Bower Bird Steals the Curve of the Earth Once upon a time there was a famly that lived deep in the Nambucca Shire bush who had to send out their youngest boy to steal back his royal blue toothbrush from the nearby bower birds bower every morning. This went on for years. Meanwhile, Brian goes sunbathing at the Never Never Creek next to Glennifer Hall. He takes off his shirt and carefully places 'Earth's Curve' on top of the shirt. 'Earth's Curve' is a 22 ct gold, opal, lapis and diamond pendant, the lapis is royal blue. Brian puts on his shirt, drives back to town and realises that he forgot...

The main opals that Mac deals with and creates jewellery with are from the Koroit and Yowah Opal fields. Generally on a visit out to one of these opal fields Mac will have dealings with the miners. He stays at their camps, looks at opal with them in the 'rough', and buys 'parcels'. Some of the miners come to the shop with their rough and Mac will set up chairs downstairs, a tub of water, which you dip the rough into and you hold it in the sun (hence, the chairs outside if you have ever been to the shop) and you then get an idea of what sort of colour you are chasing when you cut it. It is a...

There are only 5 precious stones, of which opal is one. The other 4 being diamond, emerald, ruby and sapphire and all of them are simply minerals. Where opal is concerned, that mineral is silica. It is quite simply, in chemical terms, silicon dioxide and water. It boasts the title, “The Queen of Gems.” Over 95% of the world’s opals are Australian in origin, and the most precious opal of all, the black opal, is unique to Australia. Each and every opal is so unique that the miner of the stone can identify it years later.