Snowy Brown
Snowy Brown and Kitty (nee Regan), 1915.
Edward Charles “Snowy” Brown was born 31 May 1885, in Forbes Shire, New South Wales.
Snowy came to the Ridge in 1906. Snowy's parents brought the rest of their family to the opal fields in 1908, and 5 of their children, including Snowy, married locally - Minnie Brown, Snowy’s sister, married Tom Urwin.
Snowy was a Justice of the Peace in Lightning Ridge and was highly respected for his business acumen.
In the early 1920s, Snowy and his wife, Katie May “Kitty” Brown (nee Regan) went to Croydon where they ran a mixed business. She travelled with her Auntie Minnie Urwin and cousin Pearl and the elder Regans. The Walgett Spectator, March 1922 edition, says Snowy and his family went to Campsie (Kempsey?) to run a billiard room.
The Browns had returned by February 1926, since it is recorded that Snowy and Tom Urwin bottomed on nobbies “as big as hen's eggs” on top of the Four Mile, the newest opal rush mentioned in The Walgett Spectator until the Grawin fields broke out. Tom Urwin and Snowy Brown’s Shallow Ground opal field is named for the mining partners.
Snowy signed the Western Lands Petition in 1929 for a recreational reserve in the Ridge. In the early 1930s, Snowy, Kitty, their two teenage daughters and some friends went up to the Cracow Gold Fields in Queensland when the price of opal fell. They found no gold after six months, so they returned to the Ridge.
Snowy was back working his claim at the Four Mile in 1933, as recorded in a letter and census records. They lived across the street from Spicer's Cottage (now the Heritage Cottage) in what was the first post office.
Snowy Brown passed away on 21 August 1945. Kitty passed away 17 October 1973 in Granville, Sydney. Both are buried at Rookwood Necropolis.
Article: Research by Leisa Carney, edited by Russell Gawthorpe. LRHS research compiled by Len Cram and Barbara Moritz. Sources: Lightning Ridge - The Home of the Black Opal: Unique to the World, Gan Bruce, 1983, pp. 65, 71, 78-79, 144, 167; The Lightning Ridge Book, Stuart Lloyd, 1967, p. 28; Lightning Flash Newspaper, 19 May 1994; Walgett Spectator, 16 April 1914, 23 March 1922, 25 February 1926.