How do the inhabitants of Coober Pedy live, the city under the ground, which you definitely saw in the movies
In the South Australian outback, halfway between Adelaide and Alice Springs, there is the town of Coober Pedy. This desert city is known for its opal mines, as well as its periodic appearance in Hollywood films. And here is the main reason for its fame: most of its population lives underground.
The history of Coober Pedy is connected with the history of local aborigines. It is located in an area that is considered the traditional land of the Arabana people. Yankunitjatjara and Kokata also belong to its ceremonial lands.
The first European explorer to visit the area was John McDougall Stewart. He visited here in 1858. However, even after his research, this area remained a white spot for Western scientists. The situation changed in 1915, when 14-year-old Will Hutchison discovered an opal here during a research trip with his father.
In 1916, a demographic boom began in this area: miners began to arrive in the city. Interestingly, many of the first settlers were veterans of the First World War, who became experts in excavations after spending many months in the trenches. Soon, representatives of 50 different nationalities were already living in this area.
After many years of development, by 1999 there were more than 250,000 mine entrances in the vicinity. There are so many opal mines that local authorities have passed a law restricting mining operations. After that, the deposit became a Mecca for prospectors and treasure hunters who are trying to get permission for development.
70 percent of the world's opal production is associated with Coober Pedy, which earned the city the title of "world capital of opals". Most of its residents are associated with the stone trade, working in more than 70 opal deposits.
The heat is the main problem for the miners and the rest of the residents of Coober Pedy. The city is located on the outskirts of the Victoria Desert, and the temperature here often reaches 40 degrees and above.
The city is located on the edge of the erosion slope of the Stewart Ridge, which is composed of siltstone and sandstone and goes to a depth of about 30 meters. Such a geological composition, combined with strong heat, is harmful to plants. Before the city adopted an initiative encouraging residents to plant trees, Coober Pedy's tallest tree was made from pieces of metal.
The heat and lack of precipitation also contribute to the periodic drying of nearby Lake Eyre, the lowest natural point in Australia. During periods of drying, the bottom of the lake glistens with salt crystals. As a result, the landscape turns into a bright white desert.
To escape from the scorching temperatures, the residents of Coober Pedy came up with an ingenious solution: to burrow underground. The first prospectors, using mining tools, began to dig new mines in the hillside to build underground dwellings.
The trend has taken root, and currently about half of the city's population has decided to live underground. For the price of a house on the ground today, you can dig yourself an underground dwelling with three bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room and a kitchen. These dwellings have an undeniable advantage: it is not hot in them, which means that there is no need to install air conditioning, unlike open-air houses.
To ensure the safety of underground residents, the municipal authorities require that all houses have emergency lighting, ventilation, a roof thickness of at least 2.5 meters and an emergency exit. Other security measures in place in the city include a volunteer fire brigade and a police force consisting of 15 employees.
Residents of Coober Pedy, both above and below ground, enjoy the same amenities as residents in ordinary urban areas. In the 1960s and 1970s, landline telephone communication appeared here, in 1980 – television, and mobile communication entered wide use in the 1990s.
Today, tourism makes no less a contribution to the urban economy than the mining industry. Every year, thousands of tourists take a trip along the Stewart Highway to explore the local attractions. These include mines, a cemetery and extravagant underground churches, including a Serbian Orthodox Church with intricate carvings on the walls.
Those who want to get acquainted with the history of the city's mining industry can visit the Umun Opal Mine and Museum or take part in the annual Coober Pedy Opal Festival. Tourists can also camp in underground caves or relax in the luxury of the Desert Cave Hotel.
Above the ground, visitors can look at the Dingo fence with a length of more than 5,000 kilometers, located near the city. It was built to protect livestock from predators and has since become the longest continuous structure in the world, stretching from the east coast of Queensland to the Nallarbor Plain. And exotic lovers can go to the golf course, where they play at night with glow-in-the-dark balls to avoid the heat of the day.
Over the years, many films have been made in Coober Pedy. Filmmakers love this region for its barren landscape, reminiscent of an alien one. Such films as "Mad Max: Under the Dome of Thunder" and "Red Planet" were filmed here. Because of the invasion of filmmakers, Coober Pedy even got the nickname "Hollywood in the outback".
Keywords: City | Desert | Heat | Travel | Shooting | Dungeon | Interesting | Australia and new zealand | Mines