T. C. Wollaston

Tullie Cornthwaite “T. C.” Wollaston (sometimes Tully) was an entrepreneur, author, opal buyer and surveyor in Adelaide who became interested enough in opal to devote more than half his life to developing a world market for material mined in Australia.

Wollaston was born in Port Lincoln, South Australia and was raised at Lake Hamilton. He was educated in Adelaide, and worked in the public service and later as a surveyor and miner.

In 1903, Wollaston was represented by E. F. Murphy who was buying opal out of White Cliffs. Wollaston financially supported Murphy’s purchase of the first parcel of black opal from Charlie Nettleton which had been brought over from Lightning Ridge to White Cliffs to attempt to sell it. Wollaston was not present for the purchase, but afterward he looked upon the dark opal from Lightning Ridge positively and encouraged Murphy to continue buying the material.

T. C. Wollaston was one of the first to take Australian black opal abroad and to promote the gemstone to an international audience. Wollaston would attend exhibitions and expositions in London and Paris, showing off Lightning Ridge black opal, and is keenly responsible for making the world aware of the rare and unique stone found in only in one tiny location in New South Wales.

A few weeks after the birth of Tullie's first child, he set out for southwest Queensland in search of a boulder opal mine, after being shown opal by a friend. This trek into the vast Never Never would be the first of many during the 1890s, right into the 1900s.

Wollaston’s book Opal: The Gem of the Never Never, published 1924, documents his arduous journey from South Australia to the Queensland opal fields in 1888. The book is one of the earliest publications in any way related to opal mining history.

During his travels, Wollaston recorded many of his thoughts, leaving a record of his great appreciation of nature. His book Spirit of the Child is written aboard ship on one such seemingly endless journey abroad in 1914. This is a collection of nature studies addressed to his children. The Boronia, the White Gum, the Magpie, and the Black Opal are presented, showing Wollaston’s appreciation for nature’s biological and geological wonders.

Tullie sailed regularly to England and America, selling Australian opal to jewellers and dealers.

Tullie Wollaston passed away on 17 July 1931 and is buried at St. Jude’s Cemetery, Holdfast Bay, South Australia.

Article: Research by Leisa Carney, edited by Russell Gawthorpe. LRHS research compiled by Len Cram and Barbara Moritz. Sources: The Book of Opals, W. C. Eyles, 1964, pp. 92, 191; The Lightning Ridge Book, Stuart Lloyd, 1967, p. 11; The Spirit of the Child, T. C. Wollaston, 1914; Opal: The Gem of the Never Never, T. C. Wollaston, 1924; Walgett Spectator, 24 June 1910, 9 November 1911.