The Dooley

The Dooley is a paved and stone-lined drain running along Brilliant Street, and is a natural watercourse.

Somehow The Dooley has withstood town development. She can run a banker during heavy rains as the catchment of the ironstone ridge (Black Prince Drive) drains, and water escapes to the black soil plains of the golf course.

According to our local author Gan Bruce, whose family has lived on the opal fields for nearly 100 years, a solitary Dooley Ward used to “sit on the edge of the great gutter, playing his cornet to nobody in particular”. From 1916-20, he lived at the eastern edge of the village, about where the Walford's home is today, corner Brilliant and Morilla Streets.

However, the late Ted Dawson, who was a little boy here 1919-1924, recalls a Labor politician of the day named Dooley, who campaigned at Lightning Ridge, a memorable occasion for schoolboy Ted. Perhaps it was Mr. Dooley, who stood on the banks of the little creek at the eastern edge of the village, jabbering “to nobody in particular”, rather than local resident, Dooley Ward, playing his cornet!

It is thanks to a 1990s community work program that erosion and the mud of the Dooley is minimal. Prior to improvement, you can be sure a child or two came to grief in those muddy waters on the way to school!

The Dooley is still in place today and can be seen running along the western side of Brilliant Street.

Article: Edited by Russell Gawthorpe. LRHS research compiled by Len Cram and Barbara Moritz. Sources: LRHS oral history; Lightning Ridge - The Home of the Black Opal: Unique to the World, Gan Bruce, 1983, pp. 29, 75, 159.