John M. Landers
John M. Landers, 1920.
John Michael Landers (sometimes spelled Launders, sometimes John L. Landers) was born in Sydney in 1865, coming to Lightning Ridge around 1906.
Prior to moving to Lightning Ridge, he may have been educated for the priesthood, and had worked in shipping. Landers lived in Lightning Ridge for over 40 years, with half his time spent on the Ridge fields, and the latter half out at the Grawin.
Landers was one of Lightning Ridge’s first known historians, writing a series of articles for the Walgett Spectator in 1921 under the name "Old Chum" detailing the discovery of and early mining ventures on the Lightning Ridge fields.
Landers is reported as being a well-educated man with a fine memory.
“John Launders once said, ‘I have been here 10 years and haven’t got 10/- worth of opal’. To which the retort was, ‘You haven’t done 10/- worth of work.’”
The most colorful description of him has nothing to do with the beautiful opals he so often named; Bob Bruce, in a 1980s video interview reminiscing with Molly Darby, says "John (Landers) could beat a pig eatin'!"
John M. Landers and Bill Wedgewood pictured in The Daily Telegraph, Sydney 23 Mar 1933.
Among his reports to the Walgett Spectator, John Landers is the first to write of Mrs. Ryan's find of opal, which spurred prospector Charlie Nettleton to prospect the ridges in search of more black opal in 1902, eventually leading to the foundation of Lightning Ridge as an opal field.
A talented pianist, Landers is reported to have had a tenor voice and was quite a good singer. He also played cricket, which was a popular sport at early Lightning Ridge. Among his contributions to the community, Landers delivered funeral services, regardless of the creed of the deceased.
John M. Landers himself passed away on July 28, 1944 at Granville, Sydney, and is buried at Macquarie Park Cemetery.
The Lightning Ridge Historical Society produces a reprint of Landers’ 1921 reports of the early days on the opal fields, An Old Chum Remembers: The Story of Lightning Ridge, 1906-1921.
John M. Landers signature sourced from a petition to resist the relocation of residents from Old Town and The Flat to the surveyed town, 1912.
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; ‘Court of the Flame Queen - Romance of Opal’, The Sun, 15 June 1935, p. 8; Lightning Ridge - The Home of the Black Opal: Unique to the World, Gan Bruce, 1983, pp. 60, 117-118; Lightning Ridge: The Land of Black Opals, Ion L. Idriess, 1940, chapters XXV, XXIII, XIV, XV; The Opal Book, Frank Leechman, 196, pp. 70, 197; Walgett Spectator, 29 April 1910, 12 March 1914, 29 September 1917, 7 November 1918, 28 August 1919, 22 September 1921, 10 November 1921, 4 September 1924, 11 August 1924, 28 October 1926, 25 November 1926, 24 March 1927, 13 May 1936-19 August 1936; A Journey With Colour: A History of Lightning Ridge Opal 1873-2003, Len Cram, 2003, p. 167.