Australia - Guinea - New Zealand

Feb. 25 Back to the good old days - Its Opal fever at Lightning Ridge.: It's a bit like going back 50 years in time just now at Lightning Ridge, Australian - for the town has been hit by Opal Fever! For a 28 year old German digger recently discovered one of the best finds of opals in the area for half a century - word got round, and within days the Opel Rush was on. The population of Lightning Ridge rose rapidly from 50 to 1, 500 - a third of them professional miners, and the rest part-timers. Claims were staked, and 434 holes were sunk straight down, ranging in depth from 10ft to 89ft. Men, women, and children are in on Lightning Ridge Opal Rush - housewives are abandoning their housework to become miners and really doing men-sized jobs. And though most of them miners are loth to admit it, not trusting their fellow-miners- many of them are finding opals, worth thousands of dollars. Photo shows Mrs. Edna Fuller, a mother of three, does a man-size job hauling pay dirt to the surface

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10ft Abandoning Admit Claims Depth Digger Dirt Discovered Does Doing Dollars Edna Fever Finding Finds Fuller Hauling Holes Housewives Housework Lightning Loth Opal Opals Opel Ranging Rapidly Really Ridge Staked Sunk Though Trusting Word Worth

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