Born in Yugoslavia, June 1939, emigrated to Australia, 1959. Worked in Sydney, then one romantic evening at a dance he met Mary from Ireland, they married in 1964 and moved to the Outback opal mining town of ‘Lightning Ridge’ with their three month old son. By 1973, they progressed slowly with 3 small kids from tent & kombi van to an old house, they transported from a farm nearby.
Now more experienced in opal mining Stephen & Mary wrote & published their first opal book; ‘Fortunes From The Lost Sea’,1979. Then in 1988 after all copies sold, they published an up-dated edition; ‘Fortunes In Australian Opals.’ In 1996, they launched ‘Discover Opals Before & beyond 2000 With Surface Indications.’ Covering all commercial opal fields in Australia. Glossy hard cover a Limited edition;
N0-1:1500. At $75 a copy. N0-1 Auctioned for $1,000.00 at the book launch.
Due to popular demand a bigger & better book:
‘Rediscover Opals In Australia’,1999 was published in soft & glossy hard cover.
500 additional photographs and updated maps. Covers major opal fields including Lightning Ridge; White Cliffs; Coober Peedy; Andamooka; Mintabe; Lambina; and the Queensland fields. Learn how to use surface indications and other prospecting methods to effectively find and mine opal in the major fields of Australia.