Don Campbell

Donald McKenzie “Don” Campbell was born in 1876 at Paddington, New South Wales, son of Andrew and Marion Campbell.

By the 1920s Campbell was an opal miner at Lightning Ridge. He taught Jack “The Hornet” Franklin how to mine when Franklin arrived on the field after World War I.

Campbell worked on several Lightning Ridge fields and at the Grawin. In 1926 Campbell and George Penman found “some very fine stones,” including “one or two very large black gems,” per John Landers.

Don Campbell died in Sydney on 2 August 1948, aged 72, and was buried at Rookwood Necropolis.

• Don Campbell @ 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: Walgett Spectator, 2 November 1926; The Lightning Ridge Book, Stuart Lloyd, 1967, p. 33; A Journey With Colour: A History of Lightning Ridge Opal 1873-2003, Len Cram, 2003, p. 319.