Umoona Opal Mine and Museum


Useful Information

Location: 14 Hutchison St, Coober Pedy SA 5723.
Coober Pedy, 850 km north of Adelaide and 680 km south of Alice Springs. City center, off main street on Lea St.
(-29.009630, 134.754483)
Open: All year daily 8:30-17:30.
Tours 10, 14, 16.
[2022]
Fee: Mine tour: Adults AUD 13, Children AUD 7.
Museum: free.
[2022]
Classification: MineOpal Mine
Light: LightIncandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:  
Guided tours: D=30 min.
Photography:  
Accessibility:  
Bibliography:  
Address: Umoona Opal Mine and Museum, PO Box 372 Coober Pedy, South Australia 5723, Tel: +61-8-8672-5288, Fax: +61-8-8672-5731. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1920 mine opened.

Geology

Description

The Umoona Opal Mine is a typical opal mine of Coober Pedy. The mine tour is completed by an Aboriginal Interpretive Centre, an underground home which is called dugout at Cooper Pedy, and an underground museum with detailed historical content on the town. It also includes a 20 minutes award-winning documentary named The Story of Opal, presented in an underground theatrette on three panoramic screens.

But the star of the exhibits is Umoonasaurus, a plesiosaur fossil. This frightening reptilian seal-like dinosaur has a compact body, four flippers, a long neck, a small head and a short tail. During the Jurassic it had the ecologic niche of the orca or killer whale.

The site has a shop which sells opals and a sort of underground bunkhouse for groups. It is a sort of underground youth hostel, with chamber up to 96 beds. There are also small rooms for small groups and families. Groups can also book long tours which additionally include a tour of Cooper Pedy and its underground churches.