Archie Gillespie
Photograph from Ion Idriess’s Lightning Ridge: The Land of Black Opals (1940). The man fourth from the left is understood to be Archie Gillespie, as per research by Len Cram in A Journey With Colour: A History of Lightning Ridge Opal 1873-2003 (2003).
Archibald “Archie” Gillespie was born on 17 July 1866 at Goulburn, New South Wales, the son of William and Elizabeth Gillespie.
Gillespie was one of the early Lightning Ridge miners. He is credited with discovering the Three Mile opal field, along with Darkie Anderson and Mick Cullen. Within months of the discovery, the area was populated with miners and became the dominant opal field for the next several years.
He had a good claim at Canfell’s, and at Bald Hill he worked with Smiler Lawler, Peter O’Donnell, and Jack Phillips.
In the early 1920s he lived with Mrs. Blundell (and daughter Annie) across the Dooley, behind Durrington’s.
Archie Gillespie died at Walgett on 16 June 1945, aged 78, and was buried there.
Article: Research by Russell Gawthorpe and Leisa Carney, edited by Russell Gawthorpe. LRHS research compiled by Len Cram and Barbara Moritz. Sources: Walgett Spectator, 24 January 1921, 15 December 1921, 20 May 1936; Lightning Ridge: The Land of Black Opals, Ion L. Idriess, 1940, chapter XIV; The Lightning Ridge Book, Stuart Lloyd, 1967, pp. 62, 65; Lightning Ridge - The Home of the Black Opal: Unique to the World, Gan Bruce, 1983, pp. 76, 78-79; An Old Chum Remembers, The Story of Lightning Ridge 1906-1921, John M. Landers, 1923 (2002), p. 8; A Journey With Colour: A History of Lightning Ridge Opal 1873-2003, Len Cram, 2003, pp. 55, 59, 147, 151.