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White Cliffs

Reporter: Mike Whitney

Mike’s headed outback to White Cliffs to see what life on the Opal Fields is really like.

White Cliffs is 1063km north-west of Sydney. Jump in the car and it’ll take you 12 hours to get there or fly to Broken Hill and it’ll then take about 3 hours in the car.

White Cliffs competes with Tibooburra for the status as the hottest town in outback New South Wales. It's so hot, that the majority of the town's buildings are found under the ground. Many residents also live in dug-out caves and connected rooms under the earth's surface to escape the searing heat of summer.

The landscape is said to be like the arid surface of the moon with craters, hillocks and flat plains stretching far into the distance. Kangaroos, emus, lizards and a variety of wildlife are still able to eke out an existence in this dry area.

The town itself thrives on opal mining which began in the 1880's and opal 'pineapples' and shells can still be found on the road-sides. A most unusual find was an opalised dinosaur (plesiosaur), unearthed in 1976. For many years the dinosaur was on display in the town but has since moved to the Australian Museum in Sydney.

Gem seekers find the cooler seasons a good time to visit White Cliffs, where accommodation both underground and above ground is available. The local attractions listed below provide insight into the town's pioneering history.

Australia is the world's greatest producer of precious opal. Over 90 per cent of the world's commercial opal comes from the desolate outback. All of the significant opal deposits in Australia are located within the Great Artesian Basin or close to it. The places where opal has been mined over the past 100 years are located here. The most important deposits are found in New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland.

White Cliffs is Australia's oldest commercial opal field. It is located 295 kilometres northeast of Broken Hill. Opal was first mined at White Cliffs about 1889, and the population peaked at 5,000 in its heyday despite the water shortages. Digging was very easy, and the light opal was very clean and found a ready market in Europe. The light crystal opal found at White Cliffs quickly became famous on the world markets.

For 30 years the White Cliff opal fields produced the first commercially accepted opal on the world markets, far surpassing the quality of the Hungarian opal. Opals displaying such vivid colours had never been seen before. The colourful seam opal was very easy to value and it did not shatter like other opal when cut and polished.

From 1903 to 1914, the richer areas of the opal field became exhausted thus resulting in a decline in production. White Cliffs suffered and never recovered from the effects of World War I and the loss of the European markets. Today, White Cliffs is a unique town and very popular with the tourists, fossickers and miners. The modern age has brought electricity to the town and water is readily available. Some of the townspeople still prefer to live underground where it is cool in summer and warm in winter.

Although there is not much new ground left on the old opal field to sink a shaft, one can fossick among the old diggings. There are those who say that more opal than the amount mined remains in the ground ready for discovery: a new lucky strike will one day turn White Cliffs into a boom town again!

Tri State Safaris

4WD Australian outback tours for small groups is the speciality of Broken Hill tour company, Tri State Safaris... with an accent on having fun! Tri State Safaris are mutli award winners in Tourism, most recently winning the Adventure Tourism category at the 2007 NSW Tourism Awards.

Learn about the outback, its unique characters, its history and features. Follow in the footsteps of the early explorers. Our friendly guides are renowned for their local expertise. A stop in the middle of nowhere could have you gathering bush tucker or learning about local plants, animals and birds.

Tri State Safaris is owned and operated by Michael and Joanne McCulkin who are licenced tour operators.

The idea for the tour company came about when Mick was a Police Sergeant with a patrol area covering some 180,000 square kilometres of outback NSW. Mick has formal qualifications in a number of areas including workplace training, driver training, emergency management and search & rescue. These skills, combined with many years of experience in outback patrolling, provided an ideal platform for the tour company. Mick also conducts nationally accredited driver/rider training.

Joanne has lived in the Northern Territory for much of her adult life, including a number of years on an Aboriginal community in the Tanami Desert. Joanne has developed a depth of experience and knowledge about the outback and has a special affinity with the Central Desert areas of Australia.

The tours are designed to introduce travellers to the remarkable Australian outback, allowing them to experience the remote and sometimes unforgiving countryside in safety. Our tours are not just tours, they are, as the name suggests, safaris where the accent is on learning and having fun.

To ensure each of their passengers experience the adventure of the outback, their focus is on personalised service. Travel is in 4WD vehicles enabling them to get to out of the way places and cater for the needs of individuals and small groups no matter what their interests.

They do a huge number of outback tours including 3 different tours that take in White Cliffs.

Australia has developed an enviable reputation nationally and internationally for the quality and skill of its glass artists. By providing essential equipment, space and development opportunities through the Canberra Glassworks the ACT Government is giving these artists, and those that follow, opportunities to grow and further develop their glass practice, and to further contribute to this very special local industry.

Canberra Glassworks provides artists with state-of-the-art equipment; intensive workshops taught by leading glass artists; studios and mentorship programs; and a unique context to explore, develop and realise new work.

Canberra Glassworks also provides diverse opportunities for visitors to interact with and learn about glass making and the heritage of Canberra's Kingston Powerhouse. Visitors can meet artists, see glassmaking as it happens, view exhibitions, take tours and have a hands-on experience working with glass.

More Information

Broken Hill

Telephone: (08) 8088 2389

www.tristate.com.au

The one day tour to White Cliffs is $168 for adults and $84 for kids.

Or you take the two day tour which includes an overnight stay at the Underground Motel for $530 per person.

Prices correct as at 15/12/07

Underground Motel

White Cliffs is an extraordinary place, with not just the motel but most of the town living in underground dwellings called 'dugouts'. Dugouts are so-called because they are dug in the rock.

It makes perfect sense. Regardless of the heat of the Australian outback, dugouts enjoy a constant 22°C temperature all year round. They are perfectly dry, and well ventilated. And environmentally, they are extremely sound: in a dugout you never have to use a heater, or air-conditioning.

More than just a motel, what you will find here is the opportunity to share a unique lifestyle. Working here, one of the things the staff enjoy the most is the child-like expression of wonder on the faces of guests (who come not only from all over Australia but also from all over the world) when they first go through the extensive underground premises – the largest underground complex in White Cliffs.

The NRMA Road Guide voted the White Cliffs Underground Motel one of the four most original places to stay in New South Wales. With its 3 star AAA rating, its swimming pool, its great meals, its bar and its conference rooms, the White Cliffs Underground Motel has received a great amount of publicity and acclaim in Australia and abroad.

The first impression of many visitors is that of an oasis in the middle of the wilderness.

Relaxing in the swimming pool, you can contemplate mind-blowing skies. The motel has 30 spacious underground rooms. Every room has its own shaft, providing comfortable ventilation and, with the larger shafts, natural light.

The motel also has a few rooms above-ground for those who prefer it, as well as dugouts opening outside through a door or a window. But it is actually quite rare that visitors feel uncomfortable underground. Dugouts, really, are to caves what Rolls Royces are to cars. You'll love them.

In places, the walls have been left unpainted, to show the natural colour of the rock.

The motel has a number of large rooms, suitable for families or groups.
Children usually adore this place, running in the maze of corridors, they have the time of their life.
The dining room of the White Cliffs Underground Motel can cater for up to 75 people.
The restaurant offers delicious 3-course dinners. There is also a popular bistro area, close to... the bar!
The bar is licenced to serve people who have a meal on the premises.

The motel has two conference spaces. One is an underground room which can accommodate up to 25 people. As with all dugouts it remains perfectly cool throughout summer, and warm in winter. The other space, above ground, can host functions for up to 100 people.