Hatter’s Flat

Hatter’s Flat is an opal field located just west of Sim’s Hill, roughly 200 metres back toward Lightning Ridge. Originally known as Circus Gully a name originating from the George Brown family who lived there in a large circus tent around 1909, the central oregon pole of which lay by the fence for years after. The Browns hosted local dances in the tent, and the field was known by the nickname until it was renamed to Hatter’s Flat.

Hatter’s Flat was found prior to 1910, probably 1908-1909. Stuart Lloyd attributes the discovery to Morgan O’Brien in 1907. The ground here produced a substantial quantity of black potch and occasional good quality opal, particularly clean black nobbies. Depths ranged between 5 and 22 feet. By 1967, Lloyd recorded the field’s production at £4,000. George Brown’s claim alone produced £500 worth, and Bill Peterson reportedly found a single stone worth £70 in 1950.

The name “Hatter’s Flat” originated from Freddy Linsky in 1908, who remarked to a fellow miner that “you’d have to be as mad as a bloody hatter” to sink a shaft in such rough country.

A minor new rush occurred in the early 1980s. Later, from 1983 to 1998, the field was home to Kenny Fisher’s Bush Moozeam, a partially underground collection of eccentric memorabilia.

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. 68-69; Lightning Ridge - The Home of the Black Opal: Unique to the World, Gan Bruce, 1983, pp. 88-89.