Harry Abotomey

Henry “Harry” Abotomey, also known as “Harry the Prophet,” was born in 1876 at Mt. Lebanon in the Syrian Arab Republic, the son of Beshara and Labeebe Abotomey. He married Christina Mary Ryder at White Cliffs in 1900, they had two sons.

Harry Abotomey had several siblings including a brother, Alec, two years younger. Alec was a cyclist and wrestler who also went into opal buying at White Cliffs and had quite a successful career. Another Abotomey brother, William, was a champion billiard player.

In 1902, Harry Abotomey was involved in a libel case against opal buyer Tom Brady. He won and was awarded £750 in damages.

Abotomey was an opal buyer, first at White Cliffs where he gained a reputation for paying high prices for quality black opal. He moved to Lightning Ridge in 1909, travelling frequently between the fields and Sydney. At the Ridge he purchased stones from miners including Jack Murray and Fred Bodel, sometimes paying what were then considered exceptional prices.

In 1909 he was one of several new buyers who arrived at the Ridge, along with Percy Marks and Ernie Sherman. Letters to the Walgett Spectator that year showed his support for the Lightning Ridge field, responding to negative views from those at White Cliffs. He continued to buy opal through 1910 and 1911, with a hut at Nettleton and later moving to Sydney.

On 18 June 1912, at his home in Double Bay, Sydney, he died by suicide at the age of 36, an unfortunate end resulting from a gambling addiction. His death came as a shock to the opal community. He is buried at Waverley Cemetery in Sydney.

• Harry Abotomey @ 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: ‘An Opal Buyer’s Profits’, The Age, 16 December 1902, p. 6; ‘White Cliffs’, Barrier Miner, 6 April 1905, p. 4; ‘Opal Merchant’s Suicide’, The Sun, 28 June 1912, p. 6; ‘Peeps into White Cliffs History: Mr. A. Abotomey Tells of Opal Strikes and Incidents’, Western Grazier, 4 August 1944, p. 3; The Lightning Ridge Book, Stuart Lloyd, 1967, pp. 17-18, 238; A Journey With Colour: A History of Lightning Ridge Opal 1873-2003, Len Cram, 2003, pp. 91-92, 94, 124.