Curiosity Mine

In 1974, pop star Neil Sedaka released a song about Lightning Ridge, the opal mining town in NSW, Australia. But...why? In this video I chat with Stephen Terrey, the Lightning Ridge resident who inspired Mr. Sedaka's odd b-side, described by the artist himself as "the strangest song I ever wrote".

There's a deadly menace on the Australian opal fields, it's nasty, has two-inch spines and it kills. Hudson Pear is an invasive cactus species that has unfortunately infested large areas of the opal fields at Lightning Ridge, NSW, Australia. It has also spread to the other Australian opal fields, and is spreading throughout the rest of the country.

Prehistoric animals ate a lot of things, and whatever they ate had to come back out again somehow -- lets check out some coprolites and regurgitalites!

In this video we look at an incredible donation of more than 450 opalised fossils from opal fields around the world, generously donated to the Australian Opal Centre by Paul Sedawie.

Welcome to Opalwords, a series of videos about the terminology used in the opal mining industry and specifically at the opal mining location of Lightning Ridge in Northern New South Wales, Australia, and the home of the black opal.

A quick tour of Lightning Ridge, NSW, in 1975! This is an old 8MM film of Lightning Ridge shot by my father on his first visit to the opal mining town in '75. I've had the film enhanced via artificial intelligence to improve the quality and frame rate.

Finding opal on the surface takes skill, patience and permission. I spoke with an opal miner about the process, and about the history of specking. Welcome to Opalwords, a series of videos about the terminology used in the opal mining industry and specifically at the opal mining location of Lightning Ridge in Northern New South Wales, Australia, and the home of the black opal.

Lightning Ridge is famous for black opal, but why doesn't anyone know how many people live there?And what IS the population? I spoke with Barbara from the Lightning Ridge Historical Society (and also the 1996 Lightning Ridge census coordinator) about Lightning Ridge's unique population situation.

Opalised fossils aren't always colourful like you would expect opal to be. Why not? I asked Jenni Brammall at the Australian Opal Centre in Lightning Ridge just that!

There's opal, there's synthetic opal, and then there's this stuff. Minerals, biological materials and man-made substances that have similar visual properties to opal!

We took photographs of lightning at Lightning Ridge, NSW, Australia. Here's the story. From 2004-2009, we were the "storm chasers" from Lightning Ridge. Shaun Galman and I photographed weather and lightning and our work is still on display in Lightning Ridge, if you know where to look.

The opal mining town of Lightning Ridge appeared, kind of, in a lost film that was made in 1920. I can't show you the film, but I can tell you the story.

Weewarrasaurus is a tiny plant-eating dinosaur, and Mike is the fossil geek who discovered it! Learn about the process of officially identifying and recognising a new species of dinosaur, and what it's like to go from a dinosaur and fossil enthusiast to having your name recorded against a brand new species of dinosaur!

An adventure in firing Raku pottery in Lightning Ridge, with experimental glazes and a backyard kiln! Graeme Anderson is a retired potter from Lightning Ridge, who conducts science experiments in his backyard in the name of art and curiosity. 

Modern technology meets prehistoric biology! Palaeontologists are using 3D scanning and printing to replicate dinosaur bones from INSIDE solid rock!

Superstitions aside, what's up with owning a historic private cemetery? Many rural properties have them, what's the deal?

Video rental stores used to be a thing. Now they're not. Some of the reasons are obvious, some you might not have considered.