Book “They Struck Opal” by E.F. Murphy
“Tales of men and mines in the heyday of Australian Opal”
Ted Murphy wrote about his life from when he left school in 1875 to work on a station on the Murrumbidgee River then to stations further outback.
His first mining venture was for gold at Mt Brown and Milparinka then was in Wilcannia running a General Store at the end of 1889, at the time when Alf Richardson, Charlie Turner, George Hooley and W.H. Clouston arrived at Wilcannia to secure rights to mine for opal on Momba Station (which became the White Cliffs field. Murphy joined them. After mining, he eventually became a buyer for T.C. Wollaston. Murphy wrote that during the peak years of 1897-9, he bought at the rate of 50,000 pounds per annum. From there he bought opal from the Queensland fields and Lightning Ridge until 1911 when he continued buying on his own account.
