CATACOMB CHURCH IN COOBER PEDY

Coober Pedy is a town in the Northern part of  South Australia, 846 kilometres north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway. According to the 2011 census, its population was 1,695 (953 males, 742 females, including 275 indigenous Australians). The town is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there.

Coober Pedy is renowned for its below-ground residences, called "dugouts", which are built due to the scorching daytime heat. The name 'Coober Pedy' comes from the local Aboriginal term kupa-piti, which means 'white man's hole'. Opal was found in Coober Pedy on 1 February 1915; since then the town has been supplying most of the world's gem-quality opal. Coober Pedy today relies as much on tourism as the opal mining industry to provide the community with employment and sustainability. Coober Pedy has over 70 opal fields and is the largest opal mining area in the world.

When we visited Cobber Pedy, we stayed in an underground motel, shopped in underground shops and visited this underground church.  Dug out in the side of a hill, it is peaceful and a wonderful place for reflection. As the last two photos show, the dugouts are constructed with a special machine that drills large holes in the rock. Drilling holes next to each other enlarges the dugout.

Psalm 92:
15: To shew that the Lord is upright: He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

This post is part of the Psalm Sunday meme.