State Library of South Australia

Dugout house, Coober Pedy [B 73702/3] • Photograph

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Summary

Outside view of Brian Beckford's Dugout house at Coober Pedy. The photographer describes the town, "Coober Pedy is an opal-mining town located in the harsh Outback of South Australia, some 850 kms north of Adelaide and 680 kms south of Alice Springs. Coober Pedy is recognized as the largest producer of opal in the world with an estimated 70% of the world's precious opal being mined in the opal field of the area. After WW1, returning soldiers started to drift there and introduce the unusual and very unique method of living underground in 'dugouts', as many had done in the trenches of France. Today with a population of approximately 3,500, Coober Pedy has one of the most multicultural communities in Australia with an estimated 45 nationalities. I arrived in Cooper Pedy after six and a half weeks on the Eyre Peninsula and the contrast between the two places is un-fathomable. I stayed at the Opal Inn, which is located in the heart of town and on my first outing I was lucky enough to cross paths with Andrew Brockhoff, a local who owned a number of properties around town, he was good enough to take me to meet a number of his friends who's places I recorded, this kind act really blew my mind. Over a week I was shocked by the level of violence and substance abuse that was going on all around the streets on a day to day basis, so much so that I didn't leave the Opal Inn after dark. The images I made overlooking the town weere made at day break on a Saturday morning from an abandoned house which was used as a squat from time to time, below me the streets where littered with empty cans and casks and all the phone boxes around town had been smashed up from another wild Friday night in Coober Pedy."

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Physical description

1 photograph : colour

Dates / Publication details

March 2012

Photographer

Clark, Darren

Collections

Part of Darren Clark Collection
Part of Coober Pedy Collection

Subject

Housing -- South Australia -- Coober Pedy
Coober Pedy (S.A.)

Catalogue record

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Digitisation information

Date

22/05/2012

Format

image/tiff

Resolution

4,256 x 2,832 pixels (12.1 MP)

Size

72.35 MB

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