Minnie by Marianne van Velzen

The inspiring story of a feisty pioneering woman who sought freedom and adventure in the outback and became the first woman to work as an opal miner in Australia.

‘Destined to become an outback classic’ Liz Harfull

People always asked her if she was ever afraid, living out in the desert alone with all those rough and scruffy men, but Minnie Berrington was not the faint-hearted type and never had been. Being tough came naturally to her, growing up with three brothers and a family that went from riches to ruins.

Only a slip of a girl, Minnie could match any man in stamina, perseverance and strength. She arrived in Coober Pedy when essential supplies still arrived by camel, and water was so scarce no-one washed. Together with the other miners, she braved the heat, the flies and the dust. Every day she waited for that special sound the pick made when it cracked opal.

The first woman to dig her own shafts in the Australian opal fields, Minnie began her working life as a typist in London. But she and her younger brother Victor sought freedom and adventure in the 1920s and found plenty of it in the outback.

Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: April 2023
Format: Paperback, 272p
ISBN: 9781761068706
Category: Biography