A view of Coober Pedy, which is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world." (Photo: Robin Esrock) Triangular mounds of desert dirt are the first sign of something different. I then spot ...

Mr Sheils's main focus, in Coober Pedy in South Australia's far north, has been rescuing those who have struck trouble. "There are 2 million 20-to-30-metre-deep mine shafts around here," he said.

Coober Pedy attracted more than 1000 miners hopeful of striking it lucky during its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s. Even 40 years on, the Outback town’s “opal fever” remains alive and well.

Mr Dunstan said he believed Coober Pedy still had a bright future as the opal capital of the world. "At the moment everything's selling and it has never been better," he said.

Coober Pedy locals say they are shocked after a popular opal dealer died following an alleged altercation with another man yesterday evening. Police say they responded to reports of a disturbance ...

Welcome to the opal capital of the world and the strangest town in Australia. Coober Pedy’s heyday is well behind it and it seems frozen in the ’80s – the last opal boom.

Mine tailings litter the Olympic Opal Field near Coober Pedy, South Australia. The town is known as the opal capital of the world because of the quantity of the precious gems that have been mined ...

COOBER Pedy was built on the back of a feverish addiction to opal mining in 1915, and today it's the opals - and tourism - that keep the heart of this town pumping.