Charlie Nettleton spent the rest of the year (1903) walking from Lightning Ridge to White Cliffs. There, he showed his finds to T. C. Wollaston, who was a famous opal merchant.

Wollaston purchased the bag of black opal – not for a great deal of money – and placed a standing order with Nettleton for more. This was the transaction that put Lightning Ridge on the map, and today, it is perhaps the most important opal field in the world.

In 2000, author Fred Ward described life at Lightning Ridge as “raw…a hideaway for loners, a place for getting lost. Folks go by their first names, keep no records, and guard information. Opal is an all-cash business.”

Nine years later, the situation has not changed much. Opal mining in Australia still has pretty much of a “Wild West” flavor about it.