Jack Francis

Archibald John “Jack” Francis was born in White Cliffs in 1904 to Albert Bruno John Francis and Catherine (Kitty) Huggard. The family spoke German at home, and Jack’s early life was shaped by the bush, mining, and the opal fields of outback New South Wales. He signed a Western Lands petition as a miner in 1929 and sank his first shaft on the south side of Nobby’s.

Known for his integrity and generosity, Jack was often said to be too kind to be a good opal buyer, often paying more than market value to help struggling families. He preferred buying rough stones and wasn’t afraid to take a gamble. In 1958, he brought the first compressor to Lightning Ridge and allowed fellow miners to use it.

In 1937, Jack married Mary Johanna O’Neill and the couple moved to Lightning Ridge, taking over the store and post office across from the pub. Jack also inherited and later acquired two billiard halls, one of which was managed by Ernie Ward. He was an SP bookmaker, a moneylender, and one of the most active opal buyers in the district from the 1940s to the 1960s.

In 1946, Jack bought Bendeena Station and moved there with his family in 1948, later acquiring Wyoming Station in 1950. Widowed in 1957, he remarried nurse Margaret Young and had a daughter, Catherine, just a month before his death in 1962 at Lightning Ridge.

•  Jack Francis @ Find a Grave.

Article: Research by Leisa Carney, edited by Russell Gawthorpe. LRHS research compiled by Len Cram and Barbara Moritz. Sources: The Lightning Ridge Book, Stuart Lloyd, 1967, p. 14; Lightning Ridge - The Home of the Black Opal: Unique to the World, Gan Bruce, 1983, p. 35; ‘Colours that Glow and Fade - The Story of Lightning Ridge’, The Sun, 26 August 1934, p. 17.