My Story
Mining rites
Visiting her mother’s outback town to fulfil
a promise, Lucy Di Paolo discovers some
unexpected gems
Lucy Di Paolo, 40, is a Victoria-based
photographer whose portraits of Lightning
Ridge locals were recently on exhibition in
Dandenong. See lucydipaolo.com.
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nature and had a chance to find
black opals and make some money.
My mother was a beautiful,
adventurous Spanish woman, with
dark hair and hazel eyes, but she
was also quiet and shy. Early in the
Ridge years, she kept to herself,
but later, she started going to the
neighbourhood centre to socialise.
She would also travel to Grawin,
about 55km west, and “speck” for
opal: going through truckloads of
rubble dumped by full-time miners.
It was her dream to mine, but her
naivety and romanticised get-richquick thinking cost her. She was
ripped off and never made her mark.
But she retained a sense of humour
and a beguiling smile.
Then, just as friendships began to
blossom, she was diagnosed with
cancer and had to return south for
treatment. She had intentions to
cook paella as a special treat for her
Ridge friends, but died too soon.
In her honour, my aunt Marisa and
readersdigest.com.au 04 /10
The beauty of Lightning Ridge lies in its
stark grandeur (above); the writer’s
mother, Marisol Torres (right)
ph otos: co u rte s y lu c y d i pao lo
M
y mother, Marisol
Torres, came with her
family to Australia from
Madrid, Spain, in the early 1960s.
She married at 21 and had two
children – my brother, Phil, and me.
After 27 years, my parents’
marriage ended and Mum began
the study of lapidary – the cutting,
polishing and engraving of stones.
Her fascination with opals took her
to the New South Wales outback
town of Lightning Ridge. She would
often drive her Ford Fiesta to “the
Ridge” with her two dogs, Ginger
and Lorenzo, and in early 2000 she
bought a small campsite there for
$2000. It included a used caravan
and a corrugated iron shed.
There were no luxuries – she
would go to the bore baths for a hot
shower – but she was closer to
I fulfilled her desire when we
visited the Ridge in March last year.
We also learnt a bit about the place
she’d come to call home.
People who mine the Ridge come
from a cross-section of society,
from lawyers to travellers. Looks
don’t mean much: it can be hard to
tell who’s the multimillionaire and
who’s the destitute hopeful. Opals
lured Sebastian and Hanna
Deisenberger – 50 and 48 – from
Germany 14 years ago; they planned
a two-year stay but became
permanent residents.
Fourth-generation miner Anthony
Melonas and his business partner,
Victor Johnson, both 38, are called
“Designer Miners” by locals,
because of their well-groomed hair
and expensive aftershave.
Then there’s Malcolm “Nudie”
Holland, 75, who – apart from safety
helmet and boots – mines in the
buff. He believes clothes are a
hazard: “I’d rather be naked and
live the life that I want.” Malcolm
migrated from England aged 33. He
went up to Lightning Ridge to visit
a mate who mined for opals; he’s
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and has been mining full
time since 1994. She likes
to work alone, drilling
eight to ten hours a day.
There are many more
men than women in
Lightning Ridge, yet
Kim claims, “a good
man is as hard to find
as a good opal”.
Then there’s Tom
Boyes, who’s been in
Lightning Ridge for
Visitors are seduced by the Ridge’s treasure: opals
40 years: “As soon as
I saw the town, I knew it was my
now been at the Ridge for 47 years.
Neil Schellnegger, 45, moved to the kind of place.”
When he started mining he would
area with his parents when he was
dig by hand, removing dirt with
a child. He lives with his son, Luke,
outside town in a typical corrugated buckets and spotting opals by
candlelight. He’d throw away the
iron home with tanks for water, a log
blue opals and hunt for the more
fire and a caravan. Luke is a shy
valuable green and red ones. Now
19-year-old who enjoys helping out
approaching 72, Tom’s hung up his
his dad. They haven’t had much luck
pick and hard hat. He never
over the past couple of years, but
married, but he doesn’t get lonely.
their passion for opals overrides
“I’ve got quite a few good mates,”
disappointment. They love the
he says, “and my dog, Blue Boy.”
lifestyle, the peace and tranquillity.
While travelling solo through
Danny Hatcher, 38, is a secondAustralia, Heather Landini, 59,
generation miner and president of
stopped in Moree and asked a
the Lightning Ridge Miners’
mechanic where to go next: west to
Association. He’s an exuberant,
Lightning Ridge or east to Inverell.
optimistic man, driven by finding
the ultimate opal. “It’s an obsession,” She hasn’t left the Ridge since.
It’s a place where dreams –
he explains. “Once you start opal
spiritual or material – can be
mining you don’t want to do
fulfilled; a place, as my mother
anything else… There is always
found, for one last gamble in life. n
the potential for finding a million
dollars. Nothing beats it.”
Kim Wiesenberger, 33, is one of
We’ll pay $500 for any original and
the few female miners in the Ridge.
unpublished story we print. Go to
readersdigest.com.au/contribute.
She’s lived in the area all her life
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