Coober Pedy supplies 95% of the world’s commercial opal. Mining fields are dotted all around the area & were first established in 1915, however Aboriginal people have had a connection with the area long before the miners arrived.
The town itself is equally as remarkable as it’s hinterlands. Because of the intense desert temperatures, many residents live underground, in caves bored into the hillsides. There are underground homes, hotels, bars, restaurants and even churches.
Take yourself 30kms from the town of Coober Pedy and it looks like you’ve landed on planet Mars. The Kanku-Breakaways Conservation Park is an area of desert and rusted orange hills and slopes that seem to ‘break away’ from higher ground.
The Antakirinja Matu-Yankunytjatjara people have a deep spiritual connection to this land. Their connection to their Country is embedded in the Kanku’s spectacular landscape and scenery. Many features are the subject of Dreaming stories that weave their way across the landscape for thousands of kilometres.
And you can feel it. There is a spiritual air that surrounds you as you observe the beautiful & ancient land — once entirely covered by the sea 70 million years ago.