Lightning Ridge, New South Wales

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lightning Ridge is a town in north-western New South Wales, Australia in Walgett Shire.

In 2001 it had 1,826 persons, including 344 indigenous persons (18.8%) and 1,304 persons born in Australia (71.4%).^[1] The population is said to be highly variable as transient miners come and go over time. There is an official population indicator sign on the highway as you enter the town that says, Lightning Ridge — population?. Prior to the 2004 Public Enquiry into the functioning of Walgett Shire Council, it worked on the basis that there were about 7,000 people in the town, but the enquiry found that this estimate was given no support by the 2001 census and contrasted with the 1,109 people who voted in the town at the local government elections in 2004. ^[2]

Lightning Ridge is 6 km east of the Castlereagh Highway, and is serviced by the nearby town of Walgett - some 75 km to the south. It is a flourishing tourist town with numerous caravan and camping parks, the previously very rustic and contagious Diggers' Rest pub (which has burnt down for the third time) and a well appointed and vibrant bowling club with its 8 artificial grass bowling greens. Temperatures in summer can reach into the high 40s Celsius, but below ground the temperature remains at a pleasant and constant 22 degrees all year round.

There is a hot spring which is open to the public.

Lightning Ridge owes its existence to opal, in particular, the black opal. Lightning Ridge has the largest deposits of this gemstone in the world.

A fossicker's license is required to mine here and may be obtained from the New South Wales Department of Mineral Resources.

Other industries here include wheat and wool.