Jack Holden
Jack Holden was a prolific contributor to the newspapers, writing many letters to the editor over the years. This one is from The Australian Worker Sydney, 11 Oct 1917, p. 19.
John Findlay “Jack” Holden was born in 1861 at Paterson, New South Wales, the son of Alfred and Jane Holden. He came to Lightning Ridge in the early years. In 1913 he discovered Holden’s field, which lies south of the Deep Four Mile. The field produced opal valued at around £600, though Holden chose to take his stones to England and returned a year later with £700.
In 1915, Holden suffered a major theft when 188 pieces of opal were stolen from his hut on the outskirts of town. The parcel was said to have been worth about £1,300. He was also once robbed of a parcel of opals in Sydney.
Holden was a member of the Nettleton cricket team in 1914. Later, he worked at the Glengarry rush.
Jack Holden died in 1925 at Burwood, aged 64 and is buried at Rookwood Necropolis.
Article: Research by Leisa Carney, edited by Russell Gawthorpe. LRHS research compiled by Len Cram and Barbara Moritz. Sources: ‘Burglaries, etc’, New South Wales Police Gazette and Weekly Record of Crime, 24 July 1918, pp. 319, 334; The Lightning Ridge Book, Stuart Lloyd, 1967, pp. 67, 125; Lightning Ridge - The Home of the Black Opal: Unique to the World, Gan Bruce, 1983, pp. 86-87, 161-162, 175; A Journey With Colour: A History of Lightning Ridge Opal 1873-2003, Len Cram, 2003, pp. 128, 325.