Andamooka, South Australia

Andamooka South Australia
Andamooka
Coordinates	30°26′S 137°10′E / 30.433°S 137.167°E / -30.433; 137.167Coordinates: 30°26′S 137°10′E / 30.433°S 137.167°E / -30.433; 137.167
Population	528 (2006)[1]
Established	1920s
Postcode(s)	5722
Elevation	76 m (249 ft)[2]
Location	600 km (373 mi) north of Adelaide
LGA(s)	Outback Areas Community Development Trust
State electorate(s)	Electoral district of Giles
Federal Division(s)	Division of Grey
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall 27.5 °C 82 °F 13.7 °C 57 °F 160 mm 6.3 in

Andamooka is a town approximately 600 km north of Adelaide in the South Australian outback. Opal was discovered in the region in the late 1920s,^[3] and the town developed out of the scattered miners' camps which established in the area. An Andamooka Opal Fields Post Office was not opened until 13 January 1947, and was renamed Andamooka in 1990.^[4] The Andamooka Opal was discovered in and named after Andamooka.

The road into Andamooka was sealed in the 1990s, but the remaining roads in the town are still unsealed.

Andamooka is the largest town administered by the Outback Areas Community Development Trust instead of a local government area. It is in the state electoral district of Giles and the federal Division of Grey.

Housing

With the influx of work, an expansion of the mine at Olympic Dam, more houses are being built and transported in. Many of the town's houses came from Woomera, a mostly military town that supported the Woomera Test Range and Joint Defense Facility Nurrungar. Not many people live in the traditional dugout style houses of old, although remnants of the town's past remain in the main street, with the cottages of old miners dug into the side of the hill in the main street still standing.

Population

At the 2006 census, the town had a population of 528 people^[1] and its main industry was opal mining for many years. However, since the establishment of the nearby Olympic Dam copper-uranium mine and the town of Roxby Downs in the 1980s, some residents of Andamooka are now employed in the mine or in Roxby Downs, and many others are retired.^[5]

Until recently, Andamooka townsfolk had to rely on water supplies trucked in from Roxby Downs, or above ground cisterns for the limited rainfall of the region. A pipeline to the township has since been built, although water still has to be trucked to the town's water tanks.

Pop Culture

The 1979 film The Last of the Knucklemen was filmed in and around Andamooka. The "Andamooka Opal" was presented to Queen Elizabeth II on the occasion of her first visit to Australia in 1954. This opal, once cut, weighed in at 203 carats (40.6 g).

Andamooka was also referenced in the Max Brooks novel, "World War Z".

Climate

Annual rainfall is extremely low, with the average in the region just 160 mm per year. The climate is arid, with daytime temperatures in summer regularly topping 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and night temperatures in winter often dropping to zero (32 degrees Fahrenheit) or below.

References