Koroit Opal Field
The Koroit opal field is an opal Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silicon dioxide, silica (SiO2·''n''H2O); its water content may range from 3% to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6% and 10%. Due to the amorphous (chemical) physical structure, it is classified as a ... mining area in Paroo Shire in South West Queensland, Australia. It is located about 80 km north northwest of Cunnamulla. It is not a town, nor should it be confused with the town of Koroit in rural western Victoria, Australia. It has neither electricity nor running water. Koroit is close to the town of Yowah which also produces a similar type of opal. The Koroit opal field is known for the very distinctive type of boulder opal that is found in its mines. In Queensland boulder opal is found within a 300 km wide belt of sedimentary rocks in the Winton Formation. Here opal is found as a kernel in small concretions. The Koroit Opal field was discovered in 1897 by Lawrence Rostron. The ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Opal
Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silicon dioxide, silica (SiO2·''n''H2O); its water content may range from 3% to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6% and 10%. Due to the amorphous (chemical) physical structure, it is classified as a mineraloid, unlike crystalline forms of silica, which are considered minerals. It is deposited at a relatively low temperature and may occur in the fissures of almost any kind of rock (geology), rock, being most commonly found with limonite, sandstone, rhyolite, marl, and basalt. The name ''opal'' is believed to be derived from the Sanskrit word (), which means 'jewel', and later the Greek derivative (). There are two broad classes of opal: precious and common. Precious opal displays play-of-color (iridescence); common opal does not. Play-of-color is defined as "a pseudo chromatic optical effect resulting in flashes of colored light from certain minerals, as they are turned in white light." The internal structure of precious opal cause ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shire Of Paroo
The Shire of Paroo is a Local government in Australia, local government area in South West Queensland, Australia. The administrative centre is the town of Cunnamulla. The Paroo Shire covers an area of . In the , the Shire of Paroo had a population of 1,679 people. Geography The region incorporates the towns of Cunnamulla, Yowah, Eulo, Queensland, Eulo and Wyandra, Queensland, Wyandra, with Cunnamulla being the hub of the Shire and is centrally situated on the crossroads of the Shire of Balonne, Balonne and Mitchell Highway, Mitchell Highways. Cunnamulla, meaning "long stretch of water", gets its name from the Warrego River which flows past the town. The Paroo Shire is bounded by the Open Mitchell Grass Flood Plains in the East to the Yowah opal fields where the Yowah nut is found and the Mulga Lands, Mulga lands to the West. Main industries within the Shire are beef, Goat meat, goat, fat Lamb and mutton, lamb, wool, Opal, opal mining and Tourism in Australia, tourism. Locate ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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South West Queensland
South West Queensland is a remote region in the Australian state of Queensland which covers . The region lies to the south of Central West Queensland and west of the Darling Downs and includes the Maranoa, Queensland, Maranoa district and parts of the Channel Country. The area is noted for its cattle grazing, cotton farming, opal mining and oil and gas deposits. At the federal level the whole region is encompassed by the Division of Maranoa. Local Government areas included in the region are Maranoa Region, Shire of Balonne, Shire of Paroo, Shire of Murweh, Shire of Bulloo and the Shire of Quilpie. South West Queensland has a population of 26,489. The region is serviced by the ABC Western Queensland radio station. History Indigenous Aboriginal society traded objects based on need and to promote social cohesion. The South West region of Queensland was the primary source of the traded plant Duboisia hopwoodii, from which a traditional chewing tobacco was made. Kamilaroi language ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cunnamulla
Cunnamulla () is a town and a Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Shire of Paroo, Queensland, Australia. It is south of Charleville, Queensland, Charleville, and approximately west of the state capital, Brisbane. In the 2021 Australian census, 2021 census, the locality of Cunnamulla had a population of 1,233. Geography Cunnamulla lies on the Warrego River in South West Queensland within the Murray–Darling basin, Murray–Darling drainage basin. It flows from the north (Coongoola) through the town, which is in the centre of the locality, and exits to the south (Tuen, Queensland, Tuen). The Mitchell Highway passes through the locality from north (Coongoola) to south (Tuen), while the Balonne Highway enters the location from the east (Linden, Queensland, Linden). The two highways intersect in the town, which is located in the centre of the locality. The Bulloo Developmental Road starts in Cunnamulla and exits the locality to the west (Eulo, Queensland, Eulo). C ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Koroit, Victoria
Koroit is a small rural town in western Victoria, Australia a few kilometres north of the Princes Highway, north-west of Warrnambool and west of Melbourne. It is in the Shire of Moyne local government area located amidst rolling green pastures on the north rim of Tower Hill. At the 2016 census, Koroit had a population of 2,055. The town borrows its name from the Koroitch Gundidj people who occupied the area prior to European colonisation. History For many thousands of years prior to British colonisation, the Koroit area was part of the lands of the indigenous Koroit gundidj people, whose descendants retain special links with the area. The first confirmed European sighting of the area was of Tower Hill, the nearby inactive volcano, in 1802, by French explorers aboard '' Le Géographe'', captained by Nicolas Baudin. The first European settler came to the Koroit area in 1837. During the 1840s and 1850s, a large number of Irish immigrants made Koroit their home. A strong and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Victoria (Australia)
Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a States and territories of Australia, state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of ; the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales), with a population of over 7 million; and the most densely populated state in Australia (30.6 per km2). Victoria's economy is the List of Australian states and territories by gross state product, second-largest among Australian states and is highly diversified, with service sectors predominating. Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to the north and South Australia to the west and is bounded by the Bass Strait to the south (with the exception of a small land border with Tasmania located along Boundary Islet), the Southern Ocean to the southwest, and the Tasman Sea (a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean) to the southeast. The state encompasses a range of climates and geographical features from its temperate climate, temperate coa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Yowah
Yowah is an outback town and locality in the Shire of Paroo, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Yowah had a population of 126 people. The town is known for its opal mining and numerous opal fields that lie around the town as well as the " Yowah nut", a local type of opal distinctive to the region. Geography Yowah is in western Queensland, west of the state capital, Brisbane and west of Cunnamulla. Access to Yowah is via a bitumen road. Driving in to Yowah at night not recommended due to animals on road. History The Yowah pastoral station was formed on Yowah Creek in the mid 1860s by Vincent James Dowling consisting of the Bargoon, Dundoo and Bundoona outstations. In 1868, the Queensland government established the Yowah Native Police barracks under Sub-Inspector James Gilmour. The area was first leased in 1883 to prospective settlers and opal mining has been the central operation within the district since the first opal fields were discovered. Population ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Winton Formation
The Winton Formation is a Cretaceous Formation (geology), geological formation in central-western Queensland, Australia. It is late Albian to early Turonian in age. The formation blankets large areas of central-western Queensland. It consists of sedimentary rocks such as sandstone, siltstone and claystone. The sediments that make up these rocks represent the remnants of the river plains that filled the basin left by the Eromanga Sea - an inland sea that covered large parts of Queensland and central Australia at least four times during the Early Cretaceous period. Great meandering rivers, forest pools and swamps, creeks, lakes and coastal estuaries all left behind different types of sediment. In some areas, the Winton Formation is over 400 metres thick. To bring with them such a huge amount of sediment, the rivers that flowed across these plains must have been comparable in size to the present-day Amazon River, Amazon or Mississippi River, Mississippi rivers. As more and more sedi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Concretion
A concretion is a hard and compact mass formed by the precipitation of mineral cement within the spaces between particles, and is found in sedimentary rock or soil. Concretions are often ovoid or spherical in shape, although irregular shapes also occur. The word ''concretion'' is borrowed from Latin , itself derived from ''concrescere'' , from ''con-'' and ''crescere'' . Concretions form within layers of sedimentary strata that have already been deposited. They usually form early in the burial history of the sediment, before the rest of the sediment is hardened into rock. This concretionary cement often makes the concretion harder and more resistant to weathering than the host stratum. There is an important distinction to draw between concretions and nodules. Concretions are formed from mineral precipitation around some kind of nucleus while a nodule is a replacement body. Descriptions dating from the 18th century attest to the fact that concretions have long been regarde ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Koroit Boulder Opal
Koroit is a small rural town in western Victoria, Australia a few kilometres north of the Princes Highway, north-west of Warrnambool and west of Melbourne. It is in the Shire of Moyne local government area located amidst rolling green pastures on the north rim of Tower Hill. At the 2016 census, Koroit had a population of 2,055. The town borrows its name from the Koroitch Gundidj people who occupied the area prior to European colonisation. History For many thousands of years prior to British colonisation, the Koroit area was part of the lands of the indigenous Koroit gundidj people, whose descendants retain special links with the area. The first confirmed European sighting of the area was of Tower Hill, the nearby inactive volcano, in 1802, by French explorers aboard '' Le Géographe'', captained by Nicolas Baudin. The first European settler came to the Koroit area in 1837. During the 1840s and 1850s, a large number of Irish immigrants made Koroit their home. A strong and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mining In Australia
Mining in Australia has long been a significant primary sector industry and contributor to the Australian economy by providing export income, royalty payments and employment. Historically, mining booms have also encouraged population growth via immigration to Australia, particularly the gold rushes of the 1850s. Many different ores, gems and minerals have been mined in the past and a wide variety are still mined throughout the country. In 2019, Australia was the world's largest producer of iron ore and bauxite; the second largest of gold, manganese, and lead; the third largest of zinc, cobalt, and uranium; the fifth largest of salt; the sixth largest of copper and nickel; the eighth largest producer of silver and tin; the fourteenth largest of phosphate; and the fifteenth largest of sulfur. The country is also a major producer of precious stones, being the world's largest producer of opal and is also one of the largest producers of diamond, ruby, sapphire and jade. In non ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |