The Butterfly

The Butterfly is an opal field located west of Sim’s Hill and east of Kingfisher. The field was worked at an average depth of 20 to 25 feet and produced good quality black opal.

According to The Lightning Ridge Book by Stuart Lloyd, the field was named after The Butterfly (also know as the Red Admiral), a bright 30 carat opal that resembled the wing of a butterfly. The stone was found around 1920 by Jack Boules. Other sources dispute the location, with Gan Bruce’s version stating the Butterfly stone was not found on this field, but instead came from Telephone Line.

The field itself was discovered by “Canada Bill” Etheridge in the early 1910s. The best known claims were held by Bill himself, Harold Frazer, Dan Sutton, and Jim Murray. Each reportedly produced unnamed stones valued at around £100, a respectable return for the time. Total production had reached £5,000 by the 1960s, according to Lloyd.

In the 1970s-80s, The Butterfly Field was reclaimed by town development for the area surrounding Black Prince Drive.

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. 69; Lightning Ridge - The Home of the Black Opal: Unique to the World, Gan Bruce, 1983, p. 89; Discover Opals: Before and Beyond 2000 with Surface Indications, Stephen Aracic, 1996, p. 141.