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Opal Mining Lightning Ridge (c.1925)

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Shanty houses and mine shafts

This clip chosen to be G

Clip description

A man stands outside the entrance to his small shanty home and smokes a pipe. A woman cooks in an outdoor cooking area. A man chops wood outside his home. Another man feeds his chickens. These scenes illustrate the shanty houses in which many members of the Lightning Ridge community live.

The second sequence shows the sinking of mine shafts and the lowering of a man down its narrow opening. Large buckets are lowered after him, then filled and pulled back up. A man is pulled out of the shaft. He unhooks himself and gets out.

Curator’s notes

by Poppy De Souza

In a miraculous display of balance and priorities, the man who is pulled out of the mine shaft is never once hindered by the pipe in his mouth, which he happily continues to smoke.

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australianscreen is produced by the National Film and Sound Archive. By using the website you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described elsewhere on this site. The NFSA may amend the 'Conditions of Use’ from time to time without notice.

All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.

When you access australianscreen you agree that:

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  • You may download materials for your personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes, but you must not publish them elsewhere or redistribute clips in any way.
  • You may embed the clip for non-commercial educational purposes including for use on a school intranet site or a school resource catalogue.
  • The National Film and Sound Archive’s permission must be sought to amend any information in the materials, unless otherwise stated in notices throughout the Site.

All other rights reserved.

ANY UNAUTHORISED USE OF MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY RESULT IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY.

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