What town in Australia has underground houses?
Coober Pedy
Coober Pedy is a small town in the Outback of Southern Australia. Originally an opal mining town, many of Coober Pedy’s residents live underground to escape the region’s immense heat. Homes, dive bars, a church, and more can be found buried underground in what the locals call “dugouts.”
What is the name of the underground city in Australia?
Coober Pedy is at the centre of Australia’s opal mining industry. Now, 60% of its residents live underground, and the town is becoming a leader in sustainable living.
What is unusual about the houses in Coober Pedy?
Over the decades, miners have flocked to Coober Pedy to try their luck digging glasslike, rainbow-colored opals, many of them building homes — known as dugouts — in the space left behind from mining.
What’s it like to live in Coober Pedy?
Living in Coober Pedy is challenging due to the scorching temperatures. Many of the houses are underground to escape the blistering heat. It is hot and dry, and you need to travel quite a distance for anything more than the basics offered in the town’s main street.
Is there an underground house in Coober Pedy?
Like Faye’s Underground Home, the Gough family home at the Old Timer’s Mine was wired with electrical cables bolted onto the bare rock. A bunker-like entrance on the main street of Coober Pedy leads the way to a labyrinthine art gallery buried underground.
Who built Faye Nayler’s underground home?
Faye’s Underground Home was built by three women over a 10 years, from 1962 to 1972. Faye Nayler, Ettie Hall and Sue Bernard mined for opals and dug out rooms as they went. The women opened the house to tourists in 1972.
How deep is the underground house in Faye’s underground?
The master bedroom in Faye’s Underground Home is 8 meters (26 feet) below ground level and comes complete with a hand-dug air shaft in the ceiling. According to local guide Grant Steele, the women wired the house themselves — “fair dinkum women’s power.”
What happened to Faye’s underground home in Old Timers mine?
The highlight of Faye’s Underground Home is the swimming pool, where Faye entertained guests. Her home was a favorite venue for local events. The Old Timer’s Mine was owned by the local Gough family until early 2018.