Updates 18 July 2026.
Added epic obituary to William Sim profile. Added quote to Nell Brown profile.
Updates 5 June 2026.
Added profile for government surveyor and Undersecretary of Mines E. F. Pittman. Updated signature image for Bill Younger. Added signature for Theo Lorenz. Added signature for Dave Lafly. Added details of miners’ rights for Sid Sharkey, E. F. Murphy, Bill Wedgwood, Charles Nygyah. Added details of Wallangulla Mineral Field proclamation (and image) to the History Timeline. Added note about 1903 newspaper broadcast of opal discovery to the Discovery of Opal page.
Updates 1 June 2026.
Updated birthplace for Jack Austin - thanks Richard!
Updates 31 May 2026.
Added profile for Arthur McLaren.
Updates 29 May 2026.
Added pages for Weetalibah Hotel, Gooraway Hotel, Lightning Ridge Hotel, Moongulla Hotel, Wilby Wilby Hotel, updates to page for Imperial Hotel/Digger’s Rest. Added profiles for Dave Lafly and Josiah Williams. Minor updates to page navigation. Added date of death to Isidore Kozminsky profile. Updated image on W. C. Eyles profile. Added Justice of the Peace information to Robert Moore profile.
Updates 3 May 2026.
Added profile(s) for Whiting & Relph. Added profile for opal buyer and cutter Theo Lorenz.
Updates 1 May 2026.
Added embedded video of 1986 BBC documentary to Billy Capp’s profile. Minor tweaks to Silent Jim Reid’s profile.
Updates 29 April 2026.
Added 1906-1907 survey map to Jack Murray profile showing mine location on the Nobby field. Also added map to Nobby field page. Added obituary to Joe Beckett profile.
Updates 27 April 2026.
Added an optional phone number field to the contact us form. Added enhanced 1940 image of Charlie Nettleton to his profile page.
Updates 26 April 2026.
Added photograph to Frank Leechman author profile.
Updates 23 April 2026.
Added photograph to Milly Canfell profile.
Updates 14 April 2026.
Minor updates to Frank Leechman, Sid Sharkey.
Updates 2 April 2026.
Added additional information to Stuart Lloyd’s profile.
Updates 4 March 2026.
Added profile for Allan W. Eckert, author of A World of Opals.
Updates 16 February 2026.
Added listing of streets and their origins/definitions/history. Minor edits to a few articles, added or improved sources on some photos (Fred Bodel, Charlie Gibson profiles). Added additional sources to Spirit of Lightning Ridge and First Shaft Lookout pages.
Updates 13 February 2026.
Added additional information on Sid Sharkey’s profile. Added Shearer’s Six Mile to Historic Opal Fields.
Updates 10 February 2026.
Added quotes to Sid Sharkey, About Lightning Ridge, Imperial Hotel. Added sources to About Lightning Ridge. Updated sources on Old Town. Added embedded video to Lightning Flash Newspaper. Added libel case info to Harry Abotomey and Tom Brady.
Updates 7 January 2026.
Added sources to the Timeline, more to be added. Added information about firefighting incident in 1905 to Jack Murray’s profile.
Updates 5 January 2026.
Added profiles for the six Regal and Vice-Regal visitors, accessible via the Authors & More page: Sir Harry Rawson, Sir Dudley de Chair, Sir Philip Game, Sir John Northcott, Lord Casey and Dame Marie Bashir.
Updates 24 December 2025.
Added profiles for George Weldon, Jim Craig, Cecil Hammond, Phil Lambert-Smith, Jack Leechman, Silent Jim Reid, Bob Potts (Jr.), Douglas McEwen, Kelsey I. Newman and Garnet Preston. Added additional information to Charlie Nettleton’s profile, reorganised some sections.
Added image of Eric Catterall’s book to the Authors page. Updated image of W. C. Eyles The Book of Opals.