White Cliffs

Dear Family and Friends





Today we have done a drive of about four and a half hours and have gone from White Cliffs to Cobar. We are settled into the caravan park here. Surprisingly the park here is really good and quite full. I was expecting an ordinary park with just a few vans but the sites are large and it is very busy. We got here about three thirty and from then on there has been a steady flow of vans coming in some on their way from Broken Hill and others on their way to Broken Hill. It seems to be a bit of a junction leading in all directions.





We packed up early today and said goodbye to those we have met at White Cliffs. We feel fairly sure we will run into a couple of people some where along the way as we are heading in the same direction.





White Cliffs has the distinction of being the first commercial opal fields in Australia. Opals were found here as early as 1884 but no interest was taken of the find untill in 1889 when station hands culling kangaroos found opal and took some samples back with them. Those samples put White Cliffs on the map as within the next year opals from White Cliffs could be bought from England, Europe and America. Not suprising the town of 30 soon became a community of over 500 and at its peak there was an estimated 5000 living there. Then drought, dwindling markets, epidemics caused by bad water and the onset of the first World War all took there toll and many of the townspeople drifted away.





The morning after our arrival we set off to look around the town and visit Dick Wagner who has the Aussie Southern Cross Opals shop. Dick's shop and his house behind the shop are all underground so we found it very interesting. Regretably we did not take any photos as it is hard to describe.





Thats it for now





Love to one and all





Ken and Lyn