It's exactly 100 years since the teenage Willie Hutchinson stumbled across a few pieces of opal while walking in the Australian Outback.
There with his father to prospect for gold, the youngster's chance find led to a gemstone mining boom and the establishment of the town of Coober Pedy.
Today, the settlement even refers to itself as the "opal capital of the world", with the wider Australian deposits producing more than 80% of the world's precious opals.
Coober Pedy's gemstones are known for their clear or whitish colour, but some will dazzle like a rainbow. Experts talk of "church windows" to describe examples that mimic stained glass.
Already legally defined as Australia's "National Gemstone", the precious opals could be in line for a new status - that of Global Heritage Stone Resource (GHSR).
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