Charlie Dunstan
Charlie Dunstan was a Lightning Ridge opal miner born in 1852.
Dunstan mined on the Angledool field, near Bald Hill, where he found Dunstan’s Stone aka The Queen of the Earth in 1906, with his mining partner Happy Jack Bourke. Dunstan’s Stone was valued at £120, and sold for £100 (around $17,000 in today’s dollars). Dunstan’s Stone would go on to be sold to J. D. Rockefeller in the United States for £75,000.
Dunstan is erroneously credited with also finding the Aurora Australis stone, but Aurora Australis wasn’t unearthed until 1938, 28 years after Dunstan’s death.
“A hard worker, happy go lucky miner who indulged in bouts of heavy drinking. Both these facts were taken advantage of by the ratters. Frank Tattem once saw seven men come out of Dunstan’s claim at sunrise. In one of his claoms, Dunstan put this notice:- “For goodness’ sake use your own candles.””
Sadly, Charlie Dunstan took his own life on 7 November 1910 at the age of 57 (or 58), after suffering a mining injury and developing gangrene in his leg. He is buried at Lightning Ridge Cemetery.
Article: Research by Russell Gawthorpe and Leisa Carney, edited by Russell Gawthorpe. LRHS research compiled by Len Cram and Barbara Moritz. Sources: The Lightning Ridge Book, Stuart Lloyd, 1967, pp. 40, 136; Lightning Ridge - The Home of the Black Opal: Unique to the World, Gan Bruce, 1983, p. 77; Walgett Spectator, 8 February 1908, 13 November 1910, 17 November 1921, 3 June 1936; An Old Chum Remembers - The Story of Lightning Ridge 1906-1921, John M. Landers, 2002, p. 5.