Coober Pedy News
No 74 4 February 2005
Archived copy
Got the grass, got the goalposts, got the team, need a change room.
The Coober Pedy Football Club is again fielding a team in the Woomera and Districts Football League after an absence of 10 years. Woomera oval will be the home oval, so, with a five team league, the team will have to travel (about four hours) four weeks out of five. Thirty people will need to be transported. Hopefully by 2006 a change room will be built at the Coober Pedy oval. Then Woomera teams may be willing to play here. Northern Territory's Santa Teresa will bring teams to play during the Opal Festival
It is hoped to have junior football (under 16) teams playing on Saturday afternoon at the Coober Pedy Oval.
(Acknowledgement to the Coober Pedy Regional Times)
Extract from Vol. 56 Issue 1 of the Woomera Board Publication, the
The Gibber Gabber is also
available online at: www.woomerasa.com E-mail:gibber.gabber@bigpond.comDefence Centre Woomera News - Out on the Range
Trial activities have commenced for 2005 with the return of BAE Systems from the UK. January 24th will see anther UK team from DSTL commence an 'Atmospheric Scintillation' trial at Evetts Field, Range E. Laser equipment will be used and access to Evetts Field will be closed.
On completion of these two trials RAAF 37 SQN, DSTO and Ford Performance Vehicles will be conducting respective activities until late February.
A small team from Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will carry out modifications to their rocket motor in February in preparation for their second National Experimental Supersonic Transport (NEXST1) test later in the year.
Currently there are approximately 26 activities scheduled for the Woomera Prohibited Area this year. Additional requests are expected in the coming weeks.
Further enquiries on WPA activities and Range access can be directed to Range Group staff.
Coober Pedy, South Australia's Far North regional centre for Police, Telstra, Hospital, Education, and now ........
High Voltage Councillors
The
January Mayor's Report reminds councillors that draft legislation is being
prepared to extend the current Councillor term from May to November, and
increase from a three to a four year term
The Virgin Rainbow
The stone was mined from the Brown's Folly field and also polished by long time Coober Pedy opal miner John Dunstan in September 2003.
John Wood, Marketing Manager for the sale
of the "Virgin Rainbow", who has given permission for the use of the
above image, says that Sam Wood extricated it from the
QuickTime video on page one of the Virgin Rainbow site www.virginrainbow.com.
He says that,
"Very soon, thanks to the technical wizardry and cinematography genius of Mike Piper and crew, the Virgin Rainbow is set to make her Australian television debut. The first of four episodes of OPAL FEVER is scheduled to be screened at 8pm on ABC's REALITY BITES strand on Tuesday 8th February - and for the following three weeks at the same time each Tuesday. Episode 4, which contains the Virgin Rainbow Story is scheduled to be screened on Tuesday 1st March.
An OPAL FEVER Study Guide is available for downloading on www.metromagazine.com.au -under their '<study guide> section."
And,
"... an interesting debate staged for some six months to date between an Australian Palaeontologist who wrote to remind us that our client's discovery is a 'historical fossil' and as such can not be sold or leave Australia under the Historical Artefacts Act or similar legislation.
We asked leading opal experts for their view on this. The consensus is the Virgin Rainbow whilst formed in a cavity once occupied by a deceased Belemnite - a 120 millions year old squid like creature, is a solid opal formed from silica gel and as such is not a 'fossil'. That the South Australian Minister for Mineral Development supports the campaign for the Virgin Rainbow upholds our assertion the palaeontologist's view is incorrect."
