Dave Lafly

David Auguster Lahfe (often spelled Lafly, Lafley, Laffley, Laffey, Laffy, Lafey) was an opal miner at Lightning Ridge in the 1910s. He was born in approximately 1868, the son of Mary and Richard Lahfe. He was married prior to 1908, having one son with his wife Theresa, possibly a nurse of English descent.

Lahfe was present on the Ligthning Ridge opal fields in 1913. Stuart Lloyd records that just prior to World War 1, he worked with Ernie Ward on the Telephone Line field where they sunk a number of shafts and got around £300 worth of opal. Lahfe also worked on the Three Mile with Tom O’Fahey.

David was a business owner, holding a store in Lightning Ridge town. They were good friends with the Bruce family. Lahfe also owned three racehorses and had a registered stock brand in 1916.

David Lahfe passed away on 29 October 1922 at Condobolin, New South Wales and is buried in an unmarked grave at Condobolin Cemetery.

• David Lahfe @ Find a Grave.

Article: Research by Russell Gawthorpe and Leisa Carney, edited by Russell Gawthorpe. LRHS research compiled by Len Cram and Barbara Moritz. Sources: 1913 New South Wales census, Lightning Ridge (Namoi); ‘Stock Act, 1901’, Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales, 7 July 1916, iss. 123, p. 3946; ‘Local and General’, Lachlander and Condobolin and Western Districts Recorder, 1 November 1922, p. 4; The Lightning Ridge Book, Stuart Lloyd, 1967, pp. 32, 52, 90; Lightning Ridge - The Home of the Black Opal: Unique to the World, Gan Bruce, 1983, p. 176.