Rush for Riches

Over the centuries major gold finds created gold rushes and settlements would spring up overnight . NSW had major rushes in areas around cities together with Bathurst, Hill End, Cobar and Nundle. nowadays several gold settlements have all however disappeared, but components of the prospecting culture continue strongly in Lightning Ridge, in northwestern NSW. Though Lightning Ridge is legendary for the mining of opals – having the most important known deposits of black opal within the world – mines, which might have existed on the goldfields, are littered throughout the city, with several locals being prospectors themselves. Opal hunters tend to stay their finds to themselves and it's said that the poorest-looking men in Lightning Ridge are literally the richest, with mounds of opals hidden underneath their beds.