Yanni Aphanasiadis first came to Australia, from Greece, when he was 22 years-old. He arrived in Coober Pedy, South Australia, upon his uncle’s recommendation. His uncle, who had been living in Australia since the mid-1950s, went to Coober Pedy in the 1960s and first found opals in 1969.
“He came back to Greece to visit his mother (my grandmother), and he told me about the place and I thought I would go there and try for one year,” Aphanasiadis says.
Thirty-nine years later, he’s still here and has been running his business the Umoona Opal Mine and Museum for the past 27 years. “Funnily enough, my Uncle has lived in Greece for the last 30 years and I am here, so we did a switch,” Aphanasiadis jokes.
The Umoona Opal Mine and Museum started out as a very small concept, and is one that has grown dramatically over the years. “I bought the business from the Aboriginal community of Coober Pedy and I left the name as it used to be because it means ‘tree of life’,” Aphanasiadis says. Running the business with his wife and his son, Aphanasiadis has done three extensions and renovations since buying the business. As part of the most recent extension the businessman built an underground cinema, where he screens 18 minute-films about the progression of mining, from the early methods right up until today. Umoona also runs opal demonstrations with short lectures on all the different kinds of opals found in Coober Pedy.
The entire complex is underground to give visitors an authentic experience, Aphanasiadis says. “We have an underground house, which consists of two different types of houses, a very old setting showing how miners used to live back in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s, and then a very modern house showing how people live today.” Below this section is the original opal mine where visitors can take tours throughout the day, observing opal miners at work and gaining some insight into how these miners make their living from finding opals.
Information is displayed on local flora and fauna while fossils of cockleshells, snakes, squid, starfish and mussel shells from the surrounding areas are also on show. “There is a range of fossils that we have on display and people show interest in them and they learn quite a lot when they have the time to look through,” Aphanasiadis says. The South Australian Museum in Adelaide has loaned fossils to the museum for its permanent display.
“It’s a very special room and a very significant part of my museum here.” As part of the museum there is also an Aboriginal Interpretive Centre, consisting of three rooms, one set up as a primitive Aboriginal house, one with Aboriginal paintings and one with a small underground cinema showing a six-minute documentary on the story of the opal. Umoona also has a large showroom with opals, jewellery and souvenirs; “it would have to be the largest one in Australia,” Aphanasiadis says.
“We also have accommodation, we specialise in backpacker accommodation, we have 265 beds and they are all underground so people can experience Coober Pedy at its best,” he says. Aphanasiadis passionately promotes Coober Pedy for its opals and the underground experience that would be foreign to many visitors. “These are the ideas I have concentrated on with my museum,” he says. “It’s been very good being here, Coober Pedy is a very nice place, very different.”