McDonald’s Six Mile

One of the earliest opal fields, McDonald’s Six Mile (or Macdonald’s Six Mile) is located on the high ridge above the old Government Tank (Lightning Ridge Tank, Beckett’s Tank, Tyson’s Tank, Voller’s Tank, etc), to the east of the Castlereagh Highway which follows the path of the old travelling stock route.

Ronald McDonald and his two sons, Archie and Frank lived on the field in 1908. They had the best claim, and found some decent opal.

Being a field on the high country, the opal ran quite deep. Level was found at a depth of 40 feet, although at the base of the hill it was as shallow as six feet.

The field was also worked by Jack McKenna, Bob Pearson and Rex Preston, among others. According to The Lightning Ridge Book by Stuart Lloyd, £22,000 had been produced from the field by 1967.

In 1903, Charlie Nettleton sank his first shaft on McDonald’s Six Mile, under employ of Joe Beckett and William Ferris’s mining syndicate. The shaft was sunk to 50 feet, and no payable opal was found.

McDonald’s Six Mile is located at the end of the Green Car Door Tour, and is home to the First Shaft Lookout, the Abraxas meditation maze and the Beer Can House. 

• McDonald’s Six Mile @ MinView.

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. 61; Lightning Ridge - The Home of the Black Opal: Unique to the World, Gan Bruce, 1983, p. 92; The Occurrence of Opal at Lightning Ridge and Grawin, with Geological Notes on County Finch, J. W Whiting & R. E. Relph, 1958, p. 10; Discover Opals: Before and Beyond 2000 with Surface Indications, Stephen Aracic, 1996, p. 149.