It took a concerted effort by many for Minnie to come to fruition, a story in itself.
The author, a Dutch journalist, had lived in Australia for many years and who wrote a Call of the Outback, about Ernestine Hill, a journalist and adventurer in the outback, including mention of a female opal-digger called Minnie Berrington.
Some years later, van Velzen was contacted by Stuart Wattison, whose wife, working with elderly people, in 2001 had had a client called Alice Davies, who turned out to be that Minnie Berrington. She was then 101 years old and had herself written a book about her life in Coober Pedy and Andamooka from 1926-37.
When van Velzen agreed to write a book, she had help from historians at Andamooka and Coober Pedy, as well as Minnie’s great-niece in the USA.
The story starts in England, from where typist Minnie, 28, and her youngest brother, Victor, came to Australia in 1925 as assisted migrants. The pair travelled to Coober Pedy where Minnie was the second woman to have a miner’s right there.
This book casts light on the opal fever that gripped Minnie, the privations of life on the opal fields, and the communities where she and her brother worked to find the elusive opal.
It is a fascinating part of Australia’s social history, redolent with outback heat and dust.
Reviewed by Jennifer Somerville
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marianne van Velzen is author and researcher. She also writes articles for newspapers and magazines and works as a fieldproducer for ABC. Together with producer Ronald Vierbergen she worked on a short documentary called ‘One Day’. In 2006 she worked together with Australian journalist Juliet Wills as a co-author for the book ‘The Diamond Dakota Mystery.’
As a child of emigrants she grew up in Australia. Unusual stories and occurences in which both Holland and Australia play a prominent role are of special interest to her.
She currently lives in the Netherlands but frequently travels to Australia.
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