{"title":"Australian Opal (Coober Pedy)","description":"\u003cp\u003eCoober Pedy opals are perhaps one of the most recognizable varieties of opal on the planet, and the sheer quantity of precious opal that is mined in Coober Pedy has given it the often deserved title of \"Opal Capital of the World\"! Precious opal was first discovered in the region, completely by accident, in February of 1915 by a young Willie Hutchison, a 15 year old teen boy accompanying his father on a rather unsuccessful expedition for gold south of Coober Pedy's location. Having set up camp, young Willie had gone off to find water, where he discovered the first few pieces of precious opal that would mark the beginning of a thriving mining town. 8 days after Willie's discovery, the first opal claim was pegged, and the rest as they say is history!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Starting off under moniker of The Stuart Range Opal Field (named after the first European explorer to travel and document the region, John McDouall Stuart), aboriginals of the region would quickly come to call the region,  by way of the Kokatha language, \"kupa piti\" (roughly translated to \"whitefella\" and \"hole in the ground\") or \"guba bidi\" (\"white man's holes\") due to the opal mining activities in the region. by 1920 a vote had been taken and the town was subsequently renamed to an anglicized version of the Kokatha name: Coober Pedy. As a point of intrigue, in 1975 the local aboriginal townsfolk opted to adopt the native name \"Umoona\" for the region, referring to \"long life\" and the mulga trees that are common in the area, and this name adoption has spread to many local services. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith such a vibrant and longstanding contributing to the stunning world of opals, a Coober Pedy opal is like adding a piece of history to your modern collection! \u003c\/p\u003e","products":[],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0637\/6800\/2808\/collections\/Apatite01_pic1.jpg?v=1752197939","url":"https:\/\/ivitycreations.myshopify.com\/collections\/small-specimen-collection.oembed","provider":"ivitycreations","version":"1.0","type":"link"}