Holden’s
Holden’s is an opal field located about one mile west of the Three Mile, and south of the Deep Four Mile. It was discovered in 1913 by Jack Holden.
The field produced excellent black opal, although a lot of it was largely blue. Opal was found at an average depth of 35 feet. According to The Lightning Ridge Book by Stuart Lloyd, total production from the field reached £15,500 by 1967. Only one claim on the field was considered truly successful, Jack Holden’s own.
Holden was known to be irritable and impatient. He sank at least eight shafts on the claim, finding black nobbies but very little colour. Frustrated, he kept moving on, only to come back and sink a new shaft each time. Finally, in what he vowed would be his last attempt, he opal directly in the centre of the claim. From it, he cut a parcel of 37 high quality stones. Offered £550 for the lot on the field, Holden instead sent the parcel overseas, accounts vary as to whether it was England or America, but he never saw the stones again.
In 1920, while camped at New Town, Holden was robbed of a second parcel of opal, ten large black gems stored in a tobacco tin. He had shown the stones to a fellow miner, Tom Donald, who distracted him with a game of billiards while accomplices entered the tent and stole the tin. The opal was quickly re-cut, and sold for £250. No one was ever charged.
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, p. 67; Lightning Ridge - The Home of the Black Opal: Unique to the World, Gan Bruce, 1983, pp. 86-87; Discover Opals: Before and Beyond 2000 with Surface Indications, Stephen Aracic, 1996, p. 145.