To the Ancient Greeks, opals were the solidified tears of Zeus, who cried with happiness after defeating the Titans.
The scientific explanation, however, is that opal comes from silica deposits that filled cracks in the ground when ancient inland oceans receded, forming over several million years into the precious, highly sought-after gem it is today.
Whichever story you believe, there is no doubt that this intriguing rock has more than a little air of romance and magic about it.
Just ask Barbara Lamont, opal miner and co-owner of The Opalcutter in Montville, where these jewels of the outback are showcased and transformed into wearable pieces of art.
Previously a graphic designer, Barbara left her native Germany 42 years ago on a grand adventure to see the world.
Her travels came to an abrupt halt when she literally fell off the bus in Coober Pedy, deep in the heart of outback South Australia – the opal mecca of the world. The very next day she started working in an opal mine, and she became hooked. So began a lifelong passion that has never waned.
Since that day, Barbara has been mining, designing and crafting opals into pieces of bespoke jewellery that she now showcases at her hinterland store, The Opalcutter, which she runs with her husband, gemologist Edi Heide.
“Edi and I have a great relationship, given that we met at a mature age and had both had careers,” Barbara tells salt.
“His science background and subsequent studies in gemology and diamond technology bring out a lot of information to our clientele. I say he is the ‘brain’ and I am the creative person; he loves doing most of the talking and explaining, and I do the selling part.”
Master goldsmith Regine Maeckle, who also hails from Germany and who learnt opal cutting in Coober Pedy, is also an integral part of the team. She has been working with The Opalcutter for the last 24 years.
“I play with the opal and decide what to make, then work on the design, and Regine does some designs as well and then does the excellent work on finishing impressive and extraordinary pieces of jewellery,” Barbara explains.
“All of our opal jewellery is handmade from pieces of gold or silver, and none are made by casting the setting.
“Our jewellery has always been different. We have followers all over the world who know that our work is unique and one-of-a-kind.”
One of the main components that puts opal into a class of its own as a gemstone, according to Barbara, is its variety of colours and patterns.
“Although many people in Australia see opal as ‘just another gemstone’, it is important to understand that precious, or coloured patterned stones, are very rare,” she says.
“The way opal forms its colour makes it unique amongst most other gemstones.”
According to Geoscience Australia, this process is called opalescence. Opals are made up of small spheres of silica in a regular pattern, with water between the spheres. White light is diffracted through the spheres, breaking it up into the colours of the spectrum; larger spheres provide all colours, while smaller ones provide blues and greens.
While opal, which is Australia’s official national gemstone, is found in other parts of the world, 95 per cent of the world’s precious opal (used for making jewellery) comes from Australia.
The Opalcutter’s origins go back to Coober Pedy, where Barbara and her then husband, Piet Lamont, mined, cut and polished opal that Barbara then transformed into their own range of jewellery, using her design prowess.
They opened a shop there in 1990 to showcase those designs, continued to mine opal and experienced huge success, garnering a reputation for producing unusual and unique pieces.
Sadly, Piet passed away in 2006, but Barbara’s love of the gemstone that had so spectacularly changed her life course was entrenched. She continued The Opalcutter on her own.
Her decades of experience, knowledge and passion are now matched by those of Edi, who is equally enamoured with the rainbow-coloured gems that brought them together.
You could say theirs is a match made in heaven – the opal heaven of Coober Pedy, that is. The pair met when Edi, who had also experienced the grief of losing his wife, came to the town as the local school principal back in 2007.
When they discovered they both had German Shepherds named Rex, their fates were sealed.
“The two dogs liked each other, and the rest is history,” Barbara says.
“We married at the end of that year and moved to Cairns.”
For several years, the couple worked on their opal mining lease on the Koroit Opal fields near Cunnamulla, in southwest Queensland, while searching for the perfect next location to open another shop.
They re-opened The Opalcutter in 2012 in Montville, a town that Barbara says they both fell instantly in love with.
While they have given up their mining lease for health and safety reasons, the opal that features in their jewellery still comes from their many years of mining in Coober Pedy, Lightning Ridge (in outback New South Wales) and the Koroit fields, to name a few.
“My late husband Piet was a very good opal cutter and we always reinvested our profits back into buying rough opal parcels from Coober Pedy [and other fields],” Barbara says.
“Our cut and polished stones in stock will last us for a very long time. We even sell rough opal parcels that we got during our mining times to cutters who don’t mine themselves.”
Barbara and Edi intend to keep working with the mystical gemstones that brought them together and have firmly settled into the hinterland haven they have made their permanent home, along with a recently adopted dog, Pluto.
“We are a happy and colourful couple, and our shop reflects this,” she says.
“I’m very lucky to have found this beautiful gemstone and it is giving me happiness.
“Edi and I are now well past retirement age, but we’re enjoying what we are doing and will continue for some time.”