The story of this place
In 1915, a 14-year-old boy named Willie Hutchison found a piece of opal while his father searched for water in the South Australian outback. That discovery launched a mining rush that turned a barren, baking wasteland into a town — and eventually produced 95% of the world's opal supply. Coober Pedy is today the 'opal capital of the world,' but its most extraordinary feature is the underground city its residents built to escape temperatures that regularly reach 50°C on the surface.
Around half of Coober Pedy's 1,700 residents live in 'dugouts' — homes carved directly into the hillside or below ground. These subterranean houses maintain a constant comfortable temperature year-round without air conditioning. The town has underground hotels, an underground church, and an underground art gallery. Its otherworldly landscape has made it a favourite filming location: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Pitch Black, and The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert were all shot here.