Coober Pedy Tours and Attractions

The Old Timers Mine

No trip to Coober Pedy would be complete without a visit to the multi award winning and popular Old Timers Mine.

Owner Trevor Berry was bitten by the mining bug in 1994 when on a trip to the “Opal Capital of the World”. He spend the next  5 years working out a way to return to live his obsession and in 1999 Trevor and wife Rose-Marie returned to Coober Pedy to start life as opal miners.

The Old Timers Mine commenced operations in 1916, but was back filled soon after presumably  to hide the precious contents during World War I and not unearthed till 1968 when a neighbouring underground homeowner – whilst undertaking some extension’s broke through into the original mine to reveal  3 large seams of high quality stones.

The Old Timers Mine was opened to tourists in 1987 complete with the original dugout and underground home showing a miners life and the history of opal mining in the harsh South Australian Outback as far back as the 1920’s.

Visitors undertake a self-guided tour of the mine taking in live demonstrations of the machinery used to extract and clean the opals along with interactive and informative displays depicting every aspect of opals from mine to jewellery.  

After the tour visitors are invited to try their luck on the mullock heaps, view or purchase some of the fine local opal jewellery and souvenirs.

This fascinating insight into the opal mining history of an equally fascinating town will only whet your appetite to explore further.

There are several town tour options on offer from The Old Timers Mine including 1.5 hour, full day and self-drive tours; they can also arrange accommodation, golf club hire and “green” fees for one of the most iconic golf courses in Australia and The Old Timers Mine is also a unique wedding venue.

Take a few days to explore Coober Pedy.

Click on an image to enlarge and use arrows to view as slideshow

• 
• 
• 
• 
•