Sculpture of a blower at Cooper Pedy turn off on Stuart Highway

Coober Pedy - Coober Pedy visitor guide showing a virtual tour of 'Coober Pedy' linked to an interactive map with local and travel information. 360° panoramas from South Australia.

Coober Pedy is located 846 km north of Adelaide, 690 km south of Alice Springs and 213 m above sea level. It has an average annual rainfall of only 139 mm.

About 4,000 people and over 45 nationalities live in Coober Pedy with 80 per cent of the population living underground. The reason for this is that the temperature can rise to 50°C in summer. A good, new underground house in Coober Pedy with five rooms can be constructed by a tunnelling machine for around $25 000.

Coober Pedy has over 70 opal fields and is the largest opal mining area in the world. There are no large companies operating in the area and this has been maintained by the fact that a mining lease can only be acquired for an area of 50 square metres and then the miner is obliged to work at his lease for about 20 hours per week.

When the Trans Continental Railway was completed in 1917, a number of construction workers followed by soldiers returning from World War 1 came to the opal fields, introducing the unique method of living underground in "dugouts". Conditions were harsh and the environment did not lend itself to easy living. Water and provisions had to be carted great distances and under very trying conditions. Even with the introduction of very large underground water tanks things improved only marginally, the entitlement of water being only 24 gallons (60 litres) per week.

Since 1985 the town water supply comes from the artesian basin 24 kilometres north of the town, then pumped through an underground pipeline to the water works where it is treated by reverse osmosis and pumped through a reticulated town water supply system. Due to the expensive water treatment process, water costs $5 for 1,000 litres but water quality is excellent.

During the 1960's, the mining industry expanded rapidly due to the many European migrants who came to seek their fortunes. The 60's and 70's saw opal mining develop into a multi million dollar industry with Coober Pedy developing into a modern mining town. There's the grassless golf course, the underground church, the noodling for gems on mullock heaps, the tourist shops, the expensive and sophisticated accommodation, the mixture of nationalities, the frenetic searching for wealth.

Coober Pedy Tourist Information Centre
Hutchison St
Coober Pedy SA 5723, Australia
Phone: 1800 637 076

Car: Coober Pedy is about 540km north of and 690km south of on the A87 (Stuart Highway). The nearest settlements are Cadney (150km north) and Glendambo (255km south).