|
In 1969 Coober Pedy was a very busy opal mining town. The invention of the tunnelling machine and the large drills brought a lot of big money into the town ,the ground was being mined like never before. I arrived at Coober Pedy in March and set up a partnership with two other relatively newcomers . The days were very hot (110F) and the evenings were a barmy (75F) .Work started about 6 am and finished around 2pm. Then it was down to the pub for a well earned drink. Life seemed pretty good. Coober Pedy is a town of opportunity ,also open to danger for the innocent and the reckless (both of which I was but did not know it) I kept busy through the winter working hard for little reward. One close call was when a slab of rock weighing about half a ton fell from the ceiling of the mine, luckily no body was in that section of the mine. Another time when at the bottom of the shaft collecting gelignite and detonators. I realised there were only gelignite sticks (24) but no detonators, just as I was about to take the explosives out of the large metal bucket a voice from above COMING DOWN, Falling down the shaft was a plastic bag with detonators and fuses, no time to run….,realising that if they hit the bucket they could easily explode along with the gelignite, I had no choice but to stand there and catch them carefully, that was a close call. A few weeks we were cleaning up after a blast when we came across some beautiful gem grade opal about 15 ozs. valued at about six to eight hundred dollars per ounce .This was our first decent find a ,with my share it would keep me going until xmas. In mid November most of the towns people were making plans to leave as it was getting far too hot ,my plan was to stay and begin working on a dugout (underground house). 15th November 1969 A night at the pub, plenty of dancing and beer drinking, we met with some tourist girls and they said they would like to go down an opal mine, it was late but we decided to take them out to the field and show them ,once there we started the generator to give us light in the mine. One by one we went down the shaft ,the girls were fascinated with the mine and all the tunnels .From the surface it looked like a lunar landscape and under ground like a rabbit warren. One of the miners asked if I wanted to play a trick on the girls .I said yes we went up the ladder ,in the back of the Ute was a box of gelignite, he took two sticks out and set them up with detonators and extra long fuses .He lit and dropped them down an old mine not connected to the mine we were in .We went back down the mine ,about five minuets later came a loud thud that shook the ground .It sure scared the girls but we thought it was a huge joke. Then it was time to go ,I was the last one up ,they were all in the Ute three in front and four in back .on approaching the driver drove off then stopped .I approached again and he did the same thing ,on my third attempt to get in I made a lunge for the tailgate , he drove off again dragging me behind as the cad did not appear to be slowing down I let go and tumbled along the track. After the dust settled and no car in sight I decided to walk back to town (about 5 miles) I had lost my bearings ,The coober Pedy pub had a light on top that could be seen for miles .I scrambled up a mullock heap hoping to see the light. Unfortunately it was a pile of rubble from a large drill hole (shaped more like a pyramid with no flat top) I took a step and started sliding down the other side .In the dim light I could see a black hole at the bottom and I was sliding straight for it. The next thing I can remember it was daylight and I was down the bottom of a very deep drill hole .I realised something was seriously wrong as there was no feeling in my legs .That was the beginning of the longest day of my life. I called out for help ,bashing the wall of the shaft with a rock an whistling, all to no avail there was mining going on around me , jack picking and blasting even aeroplanes overhead. As evening was approaching ,it felt like it may be the last day of my life. Writing my name on the wall of the shaft I tried to sleep ,then I was stirred by the sound of a vehicle door closing ,I started yelling only to hear the vehicle drive of ,Then another door shutting and again I started yelling for help to no avail .later a torch light shone at the top of the shaft and a voice saying “is any body down there! ”I said yes ,it was the best moment of my life, the voice said hang on and we will get a rope down so you can climb out I said I thought I had a broken back .Next a man was lowered down he covered my body with his to stop rocks landing while they were setting up a windless to get me out. It seemed like hours before anything else happened then I saw a nurse being lowered down the shaft .(one very brave lady) she gave me first aid in the shape of a needle, the pain in my back subsided and they were able to get me strapped to a stretcher ,not very easy in a 3 feet diameter hole . After reaching the top I was placed in the back of a station wagon and taken to the Coober Pedy hospital .We arrived at the hospital about 11pm I was very thirsty and drank so much water it made me sick. At some time during the night I was taken to the airport , the whole town had to line their cars along the runway with their lights on to guide the flying doctor in .I was taken to the royal Adelaide hospital were they performed spinal surgery on me. I was lucky to be alive so did not worry to much when the said I would never walk again. Within the next few years I proved them wrong going from wheel chair to crutches and then walking stick .I still have a few problems getting around but just happy to be alive. Although my mining days are over I still work with opal . Cutting opal triplets and selling on ebay.
Our ebay name is . RUSSMULES
|
