Herbert Wilson

17/1/1900 – 24/1/1961

Herbert (Bert) Wilson was born in Queensland on 17th March 1900. He was a mechanic and all round handy-man, able to build, fix, maintain and invent. In 1918, after returning from military service in WWI, he married his childhood sweetheart, Ethel. Together they worked as a contracting team moving around the Cape York Peninsula. Bert did the building and maintenance work on stations and Ethel helped in the homestead. He did a lot of work for the London Mining Trust and in l929 he moved to the Northern Territory where he worked on Victoria River Downs Station.

In 1931 he decided to visit the opal fields at Coober Pedy. In June, just after the ‘wet’ he and his wife and 6 children set off on a 500-mile trip from Mataranka to Wave Hill, through the Tanami goldfields. There were no highways back then. Bert was the first to make it overland, with a family, after the explorer Michael Terry did it in 6-wheeled vehicles. They crossed several flooded rivers. The patches on the tubes lifted. To get through, Bert shot unbranded bullocks and wrapped their hides around the wheels in place of the tyres. There were so many kids in the car that the spare tyres on the back touched the ground when they went up a hill. Bert had to tie logs on the front to keep the wheels on the road. It was an epic journey and the people in William Creek could hardly believe it when the Wilson family drove into town and told them where they had come from.

Later they drove on to Coober Pedy where they caused another stir, being the first family to drive into the opal fields. Bert worked here 6 months before finding a parcel of opal. He and his family then moved to Andamooka and on to Melbourne in 1934. He kept moving, on to Queensland where he lived on the Clermont goldfields and Charters Towers. In Charters Towers Bert bought 2 trucks and started working on aerodromes along the north Queensland coast. He increased his fleet of trucks to 6, and for a while had them all working 22 hours a day.

Information from The Empress of Opals Women’s Weekly 7/10/1953

After WWII, Bert returned to Coober Pedy with his family. After Tottie Bryant’s opal discovery out at Eight Mile, Bert pegged the second claim right next to theirs. Bert and son George pegged a residential site overlooking the opal workings. They thought the new home which they built was well clear of the opal bearing area, but later found it was right alongside one of the best runs of opal. Bert and his partner Frank Titheradge found the Olympic Australis, one of the world’s largest and best specimen opals. It is on display in Melbourne.

In January 1961 Bert was taken ill. He expressed his wish to be buried in Coober Pedy but his family called the RFDS to take him south for specialist treatment. As he was being carried to the plane he said, “It’s the end.” lt was. He was buried with full military honours.

Information from Opal Men by Vin Wake