COOBER PEDY

town and mining field in central South Australia, 590 miles (950 km) northwest of Adelaide. Most of the total world production of opals comes from this site in the Stuart Range on the edge of the Great Victoria Desert. The first stones were found in 1911. The settlement, owned by the local Progress Association, was established in 1915 and declared a town in 1960. Its name is an Aboriginal term meaning white man's hole, referring to a practice of the miners, who, in order to escape temperatures that often climb to 125 F (52 C) three to four months of the year, built their dwellings below ground. Pop. (1986 est.) 2,103.