Story 19. That's My Bloody Ore Body.

The years 1980 to 1984 South Australia was in the grips of a drought, the normal 200mm (4inch) of rain fall a year failed to arrive four years in a row in an area with an evaporation rate of 3.5metres (11 1/2 feet) a year.

By Christmas 1984 all the grass in the area had long gone exposing the red sand, sheep had trimmed the underside of all the trees the lowest branches had been raised almost two meters, sheep stations had sold off their stock, rabbits were seen climbing trees to just find something to eat.

In certain areas it was possible to sit on the ground and see for miles under the raised skirts of the trees where the undergrowth had vanished.
Thousands of kangaroos moved into Woomera every night to graze on the town lawns and ovals or anything that resembled an edible green.

For months a drilling company we had often used had been conducting exploration drilling through the Woomera restricted zone for another company and were nearing the last two holes of the exploration line. With only two weeks before Christmas they had been hoping to be able to finish the contract before Christmas rather than have to return to complete just two or three after the holidays.

With nothing of interest to show for months of work the client had indicated they were loosing interest and would be agreeable if the driller wanted to abandon the last two holes and return home for Christmas, ending the exploration program slightly early.

With two holes to go rain began to fall in the area for the first time in four years.
By morning all the tracks in the area were impassable to all but 4WD vehicles, no way the heavy drilling rig would be able to go anywhere for a few days.
Facing the fact they were rained in, it was decided to drill the remaining holes while waiting for the tracks to dry out.

Parked near a small dam they completed the drilling and with only a day before Christmas they packed up and began the slow journey south.

With the truck and vehicles covered in the sticky red mud they decided to pull into Mt Gunson for a few hours to wash for the first time in months and blast the sticky mud off the vehicles for the long trip south.
Being ever curious as to what the drillers were up to Allen Turnbull stopped by.

The driller complained the last two holes took much longer to drill because of the nature of the rock he showed Allen the retrieved sample of rock.

Allens eyes lit up as he inspected the sample.
Hard rock be buggered he said, "That's my missing bloody ore body he said.
Where did this come from? he asked.

The driller thought for a moment then informed Allen about 100km north of Woomera, near a small dam, retrieving the exploration map where after a few moments identified the location, pointed out the small insignificant dam, the map identified as, Olympic Dam.