Chasing opals since the 1920s, while paddling his own dusty canoe

SEASON 1, EPISODE 3

Opal miner Franko Albertoni was born in 1883. He was 88 when John Francis interviewed him in 1971, but still jumping around in the crushing heat like a little pixie. 

In 1920 Franko and his brother were among the very early miners at the Coober Pedy Opal Fields in South Australia. Then in 1930 they were among the first 12 to dig for opal in Andamooka.

Franko was still living in the same mud and stone hut they had built there. A hut so tiny he just had room for one chair, and so dark, he cooked over his open fire by feel. His prized possessions were his button accordion and tin whistle.

Franko was scathing of his ‘lazy’ older brother George, a womaniser who lived in the city and made a lot of money gambling. Citing the poem, ‘Paddle Your Own Canoe’, he preferred the simple joys of digging for potatoes in earth so dry and hard he had to use a use a pick, and drawing a little muddy water from the well he dug when he was 70. 

Also in this episode, goat carts and drought years in the Flinders Ranges. And before we meet Franko, we go underground in search of opal.