Coober Pedy

Coober Pedy
View of Coober Pedy
State :  Australia State : South Australia Founded : 1915
Coordinates : 29 ° 1 ′  S , 134 ° 43 ′  E Coordinates: 29 ° 1 ′  S , 134 ° 43 ′  E Height : 215  m Area : 30.5  km²
Residents : 1,625 (2016) Population density : 53 inhabitants per km²
Time zone : ACST (UTC + 9: 30) Postal code : 5723 LGA : District Council of Coober Pedy
Coober Pedy

Coober Pedy is a town with a population of about 1700 in South Australia and is located about 840 kilometers northwest of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway . It is the starting point of the Anne Beadell Highway . The name "Coober Pedy" is the English spelling of the Pitjandjari Aborigine term kupa piti , which means something like "white man's hole".

history

The first European to explore what is now Coober Pedy was the Scot John McDouall Stuart in 1858 . The first opal deposit was discovered in February 1915 and the first miners settled down in 1916.

Residents

The extreme summer temperatures and opal mining have resulted in most residents living in underground caves known as dugouts . Originally dug into the clayey earth by hand or blasted into the rock, these caves are now being cut out of the earth or expanded spatially by so-called tunneling machines within a very short time. The entrances are mostly above ground on the street side and the actual living area is in the mounds of earth behind. A typical cave dwelling with three bedrooms, living room, kitchen and bathroom can be built for a price roughly comparable to that of an above-ground house. It has a comfortable and constant temperature, while life on the surface requires expensive air conditioning. Especially in summer, the temperatures on the surface can rise to over 40 ° C.

economy

The village calls itself the opal capital of the world and is actually the largest source of these gemstones. Around three quarters of all white opals worldwide are found in the vicinity of Coober Pedy. Today it is forbidden to mine for opals within the city limits. In the 1980s, all you had to do was register as a miner with the Miners Department to get a drilling permit. In addition, four posts were obtained with which an area of ​​up to 50 × 50 m could be staked out. If you found opals on this surface, you owned the gemstones.

Another source of income is tourism. Former opal mines, the cemetery and the underground churches can be visited. There are several underground hotels with different standards. There is no grass on the golf course and golfers carry small pieces of lawn with them as tee points. An old warning sign in front of the local cinema hall shows the bizarre nature of the original pioneering days: Bringing dynamite sticks into the projection room is strictly prohibited! From Coober Pedy Airport from flights to the Anna Creek Painted Hills are taken.

gallery

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  Coober Pedy (1999)

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  A den in Coober Pedy

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  Blower - a typical working device

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  Mine shafts

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  Warning sign in Coober Pedy

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  Opalised belemnite rust from the Upper Cretaceous of Coober Pedy, approx. 95 million years old

Personalities

By far the most legendary figure in Coober Pedy was Arvid Blumenthal (born March 19, 1925 in Dundaga, Latvia, died October 13, 2006 in Australia) also known as Crocodile Harry (real name Baron Arvid von Blumental ). His cave is just outside of Coober Pedy.

Films with Coober Pedy as the location

• Fire in the Stone
• Where the green ants dream
• Ground zero
• Mad Max - Beyond the Thunderdome
• The Jugger - Battle of the Best
• Stark - The Dark Half
• Priscilla - queen of the desert
• Til the end of the world
• Siam Sunset
• Pitch Black - Planet of Darkness
• Red Planet
• Kangaroo Jack
• Opal Dream
• Science Fiction Volume One: The Osiris Child

Climate table

Coober Pedy
Climate diagram
J F. M. A. M. J J A. S. O N D.     17th   36 21st     23   36 21st     14th   33 18th     6.7   28 14th     14th   22nd 10     14th   19th 7th     8.1   19th 6th     9.4   21st 7th     8.7   25th 10     15th   29 14th     12   32 17th     17th   34 19th Temperature in ° C ,  precipitation in mm Source: Bureau of Meteorology, Australia, data: 1921–2002

Monthly average temperatures and rainfall for Coober Pedy Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 36.2 35.5 32.7 27.6 22.2 18.8 18.7 20.9 24.6 28.8 32.2 34.4 O 27.7 Min. Temperature (° C) 20.6 20.7 18.2 14.1 10.1 7.3 6.3 7.4 10.1 13.6 16.6 19.1 O 13.6 Precipitation ( mm ) 17.4 23.4 13.9 6.7 14.0 14.4 8.1 9.4 8.7 15.4 11.5 16.5 Σ 159.4 Rainy days ( d ) 2.2 2.2 1.9 1.7 3.0 3.1 2.5 2.6 2.3 3.0 3.2 2.9 Σ 30.6 Source: Bureau of Meteorology, Australia, data: 1921–2002

Individual evidence

1. ^ Australian Bureau of Meteorology
2. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics : Coober Pedy ( English ) In: 2016 Census QuickStats . June 27, 2017. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
3. ↑ CooberPedy.sa.gov.au: Welcome to the Opal Capital of the World. Retrieved March 24, 2017 . 
4. ↑ Coober Pedy Underground Homes: Dugouts (English)
5. ↑ Sibylle Schneck: With the Opal Seekers in Australia, in: The great youth book 26th episode. Stuttgart 1985. pp. 230-237, here 236.
6. ↑ Sibylle Schneck: With the Opal Seekers in Australia, in: The great youth book 26th episode. Stuttgart 1985. pp. 230-237, here 236.
7. ↑ Sibylle Schneck: With the Opal Seekers in Australia, in: The great youth book 26th episode. Stuttgart 1985. pp. 230-237, here 236.
8. ↑ Bureau of Meteorology, Australia: Klimeinformationen Coober Pedy. World Meteorological Organization, accessed April 6, 2012 . 

literature

• Sibylle Schneck: Among the opal hunters in Australia , in: The great youth book 26th episode. Stuttgart 1985. pp. 230-237.

Web links

Commons : Coober Pedy  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• The City website (English)
• Coober Pedy on australien-info.de