Mintabie was an opal mining community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY lands) in South Australia. It was unique in comparison to other communities situated in the APY Lands, in that its residents were largely not of Aboriginal Australian origin, and the land had been leased to the Government of South Australia for opal mining purposes since the 1980s.
Time zone Due to its links with the Northern Territory and proximity to the border, the APY Lands do not observe daylight saving unlike the rest of South Australia. The time zone observed throughout the year is Australian Central Standard Time (UTC+9:30), in line with Darwin rather than Adelaide.
History Background Aboriginal people were the first people to find opals in the area. During the First World War, they traded in black opals at Coober Pedy. Conditions were harsh. In 1976, with the help of new large machinery, non-Indigenous people came to the area to mine, and a small township was established.
At around the same time, Anangu began their struggle for land rights. Consequently, by the time the South Australian Parliament began to seriously consider granting land rights in the area, a growing number of opal miners were setting up operations around Mintabie.See Kriven, S. 9 November 1989, "Big trouble in little Mintabie", Advertiser; also District Council of Coober Pedy, , "Submission to the Inquiry into Resource Exploration Impediments," Standing Committee on Industry and Resource, House of Representatives, Parliament of Australia.
In November 1978, a Labor Government under Don Dunstan introduced a Bill to establish Pitjantjatjara land rights. A group of miners from Mintabie voiced strong opposition to the Bill, warning that the proposed legislation would "...act against future opal prospecting and mining ... tend to hinder any other industry set up by people other than Aboriginals... [and] give no real benefit to the Aboriginals but ... cause plenty of friction with the rest of the population.Miners of Mintabie, 24 February 1979, Letter to the Select Committee on the Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Bills 1978, Records of the Parliament of South Australia. This letter was signed by 65 people.
The Bill was still before Parliament when a state election was called. After the election, Anangu entered into a fresh round of negotiations with the newly elected Liberal government, under premier David Tonkin. On 2 October 1980 the Pitjantjatjara Council formally reached an agreement with the government on the provisions of a new Bill. Introduced into Parliament on 23 October 1980, the "Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Bill 1980" proposed granting Anangu title to a large area of land, which included the township of Mintabie.On 20 August 1980, the SA Government had excised Mintabie from pastoral lease "to provide Crown land for the issue of residential tensures for the opal mining community at Mintabie." [Mr F J Vickery, 14 January 1981, p73] . First annual licenses had been issued towards the end of 1979 [Vickery p83] The Bill recognised that opal mining would continue at Mintabie and included provisions to control that activity. Certain occupancy rights were to be provided to prospectors but these would be balanced with processes that Anangu could use, if necessary, to have someone evicted from Mintabie.
In November 1980, the Mintabie Precious Stones Field was proclaimed by the government. Certain areas of this land were excluded from opal mining activity, including the township of Mintabie. Its name was assigned by notice in the Government Gazette on 25 June 1981.
In a written submission to the Select Committee, the Pitjantjatjara Council explained that while it did "not wish to interfere with any person who wishes to mine, conduct business or otherwise live at or visit Mintabie lawfully," it had serious concerns about "sly grog selling" and consequent violence in the community, so expressed a wish that the Bill should include the Mintabie area under their title to enable integrated rules to apply to the whole area."The difficulties associated with Mintabie are deep-rooted ones. For a long time, the community there has been under little control from the Government, either through the Police or the Mines Department. ... The main problem in the past has been sly grog selling which has continued unchecked as recently as last week. As a result of unlimited access to take-away liquor, many Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people have been subjected to acute social dislocation [and violence]... the Bill must include the [Mintabie Precious Stone] Field under title to enable integrated rules for protection of the lands to apply and ... long-awaited social controls [to] be enforced. (Pitjantjatjara Council. 16 December 1980, "Submission to the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Bill 1980," p8.) The opal miners of Mintabie – and also some from Coober Pedy – opposed the Bill, sometimes vehemently, suggesting that confrontation and bloodshed may follow if the Mintabie Precious Stones Field were excised from the Act."...it is absolutely essential that the area ... of the Mintabie Precious Stones Field be excised from the Act! ... if the politicians of South Australia ignore this request, then they must be held fully responsible for any confrontation – and possibly even bloodshed – that would almost certainly follow.(Coker, B. 13 January 1981, "Submission to the Select Committee of the Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Bill – 1980," p2.)
APY Land Rights Act 1981 lease-back After extensive discussions with both the Pitjantjatjara Council and the Mintabie Progress Association, the Parliamentary Select Committee recommended that the area of land covering the township of Mintabie be included in the grant of land to Anangu but would be leased back to the Crown for a period of 21 years. Such an arrangement would enable the Crown to "issue Annual Licenses to persons entering... and wishing to reside" at Mintabie."Report of the Select Committee on the Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Bill, 1980," tabled in the House of Assembly, Parliament of South Australia on 3 March 1981, p3-4.
In March 1981, the Committee tabled its report and the Bill proceeded through Parliament. On 2 October 1981, the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Land Rights Act 1981 came into operation, giving Anangu inalienable freehold title to the APY Lands. On that day, under Section 28(2) of the Act, the township of Mintabie was "deemed to have been leased by Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara to the Crown for a term of twenty-one years", until 21 October 2002.
Section 28(2) covers an area of land defined as "section 1291 Out of Hundreds (Everard)", approximately . It is located within the Mintabie Precious Stone Field, which is approximately in size and is proclaimed for the purpose of opal mining.PIRSA, 1 September 2004, Information provided to the Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Standing Committee, p14.
2009 Amendment and 2012 extension In December 2009, the South Australian Parliament passed the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Land Rights (Mintabie) Amendment Bill. It was an amendment to the APY Land Rights Act 1981, the Opal Mining Act 1995 and by-laws under the APY Land Rights Act 1981, affecting the residents of Mintabie. This Act changed the licensing system for residential and commercial premises effective 1 July 2012, allowing the Minister responsible for the Opal Mining Act to grant licences.
In April 2012, after several earlier extensions had been granted by APY and the Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy had taken over from the Minister of Lands as the responsible Minister, an agreement among four parties (APY, the Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, and the Mintabie Miners Progress Association) was reached. The lease on the town extended to 30 June 2027, later amended to 2 October 2027, unless conditions were fulfilled for an earlier termination.
2017 Review, 2019 termination of lease A 2017 report found many instances of non-compliance with the 2009 Amendment as well as other problems occurring in the settlement of Mintabie. It recommended closure of the township, with control reverting to APY. After an appeal by residents failed, the final eviction date for the township was set at 31 December 2019.
In February 2018 the state government declared that it would not renew any leases in the town, after a report found it had become a centre for illegal distribution of drugs and alcohol into the APY Lands. As all land in the town was leased from the government, and these leases were renewed every year, this amounted to a compulsory closure of the town in 2019. Management of the land would revert to the local Aboriginal land council, Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY).
The APY Lands executive board would not allow residents to live in the town once it was transitioned to their control, with the date originally set at 1 July 2019. This date was extended following negotiations to 3 January 2020, after residents settled the Federal Court litigation instituted to keep the town open. Falling in the middle of a heatwave, local residents complained of the difficulties of relocating at such a time.
As of 2025, the Mintabie township is no longer accessible to the public.
Geography Mintabie is situated west of the Stuart Highway and about northwest of Marla and northwest of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. Mintabie is approximately south of Alice Springs."Every Pub", Vol. 2, Chris Dittmar, Bruce Abernethy & Australian Hotels Association (SA branch), 2006, ,
Mintabie sits in a geographical basin. It is therefore not surprising that there is a lake basin near Mintabie. The Mintabie Miners Progress Association describes the lake as follows: The lake at Mintabie is fed by many small surrounding creeks. In the past 15 years, it has been filled twice. The first time was in 1988, when higher than normal rainfall filled the lake to capacity. Although the rainfall returned to normal, the lake retained water for approximately three years. Rains in 2000 again filled the lake. Today the lake has once again dried up awaiting another big rain.
The parcel of land on which Mintabie sits is leased by the State government from Anangu. The original township lease expired in 2002. On 3 December 2009, the South Australian Parliament passed the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Land Rights (Mintabie) Amendment Act 2009. This legislation creates the framework for a new lease.
Geology and mining The ABS 1999 Yearbook for South Australia states, concerning Opal Mining at Mintabie, that: The opal fields at Coober Pedy, Mintabie and Andamooka, together with fields in New South Wales, supply most of the world’s precious opal. The estimated value of raw opal production in South Australia was $40.7m in 1997. Most of this is exported to Hong Kong, Japan, the United States of America and Germany.
In 2007, the South Australian Department of Primary Industry and Resources described Mintabie's geology as follows: the Eromanga Basin borders onto old basement rocks which are about 1,500 million years old and consist of granite and gneiss. Also on the western margin lie the sediments of the Officer Basin which comprise sandstone, quartzite, siltstone and shale about 500 million years old. These sediments were tilted by crustal forces and form prominent hills such as the Mount Johns Range near Marla. The opal deposits at Mintabie occur in a sandstone unit which was bleached and weathered by the same process that affected the Eromanga Basin sediments as described above.
Climate
Based upon the climate records of the nearest weather station at Marla Police Station, Mintabie has maximum summer averages of in January. Winter maximum averages are in June. Overnight lows range from a mean minimum temperature of degrees in January, to in June. Annual rainfall averages .