This interesting warren of tunnels was mined in 1916, and then hidden by the miners. The mine was rediscovered in 1968 when excavations for a dugout home punched through into the labyrinth of tunnels. As well as the great self-guided tunnel tours, there's a museum, a re-created 1920s underground home, and free mining-equipment demos daily (9.30am, 1.30pm and 3.30pm).


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Big Winch

0.08 MILES

You can't miss the Big Winch with its big dangling bucket, from which there are sweeping views over the Coober Pedy rooftops. A planned 'world-class…

2. Spaceship

0.27 MILES

Check out this amazing leftover prop from the film Pitch Black, which has crash-landed on Hutchison St (a minor Millennium Falcon?). Intricate, creative,…

3. Umoona Opal Mine & Museum

0.28 MILES

For a terrific introduction to Coober Pedy – including history, fossils, desert habitats, Aboriginal culture, ecology and mining – take a wander through…

4. Faye's Underground Home

0.32 MILES

Faye’s was hand dug by three women in the 1960s – an exercise in persistence, to say the least. It's now a time-warp museum and a window into life in…

6. Catacomb Anglican Church

0.45 MILES

A simple, compact bunker with rows of chairs and remote sermons beamed onto a big screen. Pull up a pew and contemplate your misdoings.

7. Coober Pedy's First Cemetery

0.46 MILES

Next to Coober Pedy's improbably quaint Greek Orthodox Church, with its wrought-iron bell tower, this dusty plot began when James Conly became the town's…

8. Big Miner

0.68 MILES

Perpetuating small-town Australia's established tradition of building 'big' objects to attract the tourists (banana, crayfish, pineapple etc), Coober Pedy…