Lightning Ridge Historical Society
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The Graham brothers lived in the Heritage Cottage for 40 years. The New Zealander men adapted this Singer treadle to run the wheels for rubbing down opal. Photograph Lightning Ridge Historical Society
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Blow torch c.1900 – 1920s. Photograph Lightning Ridge Historical Society
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This cup was fashioned from tin by a Croatian miner near Sims Hill. Photograph Lightning Ridge Historical Society
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This Carbide lamp was used at the Grawin diggings by an English miner Michael Swan as recently as the 1970s. Photograph Lightning Ridge Historical Society
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Nettleton Postal Seal. Lightning Ridge Historical Society
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