Opalton - QLD

The Opalton fields are a reminder of how things can change in far western Queensland. Discovered in 1888 they were not worked until 1893. By 1896 there were 500-600 men on the fields but the inevitable problem of water (which had to be carted over 20 km) ensured that when the price of opals dropped the field was abandoned. The township has vanished and all that is left are some ruins and the remains of mullock heaps where miners once fossicked for the precious opals.